Mal d'Afrique

A KENYTALIAN WEDNESDAY

More mails and posts about Kenya nostalgia

Our readers space still on; write us!

15-06-2022 by redazione

The column dedicated to "Africa-sickness," that is, the jumble of feelings evoked by coming and going from Kenya (in our case, but it is applicable to many other countries, at least those that can boast other fantastic scenery in addition to the savannah that surely help one fall in love with it) and the sometimes fulfilled desire to reside there, continues with great participation from our readers, via email or social channels.
There are those who dream of it for a lifetime but never have the chance or the courage to take "the big leap," those who consider Kenya the "paradise on earth" but would never live or work there, those who use it as a cure, and those who have been burned by it but nevertheless cannot do without it, physically or in thought.
Franco Cozzi writes, "My Africa sickness ? The fear ..when I return to Italy ..of never being able to return to Kenya again. It sounds trivial but it is not so ..I dream of the roundabout of Malindi..the playground of Karima..the port of Mombasa...all simple stuff I dream of sitting outside school,hiding, to pick up my grandson-in-law who does not know of my arrival and who will jump on my neck upon seeing me...I look for the faces of friends from years on the streets of Malindi or Watamu or on the streets of Eldoret. I don't miss the savannah...I miss the Kenyans and their smiles."
On the other hand, he is echoed by Patrizia, who misses human beings on the Dark Continent the least: "I love Africa in general and especially Kenya, which is as close to my concept of paradise on earth as it gets," the reader explains, "but I would never live there permanently. Beautiful long vacations, that is my dream-project. The land, nature, the landscape in short, evoke in my imagination the "paradise on earth," but then Adam and Eve (humans) came and messed everything up. This is to say that it is not so easy to settle down permanently, to have a business, a job."
Others, however, like Giusy and Fabio, make no difference between daily life, encounters and the beauty of the places: "Kenya envelops you from the moment you arrive," says Giusy, "you feel it in the air, in the intense smell mixed with flowers, red dust, fry shops and ripe fruit, but also garbage and sweat. It is the smell of life, the life we very often forget about in Italy."
For Fabio there is also something more: "I will always thank Kenya for the way it brought me back to life, through the gaze of a girl and her willingness to pick me up and take me to see the real life and places that are hidden behind the curtains of the normal vacation. How many can this happen to? I haven't fallen in love with her, I'm not a "she's different from all the others" kind of guy, and I don't know how long it will last. But it is wonderful to come back knowing that she, for whom I am probably not the only one, is there waiting for me and will gladly accompany me on a new experience, a new excitement."

TAGS: mal d'africalettorimailnostalgia

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