Three words – Africa is beautiful. and I mean every single word of that. Little known fact: Africa was actually my very first trip abroad and as much as I hate to admit it, I had so many apprehensions about going. My fear in traveling to Africa was three-fold. All my life as an African-American woman, I’d heard that Africans didn’t really care for African-Americans and that scared me. All my life I’d heard that Africa was a dangerous place and that too scared me. Lastly and quite frankly, the price tag for the flight scared me. In hindsight, I am so freaking glad I didn’t let those fears deter me from visiting Africa. In mid-2017 I traveled to the Motherland for the first time and it was a life changing experience. In my heart I truly feel every African-American and honestly every person, regardless of color – should travel to Africa.
In 2017 I traveled to Kenya as part of a service mission trip with Africa Yoga Project. AYP, or Africa Yoga Project is a non-profit organization based in Kenya. Its’ mission is to create job opportunities through teaching yoga to unemployed Kenyans. AYP happened to partner with the yoga studio I was teaching with at the time, Shakti Power Yoga in Nashville. As a studio, we decided to raise money with the goal of traveling to Kenya and donating our proceeds to AYP. Since Nashville is known as Music City, we named our mission Musical Roots – Seva Safari and let me tell you – there is power in fundraising. As a team, Shakti Power Yoga fundraised more than $40,000 to donate to AYP. We also fundraised enough money to support about 10 people, myself included – to travel to Kenya.
Getting There
I’m not going to lie to you – getting to Africa is the hardest part. A direct flight from the United States to Kenya is about 17 hours. The price tag for this journey will also cost you somewhere between $1,000 – $1,200. Of course this price varies with when you book your flight and how you’re flying (commercial, business, private, etc.)
Once the hard part is over – Africa is so freaking worth it. My trip to Kenya was about two weeks long in total. Within my groups’ time there we helped revitalize a school in Kenya by building desks and re-painting the entire school. We also practiced yoga every single day with Africa Yoga Project at the Shine Center. I mention the Shine Center specifically because it is incredible. This is unlike any yoga studio you’ve ever seen. It’s a two level yoga studio that holds hundreds of people. Every Saturday Africa Yoga Project holds a donation-based yoga class for Kenyans and let me tell you, the classes are packed. Hundreds of people show up to practice together. But classes don’t stop there – afterwards, Africa Yoga Project provides a free vegetarian hot lunch for EVERYONE. It’s a big undertaking.
Going on Safari
If you must do one thing in Africa it has to be going on safari! Trust – I do love yoga and I loved sharing yoga with the people of Kenya. However the safari trip we took was absolutely incredible and probably my favorite thing we did as a group. There’s something so cool about seeing animals in the wild. I’m talking elephants, zebras, hyenas, boars, monkeys and even lions. My group drove about two hours to a small town just outside of Kenya named Kajiado for our safari. It was a stunning place just on the border of Tanzania and we could even see Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance. We navigated the safari in a huge jeep camper and I felt like I was in a movie. I can not express enough how stunning it was.
The coolest part of the safari was meeting the Maasai. The Maasai are a nomadic tribe which live in Kenya and northern Tanzania. This tribe lives off the grid in the many rural national parks of Kenya and Tanzania. As of the 2019 census, there are more than one million Maasai in Kenya. Many Maasai tribes throughout Tanzania and Kenya welcome visitors to their villages to experience their culture, traditions, and lifestyle, in return for a fee. My group was lucky enough to have this experience. The Maasai were so welcoming. It was my first time experiencing a people who live off the grid. We’re talking no electricity or running water – the Maasai live completely off the land. Their homes are built by hand and the men even hunt game for their meals. Such an eye-opening experience.
In Summary
Visiting Kenya was a life-changing experience. Africa truly is the Motherland. It’s where we all come from and visiting here opened my eyes. It made me curious about my own roots and ancestry. After leaving Kenya I later went on to discover my ancestry is of Nigerian descent.
The Kenyan people are kind, welcoming, hard-working and beautiful. I am going to be honest – there are parts of Kenya and Africa that do have third-world qualities such as extreme poverty, crime, lack of electricity and running water, sewage and garbage issues. Seeing this disparity with your own eyes can be heartbreaking. Personally, it brought peace to my heart knowing that I played a small part to give back and help the people of Kenya. However, in the same vein, there are parts of Africa that are jaw dropping and absolutely stunning. In all, the two balance each other out. I believe everyone should visit Africa at least once in a lifetime because it will change your life and make you see the world through a different lens.
3 responses to “The Reason Everyone Should Travel to Africa at Least Once”
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