Annual General Meeting

Yesterday I attended my co-op’s Annual General Meeting. It was great timing that I could sit in on the meeting, as it presented some useful in formation and helped me to understand more about the structure of the co-op. It was also a great way to learn some more about Kenyan culture, as it was so very typical of the culture. Let me give you a rundown on meetings in Kenya:

• They are always scheduled to start at 10am. Any earlier is unreasonable as people have farms to tend, animals to care for, and children to get off to school first and then need time for transport. If they’re not walking the several kilometers, they’re taking matatus (see previous entry).

• They generally start around noon. Since people usually take chai around 10 and lunch between 1 and 2, this cuts directly through lunch hour. Translation: be prepared to be hungry. It is no problem for the Kenyans, however, because they assure me they’re used to it.

• They are always opened and closed with prayer.

• They usually begin with just about everyone present making an “introduction.” Greetings are very important in this culture, so these are not brief and there are usually a good number of people present.

• This is generally followed by reading the minutes of the previous meeting. All of them. Word for word, though they’re printed in English and read in whatever language the group is most familiar with.

• Representatives from various government ministries, NGOs, and financial institutions come—with presentations—to any meeting with which they may be remotely connected. Once the meeting’s business is done, each of these people get the floor.

• The mzungu (translation: me) always sits up front, at the head table, so that my boredom is in full view of all present. Also, if the need arises to use the facilities, all present can watch me excuse myself and speculate as to where I’m going, so I generally don’t.

• They take place in a mixture of predominantly Kikuyu (or whatever the local tribal language happens to be), with some Kiswahili and random English words sprinkled in. This ensures that I have no chance of following what is being said.

• The attendees are generally patient and good-natured. They listen to an entire presentation before asking questions or making comments. Things can start to get out of hand, as evidenced by an old man shouting, waving his cane around, and advancing to the head table to make his point, but they are fairly easily called back to order with no hard feelings.

• By 5 pm people have things to do (basically everything they did in the morning, in reverse), so the meeting is usually wrapped up by then, out of necessity only because people start leaving whether you’re still speaking or not.

After this particular meeting, I practically ran to the choo (“toilet”). Six hours of holding it can’t be good for me, but sometimes it can’t be helped. After getting back to the office, I decided I was too hungry to go through the process of preparing my own dinner, so I went to a café in town. I asked for stew and chips (translation: chunks of beef in broth and a side of fries) and decided to splurge and have a Fanta (a cold one, which is really a splurge). They were out of stew, so I just had the fries with the gelatinous tomato-based substance that passes for ketchup and chili sauce. That was dinner; lunch had been a protein bar (they have been my lifesavers—thanks so much for sending them!), and breakfast was Wheatabix (like a wheat-based oatmeal) mixed with milk and some bananas. I had chai (tea made with half milk and half water) when I got home and another protein bar before bed. I’ve been making more of an effort at eating a balanced diet, and breakfast was a good start, but the meeting threw a kink into the rest of the day, so I’ll try harder next time.

To sum up: I’m glad to have gone to the meeting, but I’m also glad it’s done and doesn’t occur regularly. I have lost enough weight from my less than ideal diet that a skirt that used to fit on my waist now sits on my hips. I am glad to have experienced this bit of culture, if for nothing more than to entertain you with it. I’ll try to get a better recap of the week along with some pictures up by Sunday night. Miss you all.

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