On Mzungus and Matatus.

My grasp of Swahili is not very strong; we don’t start Kiswahili classes until next Tuesday, so my understanding of Swahili extends to Habari, Mzuri, Pesa ngapi, etc. (How are you, I’m fine, How much does it cost, etc.). One word, however, that I was bombarded with as soon as I got off the plane was mzungu. The word mzungu is technically translated into “foreigner”, but in my opinion the more accurate translation is “whitey”. As a whitey, I am constantly overrun with people shouting mzungu! mzungu! Sometimes they want to sell me something, sometimes they just think it’s hilarious that a whitey is walking through their neighborhood, sometimes they just want to find out why on earth I’m in Kenya.

I must say, it’s one of the strangest experiences in the world to walk down a street and have everyone stare at you. Everywhere I go, I make a scene. The other day I was walking down the street in a neighborhood that rarely sees white people. This little Somali boy was playing in a front yard, and as I passed his eyes got alarmingly wide. He screamed “Moooooooom” as he ran into the house, presumably to show his mom the mzungu walking down the street. Again, odd. We (the girls in the program) have made a joke about it and whisper “look, a mzungu!” if we see another whitey in town.

The language barrier is a very interesting experience in this city. For the most part, people can speak English and a lot of the signs are in English. They learn English in school, and several people I’ve met prefer writing and reading in English, even if their first and spoken language in Kiswahili (what the language of Swahili is actually called). The form of slang used by youth, called Sheng, is a combination of Kiswahili, English, and tribal languages. Oddly enough, I can almost always understand people’s accents on the street, even in the slums, but have a very hard time understanding professionals, such as my professors or actors in a play I saw. Regardless of the area, if you speak a little Kiswahili you will immediately separate yourself from the safari tourists and will almost certainly get much better prices or services.

On to matatus. Matatus are the main form of public transportation in and around Nairobi. They are usually very old, very beat up 14-passenger vans. They are notorious for breaking down or running out of gas in the middle of a ride. They are very very cheap (about 30 cents per ride), so most of the lower and middle class use them to get to work. Matatus are also well known for their designs. Most of them are covered on the outside in pictures of the most random pop cultural icons or phrases. I’ve seen ones with pictures of Obama (with the words “Time for REAL Change”), Timbaland, Jesus, Osama bin Laden and Britney Spears on the same van, and Bow Wow. They are hilarious. Most of them are blasting very loud hip hop, and some of the nicer ones are even equipped with DVD players! A lot of them, though, are in really poor conditions, with seats not anchored to the ground or broken windows.

Mzungus almost never ride on matatus, as they have bad reputations for theft and other crime. Mzungus generally take cabs or even the busses. Not us. We use matatus to get to school and internships everyday, and to get anywhere else we go during the day. If you’re smart about it, they really aren’t dangerous. At night though, we are required to take taxis (understandably; you would have to be stupid to take a matatu at night). We actually aren’t even allowed to outside after dark, so we often have to “chase the sun” to get back inside before darkness falls. Amazingly enough, despite there almost never being mzungus on the matatus, I never get comments or even second glance when I board. And a couple of stern words to the tot (the conductor, whose job it is to get people onto the matatu and collect fares) will lower the price to what the Kenyans are paying.

Well that’s all for now! On a final note, Anjali and I had some fantastic Indian food last night in a pure vegetarian, South Indian restaurant called Chowpaty. There is a very large Indian population here, so I’m looking forward to a semester full of amazing Indian food!