A Mad Tea Party

Kenyans only drink two things I have realized. Soda (either Coca-Cola or Fanta) and Tea. This isn't even an exaggeration. Last night, while walking home from grabbing a soda with Maurice and his friend Timothy, Timothy said how he thought it was funny that Muzungas (white people) drink water.

Soda is a very social event, very much like grabbing a drink in Canada is (drinking any alcohol here is reserved for alcoholics, so we've been staying away from that representation).  Its casual, you go sit in the market place after work and talk and make noises at the farm animals that also live in the market place (goats and chickens mostly)

But Tea is a totally different ball game. The American Tea Party doesn't even represent how political Tea is in Kenya. I mean, it’s tasty and I have pretty much replaced drinking water with drinking copious amounts of green tea and masala chai. 

So what is the big deal with the politics? Most meetings and conferences I have been to serve both coffee and tea, but never have I shown up at those events expecting a free drink – it’s just a nice perk really.

But in Kenya, things are completely different. Bringing tea to a meeting sets a precedent, and gives the group the mentality that they can begin to make demands. Tea makes things real intense. Not only does it give the group that entitlement, but it also sets the expectation that you will continue to provide tea, for each and every upcoming event. Especially if it is a Muzunga providing the tea - they know we can afford it (it costs about 100 shillings to provide the tea, which is a $1.30).

All we wanted to do was provide refreshments for the training sessions for our Board of Directors. We had this idea, that as a group strengthening activity, each Director would bring a different ingredient and we could all have tea and be merry and continue on with our lives. But when we asked Maurice if this would work, he told us how inappropriate it would be, how hard it would be for the individuals and what if they couldn’t afford it? Gah.

To tea or not to tea, that is the question.