Meetings Meetings Meetings

Yesterday we had several productive meetings with various actors in our research chain. In the morning we met with Sa Dequan, the director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi. He has been in Kenya about six years and clearly had a lot of clout in the Kenyan-Chinese community. The Confucius Institute is very interesting because it was the first government-to-government exchange program in Africa and it offers Kenyans courses in Chinese language, culture, and exchange.  He provided us phone numbers for contacts at some of the larger Chinese firms as well as for Han Jun, the Chairman of the Kenya Overseas Chinese Association, China General Chamber of Commerce in East Africa, and China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Nation Reunification in Eastern Africa (what a title!). We are in the process of setting up meetings with each of the contacts for next week. Also, we arranged to attend one of the Chinese courses to talk to Kenyan students next Wednesday. All in all, a victory of a day.

Interestingly, Susan, the receptionist, gave us a lot of candid information while we waited for Sa to arrive. She is Kenyan and had been to China twice on exchange, once for one month and once for six months. She said most students take the courses to get a leg up in their career and Chinese is the quickest way to do that in Kenya. She also flat out said "they [the Chinese] want to make it [Kenya] their second home." Susan thought the Chinese presence was not good for Kenya because she said most Kenyans do not realize that the quality the Chinese provide in the U.S. and Europe is not the same they bring to Kenya and it is not fair because Kenyans cannot go and open businesses in China. I think we are going to ask her out for coffee sometime next week and talk to her more about her experiences. 

If that wasn't enough, we attended a happy-hour with a Wellesley alum who currently works in the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. She was very fun, energetic, and reminded me a lot of my Aunt Annie Laurie. Her husband, sister, and another friend who works for the state department all came, enthusiastically giving us tips and support. It will be wonderful to have another American connection here, particularly when we travel to other places in Kenya. 

Kyla, Sa Dequan, and Mollie at the Confucius Institute, University of Nairobi 

Let's play the question game:

1) Roughly, how many Chinese people are permanently living in Kenya (more than a few months)?

Answer: 20,000, half of which live in the Nairobi area. Other large groups live in Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru.

2)  How many Confucius Institutes are located in Kenya?

Answer: Two: University of Nairobi has a government-to-government program and Kenyatta University has a university-to-university program.

3) Where do many of the Chinese construction contractors live?

Answer: In the same compound as U.S. Embassy staff.

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