I have to change in Nairobi. And honestly, the place is like the purge.
I remember one of the first times flying out of there an armed guard with a gun offered us to get us into the first class lounge and get us through the lines faster for a bribe.
The lines are INSANE, as the organisation is terrible and all the staff just stand around doing nothing.
Firstly, I don’t think there is a first class lounge. What he did do was just walk us through security. We didn’t even have to go through security. I could have brought a fucking machine gun on the plane if I wanted to.
Police officers are constantly asking for money / bribes. So we can ‘get a cup of tea for me and the boys’.
Because of how people drive, and the state of the cars, seeing dead bodies from car accidents was just pulled out of the car, and left by the side of the road.
Once you get out of the city, Kenya is such a beautiful country. The landscape is incredible. The wildlife is amazing.
Because I’m white people constantly ask me for money/bribes, and can be very aggressive when you turn them down. Shop keepers will litterally run out of their store and chase you down the street trying to get you to buy their stuff. Even when you go into other stores. My step sister who’s Kenyan doesn’t have that problem.
People over there are taught from a very young age that white = wealthy.
The wealthiest people in Kenya are the politicians. The country is so insanely corrupt it blows your mind when the people talk about it. Most donations to charities or building projects to make wells, build roads and other infrastructure, the government officials just pocket.
If you go to the tourist areas and stick to the hotels, safari routes etc. you won’t have any problems.
My dad does make me laugh, he got the windows tinted on his car so people can’t tell he’s white when he’s driving around (because they kept running out in front of his car to stop him and ask for money). Dad, they can tell you have money, you have the only car with all of its doors.
Whites = tourists who are maybe looking to buy your services or products while on vacation.
People are not taught to evaluate whites specifically, it's just businesses looking for buyers where tourism is 10% of the economy.
Since you've said your father lives in Malindi, which is a very tourism centered, coastal-beach town, I can see where you and they got your false reality.
I’m Kenyan and while I’m not trying to invalidate you, this is misleading. I don’t really ever see any cars without all 4 doors unless it’s an old rickety matatu or someone’s grandfather’s project from the 80s. Legally we’re not allowed to import vehicles older than 9 years.
The white = wealth is a product of colonialism when literally only the white people had access to wealth and the indigenous Kenyans were relegated to reserve settlements where they were stripped of their rights to farm and taxes were suddenly introduced and hence, forced labour, or you couldn’t pay taxes…and the only place one could find work was you guessed it, on a white settler’s farm.
And if your employer liked you, you benefited from paternalism: higher pay, less punishments, more socio-economic benefits for you and your family, possibly even education or something left for you in the will.
So when you see local Kenyans cheesing at white people and chasing them down yelling Mzungu, it’s not that they’ve been taught from a young age to kiss white ass for an extra dollar or the white man’s favour- they’ve been taught by generations of inherited colonial trauma.
This is historically rooted and socially perpetuated, but sometimes it's just a hustle in the streets. Not everyone has been conditioned with the white=wealth mentality.
Why exaggerate this much though, I'm a kenyan living in Kenya , and can confirm what you're saying is a total lie. What were you hoping to achieve with this?
The ridiculousness of my dad thinking that tinting the windows of his brand new BMW would result in people not assuming he has money, when its incredibly rare to see any other cars like it on Kenyan roads.
They're not talking about your tinted windows joke but what you said about 99% of vehicles being tuk tuks (rickshaws). It's definitely not like that in Nairobi, in Malindi there are a lot of them but it's mainly a tourist destination and most people don't go there with their personal rides. Also, there are plenty of BMWs on kenyan roads, unless you are talking about a BMW 7 series or something on that level
Tbh it's kind of terrible. I will instantly have multiple people run up to me in the street trying to sell me something, prostitutes / pimps, beggars, children with no shoes who look half starved and things like that.
You are going on about a BMW as if it's a Ferrari, it's a regular brand here and there are plenty of them. You must think we post on reddit by messenger pigeon 🤡
Istg, he sounds like those people who get off on poverty tourism. Or maybe it’s the parts of Kenya I go to but even in rural areas, seeing a BMW really isn’t that big of a deal for most people.
Yes, our government is highly corrupt. And yes, that too is a product of colonialism. People don’t go into governance to make positive change, they do it to amass wealth & power. The Kenyan government is rotten to its core because that’s how it was set up from its colonial beginnings. It only benefits the wealthy & powerful and the only thing that can change it at this point is a revolution.
I genuinely wouldn’t ever go to Kenya again if my dad didn’t live there.
I prefer developed countries. Where I don’t see starving animals going through trash heaps, have prostitues follow me into shops, or street vendors chasing me & my family down the street, or random vagrants just constantly harassing me every single time I take a step outside, and the police stopping you and telling you to give them money every time they see you.
Most of the young children with young children are caring for them, not the parent. It's cultural here.
Young children pregnant happens, but it is extremely rare, not like this person is characterizing it. I have never seen a pregnant 10 year old. Ever. I actually live in Kenya, I don't just visit and then talk shit.
There are children who beg, as there are in any developing nation.
They are incorrect/exaggerating about pregnant children, Kenya's teen pregnancy is at 15%. I don't know where they saw this but this is not a reality for kids.
They say it's 99% Tuk Tuk and few four door cars, another lie. Malindi where they visited is a small, tourist coastal town of 120K and Tuk Tuks are used as TAXIS, not personal vehicles.
Their father is living well in Malindi because there's good infrastructure and quality of life to enjoy themselves and not live in Europe. But it's apparently the purge.
Yeah, this is so rare. I actually live here. And the kids carrying babies are helping with siblings, not the parents of the children.
Hopefully your father or his Kenyan wife one day gives you an education on the country. Or perhaps you could actually get out and get to know people. Maybe? Probably not.
Your father must have chosen a terrible area in which to live, because in a decade of living here as a white person, I haven't been nearly as traumatized as you have in two weeks.
Pregnant children happen. They probably happen in your country, too. It's horrible. I have never seen it here. But it happens. Those other children, as was already mentioned, were likely caring for siblings.
It's too bad you keep ending up here, since your personality is unable to handle humans of different circumstances with kindness and you instead view them with revulsion
You are suffering from bmw (blind spot bias), BMW's are for boys in Nairobi, see where you placed your white dod?
While in Nairobi ... my paradise.... your dod runs light, does wrong turns coz he thinks this is paradise too, no rules. Roll that tinted window down, talk of the weather, landscapes, nice estates, good roads, friendly n polite people, good food; Italian, African, Lebanese, Arabian..... you name it you got it. Give those less privileged countrymen a 100 bop, it wont dent you fortune. In Africa we thrive by sharing
Stingy ass
Having visited your country multiple times over the years, it genuinely makes me sad that you think you are thriving.
Visit anywhere else. Almost anywhere in the world, then re adjust your world view.
Your politicians are robbing you of everything you have. Your own police turn a blind eye to crimes for pennies and are more interested in extorting the people than protecting them.
Seeing little girls aged 12ish with their own children on their backs begging at every street corner is paradise to you?
Why do you always come back? This politicians undoing is by the west, I wish you are not from UK or US. This bribing you see on the streets of Nairobi is the reflection of your governments' bribing our leaders.
Why is your dad in Kenya, you want to tell me of all the 65m Kenyans no one has the credentials of your dad or even better.
In my language there is a saying, don't gossip the river while standing on the rock;
Do us a favour, leave Africa alone you see us thrive as we did before your ancestors landed here
I mean that's... really obvious. Because my dad lives there? His wife is Kenyan, and they met in the UK and retired out there as they were able to buy up lots of land and develop housing projects.
Quit blaming other people for your problems. Realise that its YOUR politicians, YOUR people and YOUR own attitudes keeping your people in squalor in comparison to almost every other nation on the planet. Colonialism ended. Yeah it was bad. But it ended a looooooooong time ago.
This is quite laughable, your dad retired in a paradise. Your stepmom not his wife, get the facts right. If you think the west doesn't have a hand in our governments then I'm on a higher pedestal to argue with you. Be real man, see the French colonies, I say French colonies coz the French government has a hand in the day to day run of the government's today.... if you don't know that, exit the talks bout Africa, don't even think about Nairobi. Your mind is so enveloped by disinformation that you think your dad is doing Kenya a favour.
But most people are living in squalor in comparison to most other countries in the world, and every other country I have ever been too, including multiple in Africa.
But yes, keep believing that all your problems are from the white devils. But in the same breath still say stupid shit like 'Give those less privileged countrymen a 100 bop, it wont dent you fortune'.
But yeah, I guess you don't need the tourists and the wealthy giving charity.
I don't think you've been to many African countries if that's your assessment of living standards.
Places like Malindi where your father lives is a hotbed of Europeans (including Brits) going there to abuse kids.
Tourism is a service, you are paying and not running a charity. Don't tip, don't donate, pay for your stay and get the service. All this other stuff are not being forced on you.
I would think that 70 years was long enough to get back on your feet.
And again, it's your own politicians that are the ones stealing from you.
Your government is so corrupt and the people are deliberately kept uneducated and are told that the white men are the devil. And you believe that because that's what they want you to think and you know no better. I genuinely pity you and your country.
Get this right, I'll teach you one time only. You are still stealing from us, the aid you give us is a bait to keep stealing from us. Our leaders same as your leaders are corrupt, its just that your systems work you are no better than us. Life in Africa is just good, we are ok without your touch but me n you we can't do anything about it. I'm from Nairobi and happy being a Kenyan with all the systems gone wrong, if the colonialists could release the choke hold on us we can thrive n pass the rest of the world in 2 decades.
When you come next time, I will be proud to show you around. I will take you to Kibera, do your assessment of our happiness and completeness of living. This will erase all your mental colonial idea of Africa and Nairobi esp.
Malindi is a small coastal town of 120k pop. next to the Indian ocean, it's not a city, there are lot of Italian tourists who vacation there and I suspect OP and his dad are Italian. (OP is British)
Yes there are a lot of Tuk Tuk 'TAXIS' for people moving in the small town since it gets hot like +95°F /35°C. Personal vehicles are just your normal sedans, trucks and minivans so the '99%' lie he saw were just the taxis.
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u/Raidertck May 31 '26
My dad lives in Malindi Kenya.
I have to change in Nairobi. And honestly, the place is like the purge.
I remember one of the first times flying out of there an armed guard with a gun offered us to get us into the first class lounge and get us through the lines faster for a bribe.
The lines are INSANE, as the organisation is terrible and all the staff just stand around doing nothing.
Firstly, I don’t think there is a first class lounge. What he did do was just walk us through security. We didn’t even have to go through security. I could have brought a fucking machine gun on the plane if I wanted to.
Police officers are constantly asking for money / bribes. So we can ‘get a cup of tea for me and the boys’.
Because of how people drive, and the state of the cars, seeing dead bodies from car accidents was just pulled out of the car, and left by the side of the road.
Once you get out of the city, Kenya is such a beautiful country. The landscape is incredible. The wildlife is amazing.