Lamu Academic Trip

So I know that the last post was kind of a downer, but I just wanted to assure you all that I am fine and well. Hakuna matata. I believe our professor summed it up well for us after we found out about Kuell’s death, when she said “do not sulk, that is not what Kuell would have wanted you to do.” Although it has been hard dealing with Kuell’s death, in his honor we are not letting that get us down. I am again confident that Kuell is in a better place now and we have all vowed to make the best out of our days here, for that is what Kuell would have wished.
On a positive note, three weekends ago we went to the coast to the small island of Lamu, located in the Indian Ocean near the Somali border. This trip was like the Lake Turkana trip in that all 18 of us went as a class requirement with our American University professor, however, the experience was totally different. There is essentially no way to drive to Lamu from Nairobi so we took a tiny little plane that shuttled us to the coast, where we then took a sailboat to reach the island. The island itself is absolutely beautiful and many celebrities have been known to go there based on both its natural beauty and the fact that the area is very serene and has not yet become a large tourist destination. The population of Lamu is nearly 99% Muslim and there are only two cars on the entire island—both belonging to foreigners. Thus, the main form of transportation on the island is by donkeys and you cannot move more than five feet without almost stepping in donkey poop or getting run over by a donkey taxi.
Apart from being predominantly Muslim, the people at the coast are much different than those in Nairobi. Like in most coastal areas, the way of life is much slower. Both during the day and at night the people of Lamu are just generally hanging out. Although it is clouded by the tourist industry, the economy of Lamu is not great and many of the people are unemployed. From what I saw and learned from the friends that I met there, the main sources of employment come form tourism. The friends I met made their living by driving water taxis—sailboats, working at restaurants, and renting their donkeys out as taxis or providing them for tourists to ride (you can be sure that I did not partake in this at all, although others in the program did). The people in Lamu are also extremely friendly and love to talk to anyone who is willing to listen to them. It was actually a really great opportunity for us to use our Kiswahili there, as many of the people we met did not speak English. Furthermore, the Kiswahili spoken in Lamu is considered to be more pure, as it is not influenced by the shang, or slang that is spoken in Nairobi. Lamu is also much safer than Nairobi and we all thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be able to walk around at night, for in Nairobi we are never allowed to walk around after the sun goes down due to the potential of serious crimes.
On our first day in Lamu, the people at our hotel greeted us with enormous coconuts, which had the tops cut off and a straw in them for us to drink the delicious fresh coconut juice. Although we were staying in the actual town of Lamu and not near the expensive tourist areas, our hotel was absolutely gorgeous. My friends and I made the mistake of volunteering to stay in the room for 6 people, not knowing that there was only one bathroom for 6 girls, however, it all worked out and we actually enjoyed all staying together. After checking into our hotel, we were free to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the day. Some of my friends and I decided to ask people where the nearest beach was. The beach that they showed us to was only about a 10 minute walk away, however, it was not at all what we were looking for. This beach was one that is used only by the locals and for that reason it is not maintained and cleaned. Although I would love to say that all of the shore in Lamu is gorgeous, I would be lying for this particular beach was quite disgusting. No joke, we literally saw an enormous dead goat and a dead cat to boot floating around in the water. Needless to say, we didn’t go in the water any further than our ankles. Although it was not aesthetically pleasing, we were glad to have gone to the beach because we wanted to see the true Lamu and not just the glamorous side that most tourists only see. From this experience, it was obvious that Lamu faces a lot of environmental problems, that include a lack of sufficient area to dispose of garbage and waste—and that is why much of it ends up in the ocean.
After spotting numerous dead animals in the ocean, we were turned off and headed back to the shore road, where we did a little shopping. We also stopped and had amazing fresh juice—which Lamu is known for having. That night we ate at a local seafood restaurant and had amazing lobster, crabs, and seafood curry. The nightlife in Lamu is not necessarily popping, but we tried it out anyways and had fun talking to people and viewing some of the local performances.
The next day our entire group was taken by sailboat to a remote beach, where we were the only people in site. We all lounged around and played games in the water and then had lunch prepared for us right on the beach. After lunch, we were taken to a separate island, where we got to see ancient Arab ruins. During colonial times, Middle Easterners occupied much of the coastal area and we got to see the remnants of their villages. We had a tour guide who taught us a lot about the Arab influence in Lamu and after seeing the ruins we set out for Lamu town again, singing reggae songs and watching the sunset on our sailboat home.
The third day we had the morning and early afternoon free before we had any group activities to do, so a few of my friends and I decided to take a water taxi to Shella beach—the wazungu, or white people’s beach, which turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. There were barely any people around except for the occasional white tourist. One of the most difficult things I witnessed in Lamu were the “beach boys”. I saw an extremely old white woman with a really young African man and after asking some of my friends there about it, they told me that she was 71 years old and he 25. Apparently this phenomenon is very common in the coast of Kenya, with Mombasa and Malindi known for being the worst. The whole situation was really disheartening as the friends I made told me that it happens all the time with younger boys initiating a largely sexual relationship with older white woman, in some cases in exchange for straight up money while in others, in the hopes of obtaining a visa.
After spending several relaxing hours on the beach, the entire group left for an hour-long boat ride to an even smaller island, one where tourism does not at all exist. The village elders showed us around their entirely Muslim village and showed us, with great pride, their school and children. The children performed dances and sang for us and were largely entertained by our attempts to join them. That night ended with some delectable Italian food, that was well worth the tourist price.
On our last afternoon in Lamu, we all did some serious damage in the shops. Lamu has really unique fabrics and jewelry, which clearly caused a lot of excitement in a group of 16 females. Following the shopping excursion, we went to the Lamu museum as a class requirement. The museum was surprisingly similar to an American museum and was actually quite informative and interesting. After hopping on a short 1.5-hour plane ride, we were back in Nairobi by 6 pm—sunburned, exhausted, and not really looking forward to going to classes the next day.