Father and Son Outing

Some of you know that I have become the Guardian for a student of mine named Abdalla. He only had one year, at the age of 13, with his father before he passed away. Now I have assumed that role of being father to him. I very much enjoy and am thankful that God has placed us together.

We had an unexpected holiday last week, a day to honor the death of the first Kenyan president, President Moi. Abdalla had the day off from his attachment and for me school was closed. I went online and found a snorkeling and dolphin excursion located about 3 hours north in a tourist village called Watamu. Watamu is heavily populated by Italians. Awakened at 4 am, a quick breakfast, and then off to get a Matatu to transport us. We arrived to the resort about 9 am where we met Captain Fadalla who escorted us to the beach and onto the boat. There were about 20 Italians, me an American, and Abdalla the only African aboard.

Our first stop beyond the reef was a sandbar where we could get off the boat and swim, from there we saw several dolphins. Abdalla persuaded me to bring along my Canon digital camera, which I gave to him to use for the day. He had fun learning the new features and took many pictures for his memories.

Our next stop was to begin snorkeling, he was excited, but at the same time hesitant. Like most Africans, his only experience with the ocean is in shallow water. He got in and began to swim, put his mask into the water and became fearful after seeing the depth of the ocean floor. He slowly proceeded until his knee banged into the coral. He then returned to the boat where he was secure.

Our next stop was on another sand island to swim and take more pictures before we proceeded into Mida Creek for a tour of the many mangroves. Further along the creek we stopped for a barbeque seafood lunch. We began with octopus stew, grilled lobster, shrimp, and swordfish. It was really quite good and all a first for Abdalla. There were 7-8 long tables set up, each one filled with each boats’ passengers. Besides the Kenyans cooking, serving, and the ships crews, Abdalla was the only African present. I was not aware of this, since Africans have now become just another person to me. But what I did notice was how no one acknowledge him. Even when one of the African waiters came around the table to serve each of us the shrimp, Abdalla extended to pick a skewer and the waiter said, “these aren’t for you, but for the white people.”

Discrimination is quite prevalent here. Tribalism is a big problem here. There are 42 tribes in Kenya and each protects and promotes those from their tribes. To get a job here you either have a tribal connection or you pay a bribe to get it. It is the way to politicians rule the country. When in power they surround themselves with others from their tribe and become very corrupt. What they say is, “now it is our turn to eat.” Even I am treated differently than the way the Kenyans treat one another. All in all we had a very nice, long 16 hour day together exposing him to things he would probably never be able to do.

One by one we will make this a better world!