What is Kenyan family life like?

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What is Kenyan family life like?

by D.W.
(California)

I'd like to know something more about family life in Kenya.

What do they do on the weekends? Is their a time when the whole family gets together?

Do Kenyans have days when they don't work? Are all Kenyan families the same or different?

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What is Kenyan family life like?

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Nov 04, 2011

Meeting familes
by: Anonymous

Is it good for the kenyan man to meet his woman's family before they are married?

Jul 25, 2011

families in kenya
by: kenyan

most families in kenya live under a conservative like environment where the parents don't engage their children in serious talks about social issues such as premature sex and also there is rampant fatherhood abseentism

Jul 01, 2010

Sooper
by: Archie [Moderator]

Yes its great and full of love

Jun 06, 2010

great
by: Anonymous

its great

Mar 28, 2010

Kenyan Family Life
by: Archie Melrose

As the other moderators have said there is a big gap between those that have and those that have nothing - financially that is.

However one thing is the same regardless and that is the closeness of family. Kenya is basically a patriarchal society and depending on where you are this is quite extreme. It has been written that once the romance of courtship, engagement and marriage is over the wife is then expected to completely look after cooking, gardening, collecting wood [if needed], and show complete subservience to her husband to his every demand.
Fortunately times are changing but there is still a strong element of this way of life in Kenya.

On the positive side a respected and loving husband brings much strength to a family unit and all the relatives from each side of the family.
With that strength comes respect and honour amongst the community.

Let me give you 3 examples from my own experience
1. My Kenyan fiance's Uncle [Mothers side] was recently injured by a car out of control. His hand was crushed which stopped him working. A simple job pushing/pulling a large cart around carrying peoples furniture from A to B. Every relation in the family from both sides donated sufficient money to have major surgery carried out.

2. I have had several visits to my fiance's parents home over the years and as is normal all over the world [I think] its usual to take a small gift. Well prior to the first visit I was marched off to the local supermarket and as the trolley filled up with flour, rice, sugar and soap I realised my European priorities were different. However let me tell you this, only a few weeks ago the dining table was groaning with every kind of Kenyan food imaginable. Why? In my honour and being respectful to a future son in law. It was kind of humbling to be honest.

3. In an extended family if any one of them is in trouble then everyone comes together and tries to sort out the problem.

Hope this gives you an idea of the family relationship side. The rest? Well its TV, Discos and churches that bulge at the seams. Cyber cafes and beauty salons prevail. Picnics at the side of the roads are not recommended - too many 4 legged animals with sharp teeth.

Regards

Archie

Mar 23, 2010

Kenyan Families
by: Cassandra Marie

Families all over the world are different but very much the same. While working in Kenya over the years, I have fallen in love with some Kenyan families, and all of them are very Kenyan yet very different from each other.

One family I am close with comes to mind. The father of the family works as a driver. He has a lovely wife and two adorable children. When they are all together, they spend as much time as they can with one another because he can be away for days at a time for his job. He and his wife enjoy going to an internet cafe and emailing friends they have all over the world. They also like to have a meal or two out...a very special treat. They live a very simple life and truly enjoy each other, their family, and their friends.

This is just one family that lives in the larger Kenyan city. Each family in the city is different and lives in a way they know and are comfortable with. The families out in the bush have a different life all together. Most Americans would see the way they live as GREEN/ECO-friendly.

The families in the bush tend to not have the amenities we are used to here in the States and that the Kenyans in the cities have. They live off the land by every meaning of the word. They grow their own crops, raise their own livestock, and work most days of the week, if not all week long. Their homes are simpler with no running water and electricity. They live more communally as a family compared to our Western standards. They have a hut that is the kitchen, bedroom, living room, dinning room, and the “everything under the sun” room! They are close knit because they live so closely, and many generations can be found in the same mud-hut walls.

This is what’s common for most bush families, but they all still have their own customs and beliefs that influence them and how they live their lives.

So there is not that cookie-cutter Kenyan family... just like there is not a cookie-cutter family anywhere in the world. Things may look the same, but once a closer look is taken, then the vast yet beautiful contrasts come into view.

Hope this helps you get a piece of the puzzle that you are looking for.

Mar 19, 2010

Kenyan family life
by: Irene O

Kenyan families are not all the same. People are different according their culture and back ground, their religion and spirits.

Kenyan families do have days of. They work like us 5 or 6 days a week but unfortunatly there are also employers keeping their workers busy for 7 days with little payment. But there are holidays whereby everybody is of ( except certain jobs like police, hospital workers etc). In the weekends families living close to the beach enjoy entertainment at the beach and swim. In cities without a beach nearby families visit entertainment park, shopping centers or visit friends and family.
I always enjoyed spending weekends at the public beach in Mombasa seeing thousands of people having fun and children play together in the ocean. Local music whereby people dance and enjoy.

Families in the bush do have a totally different life then those who live in the modern cities. The families living in mudhouses often dont have any luxury, no tv, no radio, nothing like that. They live in one room, eat and sleep in the same room. Parents work in the shamba ( field) and children do either go to school, walking some times for hours, or they help their parents. They live in poverty.

Families in the modern cities have modern houses, and it will suprise you how luxury they can be! Big houses with many rooms, luxury kitchen, garden. Children taken care of by a housegirl while parents work. The gap is so huge between being poor and rich in Kenya...

So therefore ' Kenyan families are not the same... it depends where they live, what they do for a living, what their religion is etc.. But they do spend time together as any other lovely and caring family.

I hope that there is a Kenyan reading this to add comments...

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What is Kenyan family life like?

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What is Kenyan family life like?