I have never been to Kenya. I have never even been close. Actually I haven’t been to any “real” African country – yet. After this exchange though, I can try to claim that I almost have. Do you want to know what brought me there? I field of sand and a stick. It’s true!
Place: Villa Elba, Kokkola, Finland
Date: 25th of August. Tuesday
What: Youth exchange with three African and three European countries, among others: Sweden and Kenya
Me: Caroline Resoluth, 19 years old from Sweden
The day started of just like the one before. We awoke in the cottages and went for breakfast. There we were told about the assignments of the day and informed that the host of today’s workshop was to be the group from Kenya. 
To be honest I was quite chocked when we were asked to go outside since not only the people from Kenya but all Africans had complained the day before that the weather in Finland was “so cold!” but that was where we went. Outside we played traditional games and the Kenyans shared several songs from their country. Every game has its own story and here it was often quite clear who the author of these stories where. In my country we have games about the eagle for example. In Kenya though, the hunter in the game was a lion! We played and laughed a lot and I am certain that I was not the only one who enjoyed the start of the day. The day had just only begun when I first felt the feeling of actually being in Africa, for a moment we forgot about where we actually were. It was something with the stick that made lines in the sand, the bare feet and of course the most important: The people and the host of the workshop.
The national park, Kenya. Nairobi: Capital of Kenya. Kenya on the map. The Kenyan flag.
After the games we were brought inside where we got the chance to dive even deeper in to the Kenyan tribes amazing culture. At least for me this was very exciting especially because so much seemed to be so different “there” than for it is for me here. Africa is a place far away and the differences in our worlds are huge. I actually believe that we are living in two different worlds and that is also a reason that I got so amazed by the workshop, by all the information that it brought.
Inside we were told about Kenya as a country, their traditional clothing and other traditional things such as dances. We also got the chance to dance ourselves and I must say that the Swedish boys among the others made a great job!
Here you can see one picture from the workshop where the Kenyan traditional “skirts” are showed:
At Villa Elba we are all the same and everybody is equal. During this week we have been more than 24 youths from six different countries and two different continents. Even though we are equal as persons here it is easy to say that we come from two different worlds.
Kenya helped us to bring these two worlds together. Thank You.
Carryo
Caroline's blog 