I just finished One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina. This book is about growing up in modern Kenya and I found it thought-provoking and clever, though not quite as powerful as his piece in the Atlantic. Here's an excerpt I enjoyed:
I switch to Swahili, and she pours herself into another person, talkative, aggressive. A person who must have a Tupac T-shirt stashed away somewhere.
"Arhh! It's so boring here! Nobody to talk to! I hope my sister comes home early."
I am still stunned. How bold and animated she is, speaking Sheng, a very hip street language that mixes Swahili and English and other languages. Here, so far from road and railway Kenya.
"My sister is drinking muratina somewhere, I am sure. I can't wait to get married [too]."
"Kwani? You don't want to go to university and all that?"
"Maybe but if I'm married to the right guy, life is good. Look at my sister. She is free, she does anything she wants. Old men are good. If you feed them, and give them a son, they leave you alone."
"Won't it be difficult to do this if you are not circumcised?"
"Kwani, who told you I'm not circumcised? I went last year."
I am shocked and it shows. "Why? You could have refused."
"Ai! If I had refused, it would mean that my life here was finished. There is no place here for someone like that."
"But..." I cut myself short. I am sensing that this is her compromise- to live two lives fluently. As it generally is with people's reasons for their faiths and choices, trying to disprove her is silly. She would see my statements as ridiculous.... There is nothing wrong with being what you are not in Kenya; just be it successfully.
I switch to Swahili, and she pours herself into another person, talkative, aggressive. A person who must have a Tupac T-shirt stashed away somewhere.
"Arhh! It's so boring here! Nobody to talk to! I hope my sister comes home early."
I am still stunned. How bold and animated she is, speaking Sheng, a very hip street language that mixes Swahili and English and other languages. Here, so far from road and railway Kenya.
"My sister is drinking muratina somewhere, I am sure. I can't wait to get married [too]."
"Kwani? You don't want to go to university and all that?"
"Maybe but if I'm married to the right guy, life is good. Look at my sister. She is free, she does anything she wants. Old men are good. If you feed them, and give them a son, they leave you alone."
"Won't it be difficult to do this if you are not circumcised?"
"Kwani, who told you I'm not circumcised? I went last year."
I am shocked and it shows. "Why? You could have refused."
"Ai! If I had refused, it would mean that my life here was finished. There is no place here for someone like that."
"But..." I cut myself short. I am sensing that this is her compromise- to live two lives fluently. As it generally is with people's reasons for their faiths and choices, trying to disprove her is silly. She would see my statements as ridiculous.... There is nothing wrong with being what you are not in Kenya; just be it successfully.
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