'Interacting'

Or, how working with Kenyan colleagues is different, and also the same…

In which Helen inflicts a long blog post on you all (forgive me)

We had four great, interesting, overwhelming days with all our new friends, the other VSO newbies. Hanging out together, we look like the UN.

We learned that:

Number 1: Conjugating irregular verbs in Swahili can be fun!

Number 2: Nairobi city centre is big, busy and bonkers.

Number 3: Malaria medication should not be taken on an empty stomach; you’ll only throw it back up. (Actually, we’ve stopped taking the doxycycline as the doc says there’s no need in Nairobi, only when we leave the city. Thank goodness).

Number 4: Organising a jailbreak from our guest house and go for a curry was a brilliant idea, but not when visiting dignitaries are in town. Angela Merkel added a good few hours to our evening as the taxis ground to a complete halt in endless traffic.

Number 5: Hiandies (spg?) in Westlands really is the finest curry in town.

Now, since Wednesday, our training sessions have been held in a new, vast room here at the PCEA guest house as we’ve been joined by our ‘partners’: our employers. These are the people from the Kenyan organisations we’ll be working for, and many of them have come from all over Kenya. Mrs Ngiri from Garissa in the East had travelled for 10 hours to be at the training. Apparently, that’s not far.

Our new volunteer friends are being 'posted' all over Kenya...

Mine had only come from round the corner. Francis, from the Kenya Union of the Blind is a very friendly, visually impaired guy who heads up the youth and technology programmes at the KUB. He’s incredibly charismatic, and I feel relieved, and excited about starting work on Monday.

The atmosphere feels very different with all our employers in the room. Reality sinks in, as together we hold facilitated sessions on things like Ways of Working, Monitoring and Evaluation and Corruption.

I’ve found that working with Kenyan colleagues is the same, with some differences. Based on my very limited experiences so far…

• Kenyans dress smartly: pressed suits and shined shoes
• Requests are made for prayers to start and end each day-long session. So far we’ve had prayers in both English, and Swahili
• Flipcharts and post-its and plastic folders are universal workshop-fodder. But here they are all called paper… ’Big Paper’ ‘Little Paper’, ‘Transparent Paper’
• In smaller break-out sessions, the first thing that happens is that a ‘secretary’ and ‘chair’ must be selected so that someone will scribe, and someone else will lead. This seems very important. It felt initially quite odd and bureaucratic but makes a lot of sense.
• Spoken English sounds very formal to my ears, like an old-fashioned play where everything is spoken in complete sentences, I can almost hear the punctuation: ‘I would like to contribute a point please: We must ensure that the provision of resources is equal in all cases, otherwise this can lead to unrest and instability’
• It’s also common practice to let everyone finish what they’re saying before adding your point. Democracy is the new cool way of working here in Kenya, since the first multi-party elections were only held recently, in 2002. So, now even in the workplace, it’s important for everyone to have a voice. Things take longer, but I’m finding it refreshing to be allowed to finish my point…
• Disagreements are never voiced directly; everyone finds more subtle ways to state their opposing view. No-one ever says No or I disagree. An air of positivity, respect and friendliness always remains. Again, refreshing, but I can see how this quickly becomes frustrating.
• In Kenyan English, there’s lots of ‘interacting’. ‘We’re not starting yet, please continue interacting with each other’ ‘I‘m going now, but we’ll interact later in the week’
• No-one is put off by noise outside the room. The music from the restaurant can clearly be heard, but no one asks for it to be turned down.
• Likewise mobile phones, and car alarms are tolerated as if they cannot be heard
• Some delegates don’t hide if they are bored by the training… laptops are opened, and even magazines flipped through in plenary sessions by those who aren’t finding the presentation interesting – and no offense is taken.
• Ice breakers, entertainment or energisers seem common and entered into enthusiastically. Singing was popular, we sang the okey kokey before the afternoon sessions began (well, it was the boogie-woogie… but you get the idea). Can you imagine that happening at CR-UK?!?
• The same technology faff happens here – projectors, laptops and PowerPoint really choose their moment to misbehave.
• Just like in the UK, tea breaks are very important!

So that’s just a small slice of what we’re learning, and what we’ve done, and who we’ve met. Some volunteers already based in Nairobi are taken us for a drink later tonight, here in the local area – the neighbourhood is called South C. And we’ve just heard we’re going to be placed in a flat in South B so not too far from here. I’m looking forward to it, meeting serving volunteers makes me think we can really do this, and in a few short months we’ll have found our feet.

But for now –

We’re a little overwhelmed, frustrated to be often kept in the dark about placements and accommodation, and sick of being caged in this compound. Also we’re both incredibly tired from information overload, smiling for two solid days, death by PowerPoint, and not always sleeping well or feeling well.

However, it all feels right. And it’s all so interesting. And soon, soon, our new life will start…

Us at the PCEA Guest House, Nairobi