Excuse me, what!?

This was my reaction fifteen years ago when i first arrived in Germany and found out that people here believe that Kenya is poor. I could not wrap my head around this absurd idea. You should have seen my face when someone said to me: "It must have been really difficult growing up in such a poor country"! Or "You must be so happy to be here and leave all that poverty behind you." I needed someone to walk me through this in-order to understand why everyone here came to think like this.

As far i was concerned my homeland was doing just fine. In-fact every time we watched the news and saw  the floods or snow and wind storms devastating many parts of the world including Germany, we would all be like "Oooh, the poor people"! We would watch our neighboring countries suffer one war after the other. Hundreds and thousands of Rwandese and Somalians murdered, children in Iraq hungered to death, no need even to mention Israelites and Palestines permanent war. My mother would tell us to thank God everyday because not everyone is as blessed as we were.  Many would flee their countries and come to Kenya as refugees. Oh ja, danm right! Europe is not the only one receiving refugees. In fact the largest refugee camp in the world is based in Kenya (Dabaab hosting about 500,000 refugees).

All through my primary school, the government provided school kids with free milk everyday. Every child would get a tetra-pack with either a girl or a boy drawn on it. It might not have been much, but we loved it. We could do anything not to miss a day of school, because if you missed school, you missed the milk.

Did you know that Kenyans associate yellow corn with poverty? This is because this is the kind of corn the government will distribute to the needy in cases of famine and drought. The normal corn we eat is white. In school, we would refuse to eat yellow corn coz we didn't want to be associated with poverty. Not such a poor attitude, huh?

I don´t want to start with the fact that the tea or coffee that you had today in the morning most probably originated from Kenya. No, you can find all that stuff on Wikipedia.

Fact is, i did not know that Kenya was poor until i came to Germany.

But why does the world think that Kenya is poor?

I got the answer to this question after a few years of living here. The media! If you haven't been to some place, the only things you know about that place are the things that you are told and showed on TV and on the internet. The German TV happens to show just the snapshots of slams and dying kids in Kenya. But surely, that can not represent the whole country!

So, in case you are also asking; no! Kenya is not a poor country. It was not difficult growing up there. Kenya is faced with some other real problems though including corruption and tribalism. But that a story for another day.

For now, stay blessed. And thanx 4 stopping by!

Lots of luv,
ItsRose_Beth