Diligent abroad, Kenyans are mediocre at home

A man jumps to evade sewage along Nairobi’s Tom Mboya lane behind Odeon. [File, Standard]

On a bitterly cold, rainy winter day in London last week, I watched a remarkable scene. A young boy of Somali origin about eight years old stopped his father as they walked by a dustbin. The boy wanted to finish his ice cream and drop the wrapping and stick into the dustbin. To a common Londoner this would have been a common thing, but for me - a Kenyan - this was a spectacle.

Ninety per cent of Kenyans would have dropped the wrapping on the ground and moved on, particularly if it was raining or cold. I stepped out of the car and greeted them: “As-salamu alaikum. Are you Kenyans?” The boy replied in a clipped English: “Yea, my dad’s Kenyan but I am British.” So they were Kenyans. Why do Kenyans abroad behave differently?