(light upbeat music)
♪ Ba ♪
- Just kidding, don't...
I don't find that funny, don't do that.
Hey YouTube world, it's me Evelyn,
and this is the Kenya vlog.
Vlogs.
Two parts.
(upbeat pop music)
So I was the host of One Love Travel Club's trip to Kenya
at the beginning of this year, 2018.
And the reason it rocked my world,
rocked my world, stay with me,
is because if you're new to me,
and this channel, and this crevice of the internet,
I am Kenyan.
Both of my parents are from Kenya,
my mother and my father
are both from Kenya, East Africa.
Do you realize?
Do you really realize what this means?
And though they were able to bring me back to Kenya,
both me and my brother, during our childhood,
it had been over a decade since the last time
I was able to see my extended family.
I was a skinny neck, 14 or 15-year-old,
you know what I'm saying?
Big ole' East-African forehead,
I had straight backs 'cause Alicia Keys said it was okay.
Alright, the year was 2005.
And at 27 years old, I would be going back to Kenya,
for the first time in a long time.
The first time as an adult, and the first time by myself.
And this trip really came at a time when I was making
huge decisions about what I thought my life
needed to look like, going forward.
So, for example, for some context:
I quit my full-time job and my last day was a Friday.
Okay.
Monday was Christmas, so drove home for Christmas,
and then Tuesday, I was on a plane from DFW, alright?
To Kenya.
(people chattering)
The One Love Travel Club Trip itself was seven days long,
it was a week long.
But I decided to come early, and stay later,
making my entire Kenya journey about four weeks.
So the Kenya trip, alright, hey!
(ululation)
So the Kenya trip had three legs, okay.
City, safari, and beach.
Doing all that in a week is tight.
Since the chances of people coming back to the country
are pretty slim, at least ensure that
the major aspects of tourism are hit.
Why spend money to feel like you missed something,
you feel me?
So, seven days to do all that is tight,
but I still think that was the best route to go.
So, me myself, I land in Nairobi, and I don't die.
I was kinda scared because I thought it
would be like landing in Lagos, Nigeria.
It is nothing like landing in Lagos, Nigeria.
In Lagos, I am overwhelmed, I am just overwhelmed.
(imitates taxi drivers)
Just so much!
There's so much noise.
And I just end up landing in Lagos
looking fresh and foreign.
Landing in Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta Airport,
was much calmer.
Easy to navigate.
And I'm not biased, you know,
'cause my passport is still blue, okay?
They be looking at my passport, looking at me like,
hmm, welcome back.
Where have you been? (laughs)
Where have you been, hm?
Welcome.
So, day one!
We meet up.
We meet everybody, everybody starts trickling in
from their various states and countries.
We stayed in Amber Hotel, on Ngong Road in Nairobi.
It's a Doubletree, Hilton affiliate type situation.
And it was very nice.
Very nice!
I had already been with my family for about a week
before meeting up with the One Love Travel Club group.
And that experience was...
You'll learn about that in part two.
So needless to say, I was hyped to be in a hotel bed.
alright?
So people were just flying in over the course of the day,
making their way to the hotel.
People had started walking around the area,
some folks already had some shopping done already, you know?
Black women don't waste no time.
And I started to meet all the hashtag internet cousins
that had booked the trip because I was the host.
We had our first group dinner that night
there at Amber Hotel.
And, you know, it was hotel dinner.
You know what I'm saying?
And I'll talk about the food aspect
of the trip in Kenya, later on in the video.
But, put a pin in that.
Day two.
alright, so the first full day in Kenya,
as a group, is the day that I had my workshop.
Every host of a One Love Travel Club trip,
is required to have a workshop,
in which they speak about their expertise
and answer questions and share their knowledge
with the people who booked the trip.
So I talked about being from the internet,
and I talked about online entrepreneurship, social media,
storytelling, writing, blogging, and my journey
from wherever the heck I was, to wherever the heck I am now.
So after my workshop, we all got on a bus
and went to Mukuru kwa Njenga,
which is a community that is considered a slum.
Every One Love Travel Club trip does have some sort
of social awareness or volunteering aspect of the trip,
and Kenya was no different.
I just think that a lot of us weren't prepared
for what we were about to see.
The goal was to visit a school
and learn more about its students,
the teacher who founded the school,
who was originally from that area,
and learn about Kenya through the eyes
of people who are not serviced properly.
My cousin, genetic cousin, met up with us that day
and joined us on the trip,
and that in and of itself was a lot,
'cause the last time I had seen her, she was probably 11.
And now she's like 22, you feel me?
So that was a moment.
And she ended up actually being very helpful to the group,
and giving a lot more context to what teachers,
and the principle, the founder was saying.
- Do we know of Maslow's theory?
You have first to think about your needs,
and then you've got to--
- [Man] Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
- Yeah, Hierarchy of Needs.
You don't really think about it first.
Really.
- [Woman] I didn't get the impression
that safety, was a thing.
- (residents worry) "Will I even be able to sleep?"
I know of people who stay in a house like this,
and about seven of them, and they fit in perfect.
Yeah.
So, it's pretty... it's hard, and it's sad at the same time,
because now you really have to look across.
- And we were able to talk to the kids, somewhat,
you know what I'm saying?
There's a language barrier and so,
again, my cousin was helpful in speaking
to the kids and leading them in games, you know?
We don't know all the nursery rhymes and things over there,
so she was very helpful in that regard.
- [Woman] When you grow up, what do you wanna be?
- Police.
- [Women] A police?
- Ooh!Important.
- When I grow up, I'd like to be an engineer.
- [Group] Wow!
- [Rhozee, in Swahili] "Moja" means one. Then "mbili?"
- [Kids] Two!
- [Rhozee] "Tatu"? - [Kids] Three!
- [Rhozee] "Nne"? - [Kids] Four!
- [Rhozee] "Tano"? - [Kids] Five!
- Oh, okay, let them come!
- [Evelyn] Bye!
- [Children] Bye!
- But a couple people in the group had some expertise,
and they busted out a notepad and a calculator,
and started getting to work on how to fundraise for them.
Because, no, as volunteers, as foreigners,
we cannot solve issues in the Kenyan economy
and the political structure,
and the historical reasons why this community
is the way it is, but we can buy notebooks.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, there are some actionable things that we can provide.
- [Woman] Desks, teaching aids, sponsor the family,
the building, bunk beds, blankets, mattresses,
pillows, sports equipment, and contingency money.
Anything else?
- Maybe any other that we have not remembered,
you will be able to be in touch,
and I'll be able to communicate.
- [Woman] Okay.
- Day three and four.
Safari day.
So we rolled out from our hotel in Nairobi,
and took a six-ish hour drive out to Masai Mara.
Masai Mara is a national reserve
that spans the Kenyan-Tanzanian border.
Sorry, Tan-ZAN-ian.
And it's a long drive, but the views?
(light upbeat music) (quiet chattering)
- OK, we made our second rest stop.
Got me some tingly (laughs).
Tingly Cheese and onion.
Tingly cheese! (laughs)
Tingly cheese and onion.
I don't know what's tingly but Krackles.
We finally get to our destination, Sarova Mara,
is how we might say it.
But we all know it's *uses Kenyan accent* Sarova.
The lodge was beautiful.
It was very quiet.
Very, very quiet.
That quiet that you can hear, and then you hear the birds.
(birds tweeting)
The lodging was like a tent suite situation.
So take a regular hotel suite, and instead of a roof,
put a heavy duty situation.
It was lovely, I loved hearing the rain through that.
Ooh, loved it.
So there were several safaris
planned for different times of the day,
according to what the safari people, rangers?
Tour guides?
Said would be best for certain animals.
You could go on one safari, you could go on all the safaris,
you could go on none of the safaris.
I don't know why you would do that,
and take that long trip
just to not see animals in their natural habitat.
God's creation, okay?
Splendor.
So ima just let this footage rock.
Warning, you might see a clip of a lion eating dinner.
And lions aren't vegan.
(adventurous music)
(radio chattering)
Aye!
It's video.
(laughs) It's a video.
(women laughing)
(radio chattering)
- [Man] And it's one of 'em.
And they just lookin'.
- [Woman] Did she really just go there to protect him?
(quietly chattering)
Uh-oh, I won't be able to stop the--
(group laughing)
(quietly chattering) (radio beeping)
Belly out and everything.
(quietly chattering)
(camera clicks)
And, the main attraction.
(quietly chattering)
(adventurous music)
- So if they come and surround with us,
you can dance with them, you can jump with them,
you can have photo with them.
They are good people.
Friendly too.
So, feel at home.
Any question, no problem.
In a circle, is for sure to protect against wild animals.
And our houses, they are made of local branches,
grass and cow dung.
And always, women make the houses.
(singing in Maasai)
(crowd cheering) (Evelyn laughs)
(chanting)
(singing)
- [Man] That's worship song.
- So, once we were in Nairobi,
we hopped on a regional plane
and took a short one hour-ish flight from Nairobi,
which is the city all the way to the coast -- Mombasa.
Coast means beach.
And beach means dip yo hip in the Indian ocean.
(melodic music)
(light chattering)
There were various water activities planned for us
and you can participate in them,
depending on your comfort level
with the jet skis or just regular paddle boat.
Ya feel me?
I was on the paddle boat tip.
And of course on your own time you can swim,
you can be on the beach, you can get black.
You feel me?
Black.
And you can holla at the dudes walking up
and down the beach with they camels
and pay for a camel ride or two.
(melodic music)
Hey!
(light chattering)
So, while we were in Mombasa,
I decided to reach out to Brian Kimani here on YouTube,
he has a channel called Get Away Planet.
And I think it's really dope
because I'm tired of watching white dudes
from England and Australia
and white dudes from South Africa travel through Africa.
You know what I'm saying?
So I'm trying to support.
You feel me?
And I think he's really dope, so I reached out to him
to see if he wanted to join us for dinner.
So we went out for dinner on day five
and I believe just nighttime fun-times on day six.
(hip hop music plays)
And I actually think One Love Travel Club trips
would be enriched by inviting influencers
and creative types from that country or that city
to come and lend their insight
and expertise and kinda give that flavor.
You know what I'm saying?
Because I don't know, and so he really showed us a good time
and I'm glad we got to meet up.
So this is the part where we talk about Kenyan food. Mkay?
I don't think folks on the trip
got the full Kenyan food experience,
because we stayed in nice places.
It's like going to New York City for the first time,
staying at the Four Seasons
and expecting to get that New York pizza
that's like as big as your face
with the grease dripping down,
that's not where you go for that.
Kenya has a lot of different cultures,
lot of different food stuffs available for you to consume,
so when you visit, I would ask for Swahili food
so that you get pointed in the direction of coastal food.
That's where you find the biryanis,
that's where you find the curry this, the curry that.
The food of my people is like,
farmer food.
It's like potatoes and beans, ugali,
starch, Sukuma Wiki, greens.
All these foods, no matter what region it's from,
are not gonna be found in nice hotels,
and if you do find them in hotels,
it's gonna be like the, this version.
Since I'm essentially a tourist also,
I wasn't able to show people on the trip
the fullness, the richness,
the deliciousness of Kenyan food.
And because of that my internet cousins
didn't eat nearly the amount of samosas
I believe a human should eat in a day.
For that, I sincerely apologize.
And when I told my family of this,
they said to let them know next time you are back in Kenya,
and they will feed you.
So DM me and I will make the connection.
alright?
Very good.
Day seven.
Roll out.
After some time at the beach,
we go back to the airport and fly from Mombasa
to Nairobi and from Nairobi to wherever home is.
♪ sings End of the Road by Boyz II Men♪
(group laughing)
Group trips are fascinating.
You know?
You start off as strangers and over time and experiences
you get to bond with people and form friendships
that will last past the trip.
Like when I went to London this year,
I reached out to two of the girls who were from the UK
that were on the Kenya trip, and we got to hang out!
They took me to Primark for the first time!
I was hype!
You always insist
on doing that face, like why?
(both laughing)
- Oh my God!
Oh my God!
Oh my God! (laughs)
We're out here at Westfield Mall, I went to Primark.
We had a couple drinks.
Cheerio.
Pip, pip.
Like we out here with a global network now.
You know?
If anybody ever comes to Austin, Texas,
for whatever reason, holla at yo girl.
So, that's where I'll end this vlog.
You can visit One Love Travel Club's website to learn more.
So there is another Kenya trip happening
with One Love Travel Club, January 2019, so coming up.
I will not be hosting that trip,
but if you have any specific questions,
please do not hesitate to ask me in the comments below.
Super grateful that I was able to go on this trip,
so thank you One Love Travel Club
and thank you, Chloe, for thinking of me,
for bringing your girl home.
Though my One Love Travel Club trip has come to an end,
the rest of my journey home is just beginning.
alright?
But I'll leave that for part two.
In the comments below, let me know
what African nation you would like to visit some day
and I'll see you on the internet somewhere.
Bye.
(adventurous music)