As you now, we had a writing competition on my school two weeks ago. The judges from The Education Department wanted to pick out three pupils from our school to participate on a journey together with other pupils from Norway to Kenya. We had to write a text about the biggest differences in everyday life of a Norwegian teenager and a Kenyan teenager. The three best writers from our school won a trip to The East African country together with many other teenagers from all over Norway. Luckily, I was one of them, and the judges picked me out as one of the students from our school who were given the ability to learn about the Kenyan country and culture! So now I am here, in the beautiful country Kenya!  

When we landed at the airport in Nairobi, the capital of the country, we were totally exhausted after a 14 hours flight with bad tasting food and narrow seats. But we were met by smiling faces and a sense witch told us that we had moved to a warmer climate for a while, and we looked forward to the rest of the stay.

We have now been here for one week, and I have already fallen in love with this East-African country. As you know, I have never been in Africa before, but after this trip I believe that I soon will be back, hopefully together with my family.

Kenya is a country with many things to see and learn for a Norwegian tourist. We have been on a safari in the Masai Mara National Park and we saw every wild animal you can imagine! The most exciting animals we saw were “The big five” as the African people call them, the lion, the leopard, the elephant, the rhinoceros and the bison. It was an experience for a lifetime.

While we were in the national park we also visited a Masai village. The Masai tribe is a nomadic people who only live in Tanzania and Kenya, and they are considered as the most famous Kenyan tribe. The Masai tribe has a completely different culture and traditions than we have. The men were wearing a red cape called “shuka”, while the women used a lot of jewelry. They lived in small houses made of dirt and mud, and they only ate blood and meat from animals. They also loved to dance, and they are well known for their traditional dances. During our stay in the village the Masai men danced their special jumping- dance for us. It was a spectacular dance, and I have never seen anything like it before.

After the safari we all were tired and we went to a beach near Nairobi where we were sunbathing and having a wonderful time, while we were lying on our sun beds under a big palm tree. When we were swimming and diving in the sea, all of a sudden, three dolphins jumped up from the blue sea surface, just in front of us. The dolphins were so cute! They looked like big fishes with pointed noses,it was a really exciting experience. Later on the same day we travelled to the city of Nairobi.

When we were driving around in the city of Nairobi, we saw the shantytown Kibera. Kibera is the largest shantytown in Kenya,it is over one million people living there. After we had seen the shantytown, I realized that our standard of living home in Norway is high compared to the conditions in Kibera. Many of the things we take for granted in Norway, like clothes, food and roof over our heads every night, are the people in Kibera fighting for every day. After this visit in the shantytown it is easy to say that life can be unfair.

As you can hear, I find the country Kenya exciting. It is hard for us students from Norway to understand how poor the people in Kenya really are, especially the people who lived in the shantytowns. We couldn’t imagine how it felt like not to have a home, a family or nothing to eat, before we had visited the country. I am so glad that I participated in the writing competition and was picked out to the trip. I have heard people talking about countries in Africa, but to see it with your own eyes is a completely different thing. When I come home I will have both good and bad memories. And I am so glad I got this opportunity, I have learned so much and I have seen so many things I otherwise never would.

With love from Frida