Kenya Diary - Part Six

Photo: At Queen's Cave, Aberdare National Park (with waterfall in background).

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

This morning I printed out the “final” version of my paper to hand in tomorrow. However, I did not anticipate just how wonderful the interview this afternoon would be. I met with Dr. Arthur Kemoli of the University of Nairobi, a professor of literature and prominent Kenyan composer of choral music. He worsening vision keeps him at home for the most part these days, so I visited him there. After spending almost two hours with him and his wife, I felt compelled to include some of his views and two direct quotes in the paper. I guess I’ll just have to get in printed in the morning at Tangaza.

Dr. Kemoli has been writing music since his early twenties, and has produced many works for the church and that choirs have sung in competition. He also founded the Kariokor choir, which has toured in Kenya and overseas. He has used his experience of English church music with respect to the application of compositional craft in a Western sense to indigenous African materials. This began when he was Assistant Choirmaster of All Saints Cathedral under Graham Hyslop in the 1960s. After finishing at the University of Nairobi in 1970 with B.A. in English Literature with First Class honors, he received a scholarship to study at Kings College, Cambridge (M.A., 1971), where he sang in the choir under the iconic choirmaster, Sir David Willcocks. He simultaneously began a B.Mus. degree at Durham University, but abandoned this after the first part to concentrate on a Ph.D. from Sussex University in literature.

In 1968, Dr. Kemoli started the University of Nairobi Choir, which he has continued to lead since his return as a member of the faculty in 1974 (literature). His interests in music and literature continued in parallel, and he sensed a need to present music of African origins to that and other choirs. At this time he felt that it was a “waste of time to try to teach African rhythm to Europeans.” Also, there was a movement at the university to begin to discuss and preserve oral literature of African traditions, and this is closely tied to traditional music. There had been, at one time, discussion of the formation of Department of Performing Arts at Nairobi University, but Kemoli says they are “still dreaming.”

The origins of a Kenyan art music may be traced, Kemoli claims, to the efforts of Graham Hyslop at All Saints Cathedral. At first, Hyslop extracted the series of pitches from traditional melodies and used these for melodic material for settings such as “Out of the Deep.” The melody was actually sung to Hyslop by The Rt. Rev. Festus Olang’, the first Anglican Archbishop from Africa, but by divorcing the tune from the rhythmic elements, the original form of the tune is lost. Kemoli says that Hyslop also “missed the point” in other settings that did this as well, such as his Magnificat and Nunc dimittis.

Later, Hyslop began to employ both the rhythms and melodic content of African music, resulting in pieces such as his “Alleluya,” which is based on a Turkana “orobo” (a children’s song). This, according to Kemoli, “showed the way.” The “Alleluya” was published by Oxford University Press.

This was followed by other effective settings, such as “The Angel and the Shepherds.” Hyslop discovered that the rhythm was an absolutely essential element of African musical identity. These works could also be used freely as concert repertoire, and they set very high standards for church music.

The question of whether or not the composer should make all music “accessible” to congregations for participation prompted Kemoli to ask, “How much do you cater to the congregation, and how much do you commune with your God as a composer?” Dr. Kemoli is, it must be said, somewhat prone to stating things grandly. For example, in a copy of an academic paper he gave me is the statement:

“…the composer should leave [the masses] behind, venture into the spiritual realm and return with ‘the message’ which is then conveyed through written music.”

This is a lofty vision, to be sure, but Kemoli expresses some frustration with the relative stagnation of church music in Kenya, believing that great creativity is not being tapped or desired by congregations. He asserts that Western compositional technique and training has much to contribute in an authentic African context. This prompted the statement:

“People should aspire to great creativity and be inspired by other cultures. You don’t descend to mediocrity just because you are an African.”

I thought this statement was especially relevant, and one could delete “African” and insert any identity, ethnic group or nationality and equally embrace the sentiment. The point is that always looking inward for an “authentic” expression of identity cuts one off from the exchange of ideas between cultures and traditions – a necessary cross-pollination to maintain creative energy.

Dr. Kemoli, in fact, gave me two documents that were the lecture notes for presentations given in 2001 and 2002 to the First and Second (respectively) Kenya National Symposia on Music at Egerton University. Since they are not journal articles, they will require some adaptation, but I have his leave to edit as necessary to see if these might be submitted to the Choral Journal. There is a reasonable amount of work necessary to frame these in context for an American publication, so I believe a co-authoring credit may be in order if I can get these into shape.

After a truly wonderful afternoon, Maurice and I headed back to town, and I met Charles for “tea” at the Fairview to assist in celebrating the completion of his paper. At about 6:20 p.m. I walked back up the hill to Flora, had dinner, and dove into the revisions of my own paper, including Kemoli’s material. I believe the paper is stronger for having sought and included his views.

I am now preparing to watch World Cup soccer tonight – England is playing Sweden. They didn’t look all that wonderful in their last match (in spite of winning vs. Trinidad & Tobago), so we’ll see how they do tonight. The soccer (“football” I should say) matches have become rather a social event here at Flora Hostel, with people crowding into the few TV lounges in various wings to watch. It is really an amazing thing to see, and a pity that soccer has not become as popular in the United States. I suppose this is just another way that the US manages to ignore the rest of the world. We really must stop doing that…

(9:12 p.m.)


Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Today was the wrap-up day of the MIAS course, and it was a very satisfying day. After our morning general session and the final class with Dr. Waruta, I was called upon to play one of my least favorite incarnations of the “ugly American” in a skit. In this instance, I played the role of a fundamentalist, charismatic preacher who berated a congregation of Africans for consulting their traditional healers, insisting that the Bible was all they needed, that it was the literally word of God, and that they’d burn in hell if they kept going to their “witch doctors.” I felt like taking a shower after the performance (how can people actually think like that???).

Following the skit (I will probably not be winning any acting awards), I was invited to join the final faculty meeting of the session, which was a nice gesture on the part of Fr. Kirwen. This gave me a chance to meet the other lecturers (except for Prof. Oyugi, who had to fly to Paris for a meeting of some sort, and had left early). I did appreciate being included in this, but I also understood why including me before the last day would not have been appropriate, as I was still in the role of student in the course. I guess I “graduated” today in a way, returning from ‘faculty exile.’

Tomorrow will be a very early morning, as the taxi is coming for me at about 6:20 a.m. Charles, Sr. Mary Sebastian (who was in my class) and I are sharing a taxi to Tangaza, where we are to arrive by 7:00 a.m. for the trip to the Aberdares National Park. I’ve been told to expect some chilly weather, so I’m bringing my windbreaker, but to be honest, Kenyans have an odd notion of “chilly.” I think Minnesota in the winter would be pretty shocking to them!

From here on until I head home, I’m more or less in the role of a tourist, but I am grateful for the MIAS program, because I will not look at things with a tourist’s eyes from “within the bubble.” Having had to engage the culture on its own terms, I can readily see that the western-style hotels and conveniences are, in many respects, artificialities in the Kenyan landscape. These do not say anything about the average person trying to make a living here. I would guess that most people who come here to “see Kenya” see only the Disneyland version of passion fruit juice and luxury safaris. That is not where the people live, or at least not the vast majority of them.

The truth is that Kenyans themselves are very kind, generous, welcoming and resourceful people. Sadly, they have had to be clever to survive the neglect that their government has offered them for so long. There is an educated, mostly trilingual, workforce here, and foreign investments could produce a significant industrial and commercial infrastructure, but there are a number of considerable impediments. Foremost, the tendency of government officials to line their own pockets with money from various projects meant to improve the country is extreme. The Kibaki government has not seen fit to clamp down on this, probably because so many officials of the government itself would be implicated.

So, instead of improving roads, airstrips, Internet connectivity and the telephone system, things are more or less in a precarious state all the time as funds bleed away. If (and that is a big “if”) stability and integrity could be brought to the government’s use of its resources, and if improvements could be seen, I believe that Kenya would be an extremely attractive place for commercial growth – particularly for companies from the English-speaking world.

There has been some attempt to attract foreign capital by adopting a laissez-faire capitalist approach. This has produced a number of disasters, including the choking off of a true public bus system in Nairobi (“Citi Hoppa” is a private company, much more concerned with packing people in like sardines and charging high prices at peak times than providing a public service). Also of note is the failure of the supermarket giant Uchumi corporation, which left thousands without jobs – some after 20 years of employment – and no severance pay or benefits. This is a bit like the Enron meltdown, but imagine it in the context of a society with essentially no social security net of any kind. Even the weak and under-funded US Social Security system is bliss compared to the situation here.

“Pure capitalism” is a phase that the West went through and ultimately rejected. It must be tempered with some regulation and oversight. Honestly, a little socialism would probably be very helpful in Kenya, at least with respect to bringing the most good to the greatest number of people. I’m not advocating for a communist dictatorship or anything of the sort, but it would seem that the problems of poor Kenyans cannot simply wait while the markets sort themselves out. I know that some of my libertarian friends will object to my notion of social engineering in this respect, but there really is no other way to at least set Kenya on a path of marginally improving living conditions for all its citizens. A balance will have to be found, of course, to avoid making investment in Kenya onerous due to an untenable tax burden and excessive regulation, but right now it is the Wild West, and the average Kenyan definitely does not have a six-gun.

(6:14 p.m.)


Thursday, June 22, 2006

Today a group of about 15 of us from the Maryknoll program plus Kennedy, the Administrative Assistant, took a day trip to the Aberdare National Park. The mountain range, named after a president of the Royal Geographical Society (ignoring, of course, what the local people called it) was “discovered” by Scottish explorer Joseph Thomson, who must have been sucking up to Lord Aberdare. The Kikuyu, however, who had farmed the slopes of these mountains for centuries, called them Nyandarua, which means ‘the drying hide,’ a reference to their shape.

Although elephants and many species of antelope inhabit the park, we only saw a few antelope specimens (bushbucks and waterbucks), and a few seeming flightless hens known as sparfowl. The real attraction, however, was the natural beauty of the mountain ranges and several spectacular waterfalls. We entered the park through the Mutubio Gate, coming from the direction of Naivasha, on the floor of the Great Rift Valley (famous for its lake, which is inhabited by thousands of flamingos), following a very steep and winding climb into the mountain range. We first went into the park and turned northward, stopping at Chania Falls. A newly-constructed viewing platform afforded some excellent photographs, but most people went all the way to the bottom of the steep path to the pool where the water crashes down and forms a constant spray. The lush tropical vegetation seems to do very well with this constant supply of mist, even at the altitude of 10,000 feet.

We doubled back and stopped at Magura Falls, which is also delightful, but made all the more interesting for the large, semi-circular cave that is carved out behind the falling water. It is easily accessible and quite possible to take photographs through the falling water from inside the cave, which a number of the group did (see the photo for this blog entry). The climb down (and back up) was not as arduous as the one for Chania Falls, but at 10,000 feet, a little hiking goes a long way, and most of us were feeling it when we got back to the minivans.

The next, and most breathtaking stop, was the Karuru Falls, (275 m), in three steps. We made our way to a large observation platform where we unpacked and ate our picnic lunch of sandwiches, soda, and bananas. This is one of those spots that is a bit difficult for people who have problems with heights (like Maurice), as the platform itself is perched on the edge of what must be at least a 300-foot drop. One can see two other waterfalls across the vast expanse of the valley here, including Gura Falls, the highest in Kenya (300 m in a single plunge). These falls are quite distant, and from the vantage of our viewing platform, they were obstructed a bit by trees, but could easily be seen.

Unfortunately, hiking more freely isn’t possible in the park unless you take a park ranger (complete with rifle) with you – a sensible precaution considering the potential dangers of the wildlife. Only the short trails from the roads to the waterfall viewing areas were approved for our use without escort. We did, however, see a white woman hiking, accompanied by two rangers and another man. One ranger had a large caliber rifle (looked like a .303 or 30-06), and the other had the ubiquitous AK-47 (not sure what game is hunted with that…). She was, we learned, bird watching. You have to be a hard core birdwatcher to be willing to do it where you require armed bodyguards.

After the picnic, we headed back to the minivans. These were not just simple Toyota minivans, but had been modified with roofs that popped up into canopies that allowed the vehicle’s occupants to stand up and photograph the surroundings while still being shielded from the sun – very nice. Also, the two vehicles in our party were in radio contact, which was certainly helpful. The tour company, Safari Seekers, obviously knows what it is doing, which is reassuring since I’m going off to Masai Mara with the same firm for three nights beginning tomorrow.

At about 2:30 p.m. we began the drive back to Nairobi. There was clearly strong interest in seeing the World Cup match that began at 5:00 p.m. (Ghana vs. USA), but because of traffic and stopping to let people off at various places, I suspect that most did not get back until the half. By the way, Ghana beat the US 2-1 (though I think some of the calls of the referees were rather suspect).

At any rate, after weeding out bad shots, I took a total of some 70 photographs today. I’m presently charging batteries to supply my camera for the Masai Mara excursion. We should see considerably more animals there, as there is no dense forest for cover. Masai Mara is essentially what people from the West imagine when they think of Africa – open plains dotted with trees, great herds of various antelope species, lions, cheetahs, and, of course, elephants.

I’m beginning to feel increasingly like it will be good to be home in the US. I’ve enjoyed this trip immensely, and have learned a great deal, but there is a stress associated with being out of one’s normal environment (unless, of course, you stay somewhere long enough for the new place to become ‘normal’). After a month of new discoveries, my psyche could do with just a bit of predictability.

OK – time to pack and get bags ready for storage (I’m only taking my backpack to Masai Mara). Thankfully, I don’t have to be up nearly as early as this morning, as the Safari Seekers folks are coming between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. I might even slip in a quick e-mail check after breakfast at the ACK Cybercafe if I’m feeling ambitious.

(8:14 p.m.)


Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Masai Mara was a marvelous experience overall. I wish, however, that I had been mentally prepared for camping. I was not sure about the actual level of facilities, as there is a range of accommodations. In fact, some of the more expensive lodges have “tents,” which is to say that the walls are canvas, but there are all the modern luxuries, including full bathrooms, electricity, etc. Basically, it is a luxury hotel with canvas walls (to give that sense of ‘adventure’ without any actual discomfort). This, however, was not where I stayed.

The type of accommodation we had was a “budget campsite.” This is not to say that we were uncomfortable. Safari Seekers, the company we used, maintains a campsite outside the Sekenani Gate, which is the easiest to reach coming from Nairobi (though, given the atrocious state of the roads, what should be a 3-hour drive takes nearly six). There are about 10 tents, all pitched on concrete slabs with canopies over the actual tents. Inside the very sturdy canvas tents are two bunks – metal frames with mattresses, a step up from a cot. There are western-style toilets in a shed at one end of the campsite (though, these are at the cleanliness level one would expect from being out in the wilderness), and also two shower stalls. You can have a hot shower, but one of the local Maasai guards working at the camp has to activate the “hot water heater.” This is a 55-gallon metal drum with piping attached propped up on stone blocks, under which a fire is built when one is planning to shower. Obviously, this requires some lead time.

The only true inconvenience was that I did not have a bath towel. I always, as a result of previous bad experiences, pack a washcloth and hand towel, so I had those, and it is possible to dry one’s entire body with a hand towel (though this requires a bit of practice). So, I was able to handle the situation reasonably well. Even so, I considered switching to the Sarova Mara Lodge for the last of the three nights, but at $155 per night for a single, I figured I could sleep in a tent again. Safari Seekers charged us US $330 for three nights, including all transportation (from/to Nairobi and within the park) and full board. On top of this, we paid 3 days’ park fees at $30 per day, plus about KSh 4,000 in tips to the driver, cooks and camp guard. So, for two people, the cost for 3 nights camping was a total of under $450 – not bad for an all-inclusive experience, including an experienced guide to drive us in the park and assist us in spotting wildlife.

The drive out was interesting as we passed through the Great Rift Valley. There are many interesting volcanic features, including craters and the cones of extinct volcanoes. There are, apparently, some 30 active or semi-active volcanoes in the Rift, which makes sense since the area is pulling apart through tectonic activity at the rate of some 2 cm per year. This is also an area where Kenya is blessed with the opportunity to produce abundant geothermal power, but only a few efforts have been made in this regard, which is a missed opportunity (among so many in Kenya). One of the oddest sights as one passes along the floor of the Rift Valley on the road to Narok is a satellite telecommunications station on the valley floor with two enormous satellite dishes. The view of this in the background with Maasai herding cattle and scrubby, semi-desert terrain is surreal.

Between the village of Nitulele and the town of Narok (the last town of any size before Masai Mara – 2 hours out), the road goes from bad to unimaginably horrible. The pavement has decayed to such a point that in some places, the strip of tarmac has shrunk to a ribbon too thin for any vehicle to fit on it. Dirt tracks on either side with large rocks and potholes are the only recourse. There are also sections wide enough for a vehicle, but so pocked with potholes that driving on the side in the dirt is still a better option. The amount of dust kicked up by vehicles is amazing, and it will cause a pretty good coughing fit if you forget to close your window as a cloud drifts by. The roads are not just physically punishing for those attempting to use them, but are also dangerous. We saw a very clear indication of this on the very stretch of road indicated above, where a large truck had overturned, blocking most of the roadway, and a Peugeot had run off the road into a deep ditch.

In spite of the exasperating sections of the drive, Masai Mara is still worth the effort. We saw most of the species for which the park is famous: Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles, impala, wildebeest, hartebeest, topi, reedbuck, giraffe, elephant, hippopotamus, eland, African buffalo, ostrich, marabou stork, vultures, sparfowl, guinea hens, secretary birds, various other birds of prey, lions (quite a few), hyena, cheetah, and black backed jackals. The antelope were fairly plentiful, even though we had come before the immense wildebeest migration of July in which over a million animals come up from the southern Serengeti Plain in Tanzania. We were able to get surprisingly close to many of the animals, who don’t seem to pay too much attention to the tour vehicles or to humans in them. Getting out of the vehicles is, however, not a good idea (and not really allowed). The usual routine is an early morning drive (6:30 a.m. or so), a return to camp around 10 or 11 for breakfast, down time at camp, a late lunch around 3:00 p.m., and then a late afternoon drive from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m., when all visitors must leave the park. The animals are mostly dormant at midday.

We also saw some interesting animals around the camp (and also heard some at night, including a family of elephants that passed pretty close to our tent at about 4:00 a.m. the first night). There was a troop of about 20 baboons in the area, but I wasn’t able to photograph them, as they were only around at or before dawn. There was also a small clan of vervet monkeys, who seemed to do pretty well picking through the trash in the camp for leftovers. These were easier to photograph, as they were active in the morning when we were at breakfast. They could be approached to a degree, and were easily visible from the tin-roofed pavilion where our meals were served. We also saw a group of mongooses move along the edge of the clearing, and I tried to photograph them as well, but they would let out a rough, high-pitched growl to warn their fellows and hide in the brush if approached, so any photos were pretty distant. Of course, due to the presence of local Maasai, we had the occasional herd of goats or sheep wander through. One group of goats was being herded by two small boys (maybe about age 6), who kept one eye on the goats and one on us. After a while, they ignored both the goats and us for a while and played with the soccer ball they had improvised out of what looked like a stuffed stocking.

After two full days of drives in the park, plus the evening drive the night we arrived, we were ready to return to Nairobi on Monday. I would recommend this experience for anybody who does not mind camping, just as long as you are prepared for actual camping. It is astounding to see wildlife so close, and the landscape is breathtaking and unlike any other place I’d seen.

We arrived back in Nairobi yesterday (Monday) at about 2:00 p.m., which gave me time to visit the ATM, and to check e-mail (I’d been suffering from withdrawal). Oddly, my mobile phone worked in Masai Mara, so I was able to pick up messages from both Dr. Kemoli, whom I’ll be meeting later this afternoon, and Fr. Kirwen, with whom I had dinner last night. I got a cab to the Nakumatt in Karen, which was to be our meeting point. There I was able to purchase packing tape for my box of books, a red permanent marker and drawing paper to make a label, and some magazines for the plane. Nakumatt is yet another one of the oddities of Kenya. Amidst the poverty and challenges of the poorer Kenyans, these stores are brightly lit, spotlessly clean, western-style grocery and general goods stores. It is basically a Kenyan Wal-Mart of sorts, frequented by middle- and upper-class Kenyans and with a much higher concentrations of whites than anywhere else – particularly the one in the suburb of Karen, a well-to-do suburb where many whites live. I have to admit, it was really a relief to be in a grocery store that felt like one in Europe or America (even though the size of my local Wal-Mart completely dwarfs Nakumatt).

Fr. Kirwen and I had dinner at a lovely Japanese restaurant in Westlands called “Tokyo.” It was slightly odd to have Kenyans in Japanese dress serving and cooking, but the food was excellent, and the owner, who is Japanese, came out to greet us and ask how our meal was. Kirwen and I talked about many things, including how we might increase the number of Saint Mary’s students coming to Tangaza for the Maryknoll program. In all honesty, I believe that this experience is a must for any of our M.A. in Human Services students. The ability to adapt to and understand differing cultures is a critical skill in this field, as well as in any kind of ministry, and I intend to push very hard for having SMU graduate students attend the program in the future.

Today is the last day in Kenya. My flight tonight is at almost midnight, so I have the full day in Nairobi. I’m meeting Maurice at 11:00 a.m., and will visit Dr. Kemoli in the afternoon. I have to be out of the room at Flora by noon, so I’ll finish packing after a trip to ACK this morning for an e-mail check and blog update. There are so many things to reflect upon as I prepare to leave Africa, and my final blog update after returning to the US will attempt to present some of the overall thoughts and impressions, as well as the profound effect the journey has had on me.

(8:50 a.m.)