While on the coast in Mombasa we had the chance to meet with many locals and learn about the history and culture in the area. The Mombasa community is primarily Muslim, and religion is at the center of the town. We met with three Swahili mothers, a primary school teacher, a healthcare worker, and a Swahili professor. We discussed issues relating to the intersection of race, gender, and religion and the potential for discrimination and violence. The police force in Mombasa (and the rest of Kenya too) is mostly Christian, and the Muslim community routinely faces religion-based police violence.
Speaking of police, we also visited with HAKI Africa (acronym for humanity, activism, knowledge, and integrity), a human rights organization combating extra-judicial killings carried out by the police. Since Kenya initiated a military presence in Somalia to combat the extremist youth group Al-Shabaab, there has been an uptake in Al-Shabaab recruiting within Kenya. This has led to a war on terror in which police are carrying out killings (sanctioned by the government) to dispose of people deemed to be a potential threat. HAKI is working with the community to improve living situations with the goal of deterring Al-Shabaab recruitment and minimizing police violence. A couple KSP students will be interning with HAKI in a few weeks when we start our independent study component of the semester.
We also met with an organization called PEMA Kenya who work to provide resources to people doing sex work and combat gender based violence. The competition for jobs in Mombasa is enormous, and for many people sex work is quite literally the only option for making a living. We talked with a few sex workers from the area and heard their stories. Though incredibly sad, it was really powerful to talk with these women about the challenges they face and the relationship they have with PEMA.
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On our first day we visited Fort Jesus, a Portuguese fort built in the 1500s and a key player in WWII. |
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After touring the fort we walked through Old Town Mombasa and visited a spice market. We tasted and smelled so many amazing spices; I could have stayed all day.
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| The traffic trifecta: matatus, tuk-tuks, and boda-bodas. |
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| We ate lunch at a waterside restaurant every day that had amazing fresh seafood. |
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| So many beautiful buildings in Old Town. |
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| Some more buildings plus Nat. |
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| Ocean view and beach access from our hotel! Lots of ocean time, and by far the warmest water I've ever swam in. |
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| We visited a mosque and learned about the five pillars of Islam and the Muslim lifestyle. While we were in Mombasa Ramadan began, and most of the shops in the area close for the month of fasting. |
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| Lots of camels on the beach. Eek! I'm definitely not the biggest fan of these animals (so scary) but I admit it was pretty cool to watch them from a distance. |
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| Food with eyes and teeth. |
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| Snuggle time! |
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| Sunrise walk and a swim before breakfast?! |
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| Our last night in Mombasa we went on a dinner cruise equipped with a live band. It also happened to be Natalie's 21st! |
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Cheers!
 | Disclaimer: we do in fact do school work. After every trip we prepare group presentations on a range of topics and have in depth discussions on the cultural and biological aspects of the places we visit.
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| A very long bus ride back to the compound. |
