Kenya

The Republic of Kenya is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Tanzania to the south, and Uganda to the west. Kenya lies on the equator with the Indian Ocean to the south offering a warm humid climate along the coastline. Its capital and largest city is Nairobi.

Learn more about Kenya

Kenya has a rich history dating back to the beginning of man. Human fossils have been found in the region dating back to 2.6 million years of age. Over the decades Kenya has been populated by Northern African, Arabian and Persian settlers. By the late 1890’s Kenya was, for the most part, under British Colonial Rule. The Imperial British East Africa Company acting as colonial administration, divided Kenya’s Bantu-, Nilotic-, and Cushitic-speaking peoples into ethnic classifications based on linguistic variations and locality. Specific ethnic subgroups, called “tribes,” were created in a form that had not existed previously.

Currently, Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic. On April 19th Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in as Kenya's 4th president. The President of Kenya is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the Parliment. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Kenyans in the US

Immigrants from Africa constitute a highly diverse and rapidly growing group in the United States. Census data reports the African foreign-born population doubled in size between 2000 and 2010. Nearly half of African immigrants are naturalized U.S. citizens, and seven-in-ten speak only English or speak it “very well.” Two-fifths of African immigrants have at least a bachelor’s degree and more than one-third work in professional jobs. Based on the 2010 census, there are an estimated 92,638 Kenyan-born persons living in the United States. Most Kenyan Americans are concentrated in the greater Washington, D.C. area, Texas, California, Indiana, Maryland, Georgia, New York, and North Carolina.Culture of Kenya.

The increase in migration of Kenyan’s to the United States was produced by several factors; political instability and a downturn in the economy in the 1980s coupled with a high rate of unemployment (over 35 percent) led to a greater desire to immigrate. Kenyan’s highly value education resulting in more well qualified and educated workers than the market could support. Some immigrants were also attracted to technology-oriented careers in the United States that boomed in availability in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Kenyan’s in Portland, OR

Since 1975, African immigrants, refugees and secondary migrants have been relocating to Portland; records from Multnomah County report African immigrants represent the fourth largest immigrant community after Latino, Asian, and Slavic immigrants. Estimates from 2003 suggest that African immigrants make up 2% of the foreign-born population in the Portland Metro (tri-county) area. Nearly half (45%) of the tri-county area’s African foreign-born population is from eastern Africa, including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Other countries of origin include Sudan, Sierra Leone, Angola, Mali, Liberia, Togo, Chad, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2011 alone, the USA admitted around 15,000 African refugees.

Languages

Kenya has at least 40 different ethnic groups of which typically speak their mother tongues within their own communities. The two official languages, English and Swahili, are used in varying degrees of fluency for communication with other populations. English is widely spoken in commerce, schooling and government.

Kenya's Bantu-speaking peoples account for around two-thirds of the country's population. Originally from West-Central Africa, Bantus began a millennium-long series of migrations referred to as the Bantu expansion. Some settled near the coast and in the plains a short distance inland others the central highlands around Mount Kenya and those in and to the north of the Lake Victoria basin in the far west of the country. Although each of these tribes shares Bantu as a root language, their own languages (of which there are usually many dialects and variations) are not necessarily mutually intelligible.

Nilotes are the second-largest group of peoples in Kenya. They speak Nilo-Saharan languages and came to Southeast Africa by way of South Sudan. As with the Bantu, the Nilotes have adopted many customs and practices from the Cushitic groups, including the age set system of social organization, circumcision, and vocabulary terms.

Cushitic peoples form a small minority of Kenya's population. They speak Afro-Asiatic languages, and originally came from Ethiopia and Somalia in Northeast Africa. Most are herdsmen and Muslim. Cushites are concentrated in the northernmost North Eastern Province, which borders Somalia.

Arabs form a small but historically important minority ethnic group in Kenya. They are principally concentrated along the coast in cities such as Mombasa. A Muslim community, they primarily came from Oman and are engaged in trade.

Added to this mixture, Kenya is also home to large populations of Europeans, Arabs, Indians and Pakistanis, many of whom came to the country in the 19th century.

Similarities between Swahili and English

One of the similarities between Swahili and English is the fact that the Swahili verbs always carry with them the subject and sometimes the object and the tense. This is also found mostly in the English language. For instance there is a word like ‘Ninakula’ which means ‘I am eating’. Also personal pronouns in the Swahili language are all one word just like the English language. For instance there is a world like ‘Mimi’ which means ‘I’ and ‘Sisi’ which means ‘We’.

Swahili and English both have classes of nouns. The English language for instance has several classes of nouns like the personal nouns and impersonal nouns. When you enter the Swahili language, there are a number of noun classes which are eight in number. These would include classes like the N class, M-MI class and the KI-VI class. The KI-VI class for instance is one that includes names that start with KI or VI like ‘Kit’ for chair and ‘Viti’ for chairs. The M-MI class may be quite confusing but it only deals with non-human nouns like ‘Miji’ for ‘towns’, ‘Mji’ for ‘town’ and ‘Mti’ for ‘tree’.

Traditions, Customs, and Beliefs

Kenyans have a variety of traditions, most of which are connected to indigenous religious beliefs and thus vary from group to group. Many customs and beliefs originate from an agricultural lifestyle and contain special prayers, dances, and rituals to encourage different natural events. During droughts, for instance, the Masai strip the bark off of tree, bury a skin around the root of the tree, and pour water over it while placing charms and praying for rain. Other traditions stem from hunting and warring practices, where prayers and rituals would be performed before and after the hunt or raid. The Masai sacrifice a sheep before a raid. Reverence of various animals plays a role in other customs. Kenyan customs toward child rearing in the past have centered around maximizing survival of the offspring. Pregnancy was generally not talked about in part due to the belief that a pregnant women is a target of jealousy. Birth rituals still in practice in the late 70's included burial of the placenta, seclusion, emergence and naming. According to tradition the baby is given a personal name on the fourth day after birth.

Toward the end of the twentieth century, traditional Kenyan customs and beliefs were gradually fading despite attempts to preserve them. Many agricultural and hunting traditions were not easily transferable to the United States and disappeared as Kenyans immigrated. Although Kenyan Americans maintain a close connection to their cultural heritage, they have abandoned many of the older customs that are no longer relevant to their life in the United States.

Cuisine

Traditional Kenyan cuisine reflects the agricultural products of the region. Kenyan recipes are generally inexpensive and nourishing, relying heavily on potatoes, rice, and maize. Maize is found in a variety of recipes, especially a porridge called ugali, which is cooked with meat (chicken, goat, or beef) or greens and is eaten nearly every day. Other dishes include: karanga, a stew cooked with goatmeat, carrots, onions and potatoes; pillau, a spiced rice dish that sometimes includes meat; sukima wiki, a fried dish with chopped spinach, onions, tomatoes or other vegetables; kienyeji, a dish with mashed corn, beans, potatoes, and greens; and michicha, which contains spinach, onions, and tomatoes. Fruits are an important part of the Kenyan diet. People commonly eat bananas, mangos, pineapples, and avocados. Snacks include roasted maize; samosa (fried mincemeat and vegetables); kitumbuo (fried rice bread); and mandaazi (fried dough cakes). Like most regions of the world, Kenyans also eat at international and fast food restaurants.

Dances and Songs

Ngoma, the traditional form of Kenyan music, is generally used to describe both music and dance centered around the drum. Many Kenyan dances and songs serve specific purposes and have a variety of themes such as agricultural (for example, harvest, rain, or fire), mourning, jubilation, fertility, war, and peace. Most of the dances include stamps, hops, squats, slides, and hip swivels, reflecting the occasion for which it is intended. songs are sung in unison, while others are call-and-response, in which one person shouts a line and the others respond.

Holidays

Kenyan Americans celebrate Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas Day along with American holidays such as New Year's Day, Labor Day, and other secular holidays. Specific Kenyan holidays include the anniversary of the country's independence (December 12) and Kenyatta Day (October 20), which honors Kenya's first prime minister, Jomo Kenyatta. The small number of Kenyan immigrants in the United States prohibits lavish celebrations in honor of these events, but Kenyan-American organizations sometimes hold a special event in honor of these holidays.

Greetings and Other Popular Expressions

Common Swahili greetings and other expressions include: Jambo—hello; si jambo—no problems; habari—how are you doing?; nzuri—fine; karibu—welcome; kwaheri—goodbye; asante—thank you; tutaonana—see you; ndiyo—yes; hapana—no; jina langu—my name is; zuri—good; baya—bad; si mbaya—not bad; sawa—ok; kabisa—perfect; samahani—sorry; hebu—excuse me; inshallah—if God wills it; and tafadhali—please.

Family and Community Dynamics

Kenyans place a high value on family relationships and the importance of kinship. Close attention is paid to the maintenance of ancestry and lineage, particularly along the paternal lines. The individual is considered less important than his or her community, which centers around the extended family. Households normally contain at least one extended family member. Often several generations are present. Children sometimes refer to their cousins as “brother” or “sister,” and call their aunts and uncles “mother” and “father.” Grandparents and great-grandparents are revered for their wisdom. Large families are rewarded in many instances, both financially and through the elevation of their status. Kenyan homes are traditionally conservative and strictly patriarchal. Husbands work outside the home while the women are expected to stay within the boundaries of the household. As a result of strict immigration laws, many Kenyans initially immigrate alone and are separated from their families for a long period of time. Kenyans often have a difficult time adjusting to American values, which they perceive as antithetical to their own, especially individualism, competitiveness, and materialism. Most Kenyan immigrants are accustomed to a closely-knit community surrounded by many family members, and they sometimes feel isolated when they first arrive. One of the greatest concerns of Kenyan immigrants is their inability to foster a sense of Kenyan identity in their children, who are born and raised in the United States. The gap between immigrants and their children often fosters tensions as the children have a more difficult time understanding the importance of ancestry and lineage. While Kenyans usually marry within their own ethnic group, the children of Kenyan immigrants are much more likely to marry outside of it. Many Kenyan American parents are involved in Kenyan American organizations that sponsor events to help expose their children to Kenyan culture.

The Role of Women

Through the end of the twentieth century, Kenyan households maintained rigid rules concerning women's roles within the patriarchal household. The importance of these responsibilities is attested by the custom of paying bride-price, which compensated the parents for the loss of their daughters. Married women were under the protection of their husbands and forced to obtain permission from them to open a bank account or acquire a driver's license. Families were always traced from the father's line and all children from a marriage “belonged” to the father. During the last two decades, the emerging women's movement began lobbying for changes in educational, health, and other matters. Kenyan American women are appreciative of the opportunities they find in the United States.

Implications for the SLP

80% of Kenyan immigrants speak a language other than English, and more than ⅓ of do not speak English very well. Given the limited availability of English language classes for adults, coupled with Kenya’s cultural emphasis on speedy self-sufficiency as refugees and immigrants, opportunities to learning English are few. SLPs need to consider the options to overcome language barriers. Kenyan parents value education and want to participate with their children’s teachers.

Kenyan’s and other African immigrants leave their home countries for two major reasons: as immigrants seeking a better life for oneself and one’s children, or as refugees fleeing violence, persecution and the threat of immediate personal harm. SLPs working with African immigrants need to practice culturally competency and sensitivity of potential refugee status. SLPs may find themselves working with speech-language disorders that are associated with trauma.

Kenyan Etiquette and Greeting Customs:

• The most common greeting is the handshake.

• When greeting someone with whom you have a personal relationship, the handshake is more prolonged than the one given to a casual acquaintance.

• Close female friends may hug and kiss once on each cheek instead of shaking hands.

• When greeting an elder or someone of higher status, grasp the right wrist with the left hand while shaking hands to demonstrate respect.

• Muslim men/women do not always shake hands with women/men.

• The most common greeting is “Jambo?” (“How are you?”), which is generally said immediately prior to the handshake.

• After the handshake it is the norm to ask questions about the health, their family, business and anything else you know about the person.

• To skip or rush this element in the greeting process is the height of poor manners.

• People are generally addressed by their academic, professional or honorific title followed by their surname.

• Once a personal relationship has developed, you may be able to address a person by their title and first name, first name alone, or nickname. Wait for the Kenyan to determine that your friendship has reached this level of intimacy.

• Women over the age of 21 are often addressed as “Mama” and men over the age of 35 are often addressed as “Mzee”. Children generally refer to adults as Aunt or Uncle, even if there is not a familial relationship.

Communication Style Considerations:

• Direct and frank communication is not the norm in Kenya. Kenyans will always attempt to qualify what they say so that the message is delivered in a sensitive way. This comes down to wanting to protect people’s face and the relationship. If the relationship is intimate the communication style will become more direct. For newly established and more formal relationships, diplomacy will be of utmost importance.

• Kenyans often use metaphors, analogies and stories to make a point. They are uncomfortable with blunt statements. The SLP may need to modify their dierct communication and delivery style. The listener often has to read between the lines and decipher what may really being said. With this in mind, criticism should be delivered in private and given in a circumspect manner.

• Kenyans may gesture for emphasis when speaking. Loud voices are generally only used during disagreements in business situations, although in rural areas, louder speaking tones are the norm. Showing anger is considered a sign of mental instability. Kenyans pride themselves on their emotional control and expect the same in others.

• Since maintaining honor and dignity are paramount, Kenyans may offer what they believe is the expected response rather than say something that might embarrass the other person. They often go out of their way to keep from doing something that could bring shame to another person.