More on Expats

I just saw this interesting post at the strangely titled aaarrrggg blog, which comments about a blog written by British expat wife living in Kenya. This is the essence of what the post says:

I’m idealistic and I’d like to think that for all the lavish lifestyles that expats enjoy in Kenya they have a keen awareness of their privileged location in an exploitative international economic and political system…..
Its just that I firmly believe that privilege brings with it responsibility to pay it forward and to undermine the very system that put you on top at the expense of others.

Why will someone (anyone, not just an expat) in a position of privilege undermine a system that has them tops? Is the desire to pay-it-forward natural, or is that an assumption?

I don’t think its natural, the numbers are stacked completely against it. So it has to be an assumption.

Expats and Assassins

I met a group of Jesus-expats (expats who peddle jesus) from my American mid-west town at Java House (local coffee+fast-food chain). They were all fat, munching cookies, and dressed in identical T-Shirts (with sweat patches around the armpits) that said:

“Mzungus deserve respect too!”

and on the back:

“We are humans with names too,
don’t throw stones at us,
and chase us for money.
May the lord be with you”

The odd thing about it was there was a cookie munching African-American guy wearing the same T-Shirt.

I am willing to sponsor an assassination, preferably something painful, like nailing their balls to a cross.

Used items fire sale

A good time to buy second-hand goods is now. Lots of fleeing expats, lots of used goods on “everything must go” sales.

On the weekend I picked up a nice, small and cheap motorcycle.  I have spent the better part of today puttering around Nairobi on official business.  The advantages of using a motorcycle in Nairobi lead me to wonder, why more people don’t use this mode of transport ? More on this later.