With the New Year already upon us, life is going back to normal faster than we can shake off the habits we’ve picked up over the festive period. Also, we will be seeing the efflux of the famed summer bunnies back to their lives abroad after having come home to enjoy the festivities with family and friends here.
The diaspora Kenyans contribute to the numbers that make the holiday season peak time in the tourism and travel industries, as some troop back with their families or bring over friends and lovers to experience life in Kenya.
Whether based in other countries within the African continent or having to take days-long flights from across the world to get back, summer bunnies are Kenyans in the diaspora who come back to enjoy holidays locally. The stories about them are sometimes hilarious, scandalous or just plain misunderstandings about how they operate.
This reporter spoke to some of the summer bunnies and asked them what keeps them making these trips back home.
Nicholas Koech, 27 years old, has been living in the US since 2016. He went over for his college education and is now working in the tech industry there.
Nicholas Koech, 27 years old, has been living in the US since 2016, in a photo with his girlfriend.
“What I like about being back includes getting to taste fresh meat, getting to tour the country and seeing places I had never been to before. I also love the nostalgia of visiting places I grew up in, meeting up with friends I grew up with and reminiscing.
Let’s not forget about meeting family and friends in person in the countryside. I like how chill life is in Kenya, you can have random meet-ups with friends without having to organise “a partying event” weeks in advance. America can be lonely. I feel like it takes less effort to gather friends in Kenya. It’s a stronger community,” says Nicholas.
Weather is also another thing that makes visits, especially in this season that the northern hemisphere is experiencing winter, another thing that makes the holiday season more enjoyable on this end.
“You know, experiencing 12 hours of daylight in Kenya is a blessing, mazee ! In contrast, the winter season (September to February) in the US can be quite gloomy; with early darkness setting in around 5pm. Some people head to work in the morning when it’s dark and return home at 5 pm to find it already dark. Visiting Kenya during this season is a refreshing and uplifting experience, providing a welcome escape from the prolonged darkness.”
With all these to look forward to, stepping foot in the country gives them a few reality checks, however.
“Chaotic traffic! Although I get used to this after three days, during those first few days unaweza chotwa ata na mkokoteni, si nduthi (you could get hit by a pull cart or boda boda).
Culture shift (on my end). In my Kalenjin culture, each family member expects me to visit their home. That means I’ll spend lots of time going from house to house. I have suggested having them gather in one location so we can all meet, but it’s hard for them to understand that I am on Paid Time Off (PTO), which is kind of limited. US workers have an average of 17 days of PTO a year.
In Kenya I have tried popular clubs like Ibiza, it’s really hard to make new friends. I like US clubs since you can easily talk to people. In Kenyan clubs, I feel like people are heavily “guarded” and there’s this notion of, “I am too big to be talking to someone I don’t know.”
Also, always pay the bills when you go out with friends and you are the only summer bunny. People expect you to pay it all. This is just an experience my summer bunny friends and I have had. That doesn’t motivate me to hit up more old friends. Then the “omba omba” culture. When people; from the cab driver (negotiating when they see your US number after accepting a ride), to the bouncers in the club, to that random stranger, security guys, police; expect you to “leave something with them” just because.
This is now about race! When you go to tourist attractions visited by lots of whites, they get better treatment than the indigenous folk. It hurts seeing that happening to you in your own country. When you are used to giving tips to white people in the US and you can’t wait to do the same when you are home, but you get that kind of treatment, you end up withholding on tipping.”
Sports development consultant, Sheila Cleo, 32, has lived outside of Kenya for nine years; going on 10.
Sports development consultant, Sheila Cleo, 32, has lived outside of Kenya for nine years.
Photo credit: POOL
“I have a job that calls for a lot of moving, but I have held residency in Switzerland, Germany, France, UK and Ghana. Nairobi is green, and I never thought I would appreciate that much until I lived in Ghana. Kenya offers very scenic and beautiful spaces and, I know it sounds like a cliché tourism sell point but, Nairobi is beautiful. There’s chaos, but it is organised chaos. Whenever my friends from African countries visit, especially West Africa, I always wait for their return; I know they are coming back in awe of the beauty that is Kenya… can never take that away from us!
When you travel around Africa… systems wise, development wise, variety of activities to do… you will know that Kenya is actually miles ahead of others. The other thing I like about Kenya is the tech system. I work on a sport-based assistive technology project and the few conferences and summits I go to, I kid you not, the most Africans in those sittings are Kenyans.
And as we globally move the AI way I wish we would invest in dominating tech in Africa and lead that space. And it sounds silly, but honestly, I love basic things like booking my bus to shags on a platform, payment systems. And I know you think this is about other African countries but trust me, I disliked shopping in Germany because I felt like the heavy cash-reliant system was annoying.
Kenyans are so smart. You see street smarts in Nigeria and they are highly pushed by scarcity and things like that, survival for the fittest type thing. But in Kenya, as much as we are heading there, we haven’t reached that extreme yet. The smart in Kenya is really a lot of brain!
Get this, I love service industry in Kenya. Let me tell you something, we are good in especially hospitality service! You haven’t needed service in Ghana or in Germany. In Ghana, there’s a somewhat unbothered, unaware feeling.
A part of me believes it’s because business owners take advantage of the cheap labour and hire just everyone and their mums, and very little investment to training. Someone would rather lose out on a sale than find loose change for the money they have! The people in Ghana are friendly but there’s not much zeal for how service is being offered; it’s almost like they are doing you a favour: receptionists, airport staff, waiters, and in public service offices. The service industry in Germany is so rigid, uptight… I find people to be cold.
Kenyans are friendly, I believe. If a Kenyan doesn’t know the direction to a place, they will walk with you to the next person passing and ask the question for you. Kenyans really don’t mind their business both in good and in bad. And that’s great because sometimes minding people’s business is the difference between tragedy and solution. There’s a cold ‘mind your business’ culture in Germany that takes away the basic human experience.
“What I do not like about Kenya is that, as soon as I land, my mind shifts to battle mode. When I disembark from a plane, I am already preparing for some attempt to be scammed or get money swindled from me. Most recently, one health officer claimed that my yellow fever jab had expired and I needed to do another. He only backed down when I lied that I work with WHO and I know that the jab is now valid for life. So I’m constantly always on the lookout for some form of corruption camouflaged in treachery.
Secondly, I do not like how Kenyans, especially in urban Nairobi, have consumed an excess of Western podcasts and media. As exposed and as developed as Kenya is, especially when it comes to digital media, it has also created a “flock-like behaviour and thinking”. So it’s almost as if everyone is having scripted conversations:
Besides politics, there’s no conversation that you can say is authentically Kenyan when you sit in a gathering. It’s like a broken record. And I say this because the more I have travelled, the more I have realised tunapenda kuiga sana (we like imitating a lot)! A Nigerian in UK’s tone switches based on who they are talking to; that’s a survival skill. We think we have a Kenyan culture but the cultural erosion is very evident when you are a Kenyan who spends time out there and come back home!
The culturally appealing things; even in the music scene, like rumba, mugithi nights; are consumed by an older or rural population. If you go to Nigeria, for example, “high life” nights have mixed crowds of age, race and so on. If you go to Ghana, local chop bars – as they call them – even have young people who make Sunday after-church plans to go to the local and eat local soup. It’s a special Sunday plan! For us, special is foreign… to be cultured is to do the foreign… We like to deny it, but I think we are a country with a high cultural erosion. And, even now as we slowly start to embrace mila (cultures and traditions), it is on the premise that we have seen the rest of Africa profit from it,” sums Sheila.
Val Chumo, is a 25-year-old, who lives in Western Australia. She moved to Australia in 2019 and currently works as a registered nurse with the government of Western Australia.
Val Chumo, is a 25-year-old, who lives in Western Australia.
“I enjoy a bunch of stuff, honestly, but reconnecting with my mum, dad and friends takes the front seat. As much as we catch up from time to time via social media, nothing beats seeing them in real life and time, laughing together and that “catching a vibe” together brings so much satisfaction!
Ooh! And the food? You don't get food like chapo pasua (chapatti with a filling of your choice), chips masala or mutura in Australia. (Laughs). The other day, I was joking with my mum how there's never been a day in my life I didn't appreciate Farmer’s Choice sausages now while living abroad. I hate to say this, but someone on X (formerly Twitter) once said ‘sausages abroad taste like broken dreams’ and I couldn't agree more!
Sherehe, sherehe (party after party)! One thing about Kenya, when it comes to the department of sherehe , they get the job done! And I love it! From time to time, everybody likes to have good time, yeah? Not to say that there is no proper partying abroad, but it is so limiting because there is always that back thought of “Oh, I have a 6am shift tomorrow”, “Oh, uni” and all that shebang. In Kenya, my friends took me around to hidden gems and these were easily the best memories / core memories of my life. Shout out to all my Kenyan friends!
“However, the traffic and the road safety in Kenya is such a pressing issue. Nothing will humble you like the congested roads back home. Traffic rules in Kenya completely mean nothing. Coming back home from overseas after a while, where traffic is seamless and traffic rules are stringent, then being put in over speeding and overlapping situations is so scary, to be honest!” closes Val.
For others, coming home is a business and opportunity for teachable moments for their families. President, architect and entrepreneur at BizSolutions 360 Inc, Peter Karenge Ng’ang’a’s company bridges the space between US and Africa in the areas of architecture, engineering and construction. His company is based in Washington DC but a large part of his project management office is in Nairobi; where they do business development.
Peter Karenge Ng’ang’a’s company bridges the US-Africa space in the areas of architecture, engineering and construction.
“Our key leverage in this is being able to impact lives. Our mission is to transform communities and power growth, especially where it is needed more; like in Africa, where there are economic challenges. I’m always back and forth, visiting maybe five times a year,” says Peter, who’s been in the US for 15 years, having gone for studies.
“I’ve been to more than 50 countries and Kenya is one of the most beautiful places to be at. You’ll be pressed to find beaches more beautiful than the ones in Mombasa. We have an amazing environment, be it at my farm or when visiting restaurants, hotels and clubs.
My offices are along Kamiti Road and I like places around the locale. I love the good meat at Kikao Chill and Vibe, catching drinks at Carabona, and Wine and Bottles in Westlands. I probably did a lot more nyama choma than I should this time around.
My family and I usually go to the village in Murang’a and the farm in Sagana, where I do a lot of avocado and macadamia growing, and raising dairy cattle and goats. My family feeds the animals and I recently just taught my son to be a man. It is important for them to touch the soil of their fathers and connect with their people; they’re from a long line of farmers.”
But even as he enjoys all the things that come with being able to get the best of both worlds, he says the current dollar inflation has also made business a little harder to run. “They say those people who don’t travel think only their mothers can cook. There are many things around the economy we can change. But I also feel sometimes we are too political and look towards government too much to help us out. We can find some solutions in the private sector space.”
His recent visit also saw the company finalise a project with the Department of Defence on defence threat reduction for Kenya Veterinary Vaccine Production Institute in the Industrial Area to treat effluence safely from the facility
