Feel At Home
I’ve noticed that Kenyans have their own phrases – their own way of using language. I suppose that is the case for all cultures, but as I’ve been in Kenya for the last three weeks, I’ve picked up on their particular way of speaking.
For example, if you drop something, a Kenyan will say, “Sorry,” not so much as an apology (since it wasn’t their fault), but almost, it seems, as way of checking that you’re okay. If you say, “Hello,” to a Kenyan, they’ll say, “I’m fine,” because they take the greeting as an inquiry as to how they are doing. Rather than saying, “We’re about to eat dinner,” Kenyans say, “We’re about to take dinner.”
But, by far my favorite Kenya phrase has been, “Feel at home.”
We have a variation of that in the States, of course. We say, “Make yourself at home.”
But, there’s an important difference.
Kenyans don’t want you to make yourself feel at home.
They want to make you feel at home.
They want to honor you as their guest. They want to welcome you with their hospitality. They want to provide you with a generous feast of the most delicious food you’ll ever taste (I’m already missing chapati). They want to serve you.
They want to make you feel at home.
What I love is that this is so core to who they are. It is a part of their culture – a culture that expresses itself in a thousand different ways.
Strangers on the street have greeted me with a smile and a handshake. Children have offered to carry my bags. My sweet Kenyan family has sent me back to my hotel every night with a thermos of hot water, so I could “take coffee” while I did my school work.
I asked my brother, Marwa, if he was worn out – worn out from all of the people that have descended upon his home since our arrival. He said, “No, I am not worn out. We believe that guests are a blessing, not a burden. If you have guests, it’s because you are blessed.”
What if we looked at every interaction with another person as an opportunity to make them “feel at home”? What if we made them feel welcome, not only in our homes, but in our lives? What if hospitality was a posture of the heart? What if we believed every guest to be blessing?
I want to be like that. I want to be welcoming. I want to be hospitable. I want people to feel at home with me.
I don’t even have to throw a dinner party to get started. I can begin with the next person I pass on the street.
Thank you for making me feel at home, Kenya.
Until we meet again.