Foul first impression

A trip we made to Kenya was a near disaster.

On Sept. 29, ’04, I drove us from Arusha, Tanzania, into Kenya. A tourist visa cost $50. After a noon lunch in downtown Nairobi, we were blocked in traffic on busy Kenyatta Avenue, surrounded by thousands of pedestrians, when we were approached by a street beggar.

At my car window, while I was making my donation, this beggar pulled a 2-liter bottle filled with liquid human feces off his hidden hand and threatened to wipe it on me and to throw the bottle in our car unless we all paid big money. This we did, and he disappeared as quickly as he had arrived.

We contacted the nearest police, who told us we were lucky it wasn’t a syringe full of HIV blood — another favorite weapon used in Nairobi. The police showed no interest in helping.

We immediately drove back to safe, friendly Tanzania. At the border we related our experience to the Customs/Immigration officer and asked that the $50 we had paid for our 3-month visa be returned as we had only been in Kenya four hours, but it was like speaking to a stone. In short, no refund, no apology, no interest whatsoever.

My response is to make no more visits to Kenya.

We had a great time in Tanzania.

PHILLIP DuBEAU
Orlando, FL