2008/06/23
The divide
“ I lived in Ecuador for a year, I had a boyfriend there, I came to Kenya thinking I could take up the culture, and not live the ‘foreigners life,’ but I couldn’t- there is something different about Africa which prevents me from fully integrating myself in the culture, I say I’m a single white female and a wall just come up with me and half the men I work with”
“you know if we had this conversation with anyone who had just arrived, or who hadn’t lived here, they wouldn’t understand- and probably call us racist- so much for the perfect little dream of universal cultural acceptance – I think that’s called growing up – yeah, but it kinda sucks”
-Reflection on life in Kenya, A book that doesn’t exist, the worlds of a Dutch woman who I met one night in Nakuru
“We can call them the Diaspora- like the Jewish people who don’t live in Israel- but for Africans who have been out of Africa, maybe make it an adjective, they can be ‘diasporic’”
“It’s almost like they’ve bitten the apple, and been enlightened, I know it sounds very righteous, but there definitely is a difference. All the Kenyans in the club have lived or experienced life outside of Africa, and are drastically different because of it. The people I call my friends who are native Kenyans have left the continent- and come back with a totally different perspective, it’s really hard to relate otherwise.”
-Conversations on the differences between the Western world and Africa
“But growing up doesn’t have anything to do with Drinking alcohol and partying- or even driving a car, it has to do with taking care of yourself, and being responsible, and I don’t think that happens, or at least starts to happen until you move out of your parents house, pay your own bills, and realize you are responsible for other people. Yeah your 21, so what"
“Don’t be complacent, if you’re complacent and “non-controversial” nothing gets done but what is already being done, look at this country, look at our country, it’s fucked up, and if you don’t make some people unhappy, then nothing going to change because they made if that way, and I think that’s a bit ‘controversial’”
“Fuck you, don’t give up- then I really will be angry at you, why would I be mad at you for failing, I fail all the time I’m not mad at me”
“Do what you can”
“He was drunk, he could barely walk, yet he drove a Japanese embassy Landrover into a cactus patch at 4am and couldn’t get it out”
-This long, long month, of which I’ve decided that I’m only growing younger
(I did not say all of this - and the speakers are left anonymous on purpose)
“you know if we had this conversation with anyone who had just arrived, or who hadn’t lived here, they wouldn’t understand- and probably call us racist- so much for the perfect little dream of universal cultural acceptance – I think that’s called growing up – yeah, but it kinda sucks”
-Reflection on life in Kenya, A book that doesn’t exist, the worlds of a Dutch woman who I met one night in Nakuru
“We can call them the Diaspora- like the Jewish people who don’t live in Israel- but for Africans who have been out of Africa, maybe make it an adjective, they can be ‘diasporic’”
“It’s almost like they’ve bitten the apple, and been enlightened, I know it sounds very righteous, but there definitely is a difference. All the Kenyans in the club have lived or experienced life outside of Africa, and are drastically different because of it. The people I call my friends who are native Kenyans have left the continent- and come back with a totally different perspective, it’s really hard to relate otherwise.”
-Conversations on the differences between the Western world and Africa
“But growing up doesn’t have anything to do with Drinking alcohol and partying- or even driving a car, it has to do with taking care of yourself, and being responsible, and I don’t think that happens, or at least starts to happen until you move out of your parents house, pay your own bills, and realize you are responsible for other people. Yeah your 21, so what"
“Don’t be complacent, if you’re complacent and “non-controversial” nothing gets done but what is already being done, look at this country, look at our country, it’s fucked up, and if you don’t make some people unhappy, then nothing going to change because they made if that way, and I think that’s a bit ‘controversial’”
“Fuck you, don’t give up- then I really will be angry at you, why would I be mad at you for failing, I fail all the time I’m not mad at me”
“Do what you can”
“He was drunk, he could barely walk, yet he drove a Japanese embassy Landrover into a cactus patch at 4am and couldn’t get it out”
-This long, long month, of which I’ve decided that I’m only growing younger
(I did not say all of this - and the speakers are left anonymous on purpose)
# posted by /Sean @ 8:39 AM 
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“It’s almost like they’ve bitten the apple, and been enlightened, I know it sounds very righteous, but there definitely is a difference. All the Kenyans in the club have lived or experienced life outside of Africa, and are drastically different because of it. The people I call my friends who are native Kenyans have left the continent- and come back with a totally different perspective, it’s really hard to relate otherwise.” ---It's kind of the same with a lot of Indians, although that country is getting more westernized by the day, but there are still so many parts of it where life out of the subcontinent is a completely unimaginable, radical concept to those who haven't experience it.
So when exactly are you coming back to the US? Is summer conference in your plans or will you still be abroad then?
So when exactly are you coming back to the US? Is summer conference in your plans or will you still be abroad then?
“But growing up doesn’t have anything to do with Drinking alcohol and partying- or even driving a car, it has to do with taking care of yourself, and being responsible, and I don’t think that happens, or at least starts to happen until you move out of your parents house, pay your own bills, and realize you are responsible for other people. Yeah your 21, so what”
I encounter this all the time, hanging out with young college students as a guy that has been on his own for almost 8 years. Its precisely why I think the voting age should be increased to 25 and contingent on payment of federal taxes in a given year. 21 is probably more realistic in a legal sense.
nisha... i think much of india is under completely unimaginable and radical circumstances to those who haven't experienced it as well.
I encounter this all the time, hanging out with young college students as a guy that has been on his own for almost 8 years. Its precisely why I think the voting age should be increased to 25 and contingent on payment of federal taxes in a given year. 21 is probably more realistic in a legal sense.
nisha... i think much of india is under completely unimaginable and radical circumstances to those who haven't experienced it as well.
It's amazing how relatable most of those comments are even to Tunisia, which is relatively better off than most developing countries, at least in Africa. It definitely has a lot to do with the mentality and I don't think it's necessarily an Arab mentality or African mentality, but rather a mentality that comes from living in such a marginalized part of the world, from not being considered "developed" or "good enough" in the eyes of the rest of the world. I think what we see in that is the subliminal affect of centuries of cross-cultural miscommunication.
i think ANYONE that hasn't been outside their comfort zone has no hope of even looking at that "apple" or even growing up for that matter. growing old happens, getting responsible hopefully happens as well but is a little less certain... the growing up is in the wisdom.
cheers, good buddy... can't wait to talk of your travels when you get back!
- cass
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cheers, good buddy... can't wait to talk of your travels when you get back!
- cass
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