Tuesday November 19th 2024, Nairobi, Kenya

Thoughts from the 6 hour train from Mombasa to Nairobi: On my past travels you have excitement to go sight see, explore and take in everything as quick as possible. When travel is your lifestyle, the whole outlook and mindset shifts. It's impossible to be on the move and sight see all the time. As I look back to my travels, Spain, Korea or Iceland etc, I realize the most profound experiences are just by integrating and being in the society, not running around sight seeing. This shift means I have to take the travels slower and be okay missing some "tourist sights". Instead the goal of this is to learn about the people, the culture, and to solely bear witness. In Africa there are lots of expensive treks and tourist activities, but just bearing witness of the people and how they live makes it all worth it. I'm going to Rwanda now for the same reason. There's not much to actually sight see or do, but it is extremely interesting to see the people and culture and how the country is moving. This can be thought of as a "second education". I am on a journey to reeducate myself about the world, history, work, and outlook on life. It is not a journey to sight see and be a passerby. When ranking my travels in the past I ranked them by food, city/landscapes, and variety of activities. This is still a good benchmark but it was missing a key component, the people. Getting to know the people and their worldviews is invaluable. This week in Diani I talked with Germans, Spaniards, Brits, Swiss, Kenyans, Tanzanians, and Israelis of course. It was interesting hearing about how they viewed the world and their respective countries. Specifically interesting to me, the Germans Spaniards and Brits did not like the outlook of their countries and think they are growing in the wrong direction. I think this is the case of all of Western Europe which is facing social crisis like immigration and crime as well as low economic growth opportunity. Every country I have travelled to so far has actually been more religious than I expected. When was the last time you heard of an actual Christian country? In Georgia the people and especially the young people take religion seriously. You'll see a 19 year old girl in tattoos and a mini skirt doing the cross over herself at the sight of a church, a combination unheard of in the west. In Georgia I realized that there really are no Christian countries anymore in the west. It was interesting to see conservative values and the importance of religion in Georgia to the youth and how integrated it is in society. Now even more surprising is that the people in Africa are very religious as well. Many are devout Christians and Muslims. Many of the young Kenyans and Tanzanians have great awe for G-d and in their daily talk it is apparent it is important in their life. You see a lot of Africans wearing full hijabs too which indicates Islamic conservatism. In developed countries it seems religious and conservative values fade while in developing countries it is the fabric holding the society together. This made me think, why are developed nations more likely to leave conservative religious values for a more liberal framework. I have many thoughts on this but it deserves a whole essay in itself. Near the end of my six hour train ride to Nairobi I talked with a Kenyan woman. She said the biggest problem with Kenya is corruption. Also, Kenya is teeming with natural resources, but due to government incompetence there are no factories to refine or manufacture them. This leads to Kenya needing to export the natural resources out to then import the finished products back in. Throughout this process developed countries take advantage of the poorer nation of Kenya and the incompetent government. Kenya also needs to take loans from wealthy nations and then becomes debt trapped, specifically from China. Lastly, the corruption goes so far that even if you go to university it's hard to find a job. You need to pay someone in the know to get a good job. The woman thought that an African union would be beneficial but neighboring countries in East Africa hate each other. Corruption eats everything.