I was not sure of what to expect when I landed in Kenya. The immigration officer seemed excited when she read my invitation letter stating that I was a guest poet.
“Are you a good poet?” she asked.
For a moment there I thought I was going to give her a performance after my confirmation and though that didn’t happen, I was prepared to talk about her eyes looking like diamonds for a while.
Stepping outside the airport exposed my traveling error of not finding out about the weather before packing my clothes. It was chilly and reminded me.of harmattan in Ghana. I prayed the temperature was not like this in the day.
My hosts Ian and Mufasa looked like long lost brothers from a distance and we immediately got acquainted and quite frankly have been talking non stop about poetry, music and everything in between since we met. The zebras chilling by the airport though beautiful did little to sway our conversation.
Our conversation from 2AM that Saturday, took us to see the morning sun and I slept enough to put energy into my legs. The time difference in Kenya is about 3 hours behind that of Ghana so I was a bit disoriented. I woke up to a Kenyan breakfast of jipati which I took with golden syrup and tea. I loved it.
On Sunday Mufasa and I went into town to see a show at The Alchemist. We boarded a number of graffiti mini buses called ‘matatus’ to get there.
I was treated to art, fashion and beautiful Kenyan women. East African women are blessed with beauty and confidence. I am not talking about a particular frame of woman, for all the women there had something interesting and eastern about them.
The venue itself had a carnival concept with a bar, a stage with a big bus for a back drop and a number of food caravans for people to grab something to eat.
The Movement, a Kenyan band came through and killed it! I loved their music and it reminded me a bit of Ghana with their tunes.
I met a wonderful lady at The Alchemist who became my Swahili teacher. I will talk about that later. For now I am having a good time. Today Ian gives me a lesson in creating an Electronic Press Kit (EPK).
Keep it One HONDRED!
My First Days in Kenya
