Visit Kenya, a Land of Beauty & Grace

by: Mumbi Kahenya

Kenya is the setting for one of the Natural Wonders of the World – the great wildebeest migration. Two million ungulates migrate a distance of 1,800 miles from the Serengeti in neighboring Tanzania to the Masai Mara in Kenya, in a constant clockwise fashion, searching for food and water supplies.

The love of Kenya is a long distance romance with an African country and its people. From Los Angeles County it's approx. 10,000 miles away and takes 20 hours to fly there direct, but usually much longer with flight transfers, getting to the airport, customs, etc. Kenya is 11 hours ahead of California's Pacific Time so when its day in California, it is night in Kenya and vice versa.  On a pleasant mid-February day in Nairobi the temperature is around 80° F.

The Long Beach resident with more than a passing interest in this African country actually came from Kenya, which may help explain her passion for promoting it.  She's a member of the Long Beach-Mombasa, Kenya Sister City Association and strives to help better the lives of the poor in her native country through Fair Trade.

The economic success of Kikuyus mean that many are well educated. As Kenya's most popular and the largest ethnic tribe, they make up 22% of the country's population.  However, Kenya is country filled with poor, hard working people who seek a better life. It's not always easy for Mumbi to operate a business selling items from villages she visits, even though prices of art and custom designed clothing & jewelry are relatively inexpensive considering they are hand-made. She constantly strives to build equitable and sustainable trading partnerships to help foster conditions in Kenya to alleviate poverty.