Sticks and Stones: "GoodBye F***ers"

Content Warning: As you can probably tell from the title of this blog, this blog is intended for mature audiences and contains graphic language.

June 1st is Kenyan's Independence day. Kenya got independence from Britain in the days of decolonization under the reign of the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. It is a national holiday like Canada Day (July 1st) or July 4th for the Americans. The four of us decided to spend the day in a very relaxed mode. We moseyed up to the city center to Independence Park.

Kids got their faces painted, families enjoyed the paddleboats on the water and tons of footballs were kicked around. We relaxed. Conor took pictures (he's turning into quite the photographer), Sam listened to music while Emma and I read in the sun. I am reading "The Catcher and the Rye" for those wondering. We finished the afternoon by playing Frisbee and headed up to a pub like atmosphere at Taco Club.

It was supposed to be a fun afternoon where we just enjoyed Kenya and had fun. The patio was supposed to offer us a cold Tusker (African beer to fit the theme of Kenyan Independence) and a taste of Western food that we miss so much. The time was 5:00pm. We were in the city where several white people can be seen, in fact there were two other tables with white people at them in Taco's.

We were basking in the sun enjoying cold beer, a commodity in Kenya. Our food had just arrived and it was delicious. A group of woman at the table next to us were truly enjoying independence day and clearly had already had a couple rounds of cold Tusker when out of no where, one woman said "Why the fuck are these people being served?"

It made for a truly uncomfortable situation especially as she got louder making sure the entire patio could hear. She even cleared out one table of White travelers. She continued on her rant, "They have no right to be here," "Especially today," "Damn British people should not be served," "Why are they in our country?," "They should get out now!"

It wasn't as if we could make a quick exit. We were sitting on the edge of our seats at a public restaurant. It was the first time that I was met with opposition to me being in Kenya. One man from another table came up to us and told us to just ignore her ignorance. That is what I had hoped we would have done but some of the rest of us wanted to say something to clear up some things she had said. We responded by telling them we were not British. The phrase "we are here to help your country" even came up which garnered a response "We Don't need your help." Two of the woman did come to our table and apologize for their friends rude behaviour. When we finally left, the girl made sure to let out on final scream, "GoodBye Fuckers!"

I guess there are a couple of things to dissect here. First I will say, everyone is entitled to their opinion so if that is truly her opinion then fine. I am not here to change her mind. Second, it isn't a point of conflict but it was a little disturbing to hear a Beyond Borders student say "We're here to help your country." I don't think that is in any of reasons that I am personally in Kenya. I don't know if I've even fully figured it out. What I do know is that I am here to learn and to engage in work especially in the education field. I would like to think we're helping but to say help the country seems a little to big for me. I think the biggest fear right now is that when we leave that nothing will change whether that's within our organization or in our personal lives.

It was strange to have that amount of hate thrown at me. The hate rant lasted around thirty minutes which gave me time to think about all the great minorities who have had to overcome prejudice in society. The Jews, African Americans during slavery and civil rights, those affected by Genocide, gay people... the list goes on. Its amazing how cruel people can make this world that is supposed to offer limitless opportunity. Isn't that the dream?

The other thing I thought about is that old feelings die hard. The fact that it was Kenyan Independence Day didn't skip my mind. The woman made a dig at the former colonizer, Britain and accused us of being the same as those colonizers from fifty plus years ago. If one woman held this attitude and vocalized it, I wonder how many go silent with this same feeling. Some of the greatest conflicts come from lingering feelings like the Somalian Clan wars, the Rwandan Genocide. It is unfortunate that this woman could not let go of feelings that are literally historic at this point.

We all set out to have a nice relaxing day and came back home with a story. I know I'll remember this adventure for a long time. Words were exchanged and I'm sure feelings got hurt on both sides whether it was over unkind remarks, our status or our intentions or possibly the amount of Tusker had by the other party- I guess we'll never know. What I do know is that overcoming adversity will always be a long standing struggle that requires the full cooperation of humankind: a diverse and sometimes overly proud people.