Her friends and family advised student Ruth Njoki Kabera from Kenya not to go to Lithuania. She was told there were no black people there. And they said Lithuanians will ask lots of questions about malaria, mosquitos and lions. However, the 23-year-old student didn‘t listen – she packed her bags and headed for Vilnius.

Kabera‘s journey to Lithuania was marked by many milestones. It was the first time she flew by plane and the first time she was at an airport. She experienced some challenging moments.

Having arrived from Nairobi in Germany‘s Frankfurt Airport, she was filled with fear.

“When I got on the plane to fly to Vilnius, I was the only black person. It was terrible. At the last minute several tall black fellows showed up, so I felt a lot safer,“ she said.

Kabera still has a fear of white people, although it is diminishing. The knowledge gained during the half year that she spent in Vilnius at Mykolas Romeris University will help in the future, when she will look for a job in Kenya and get married. The groom will have to pay more for her – more cows, as is customary in Kenya, because she is educated and knows foreign languages.

– Why did you choose Vilnius– a city, which has few black people and a culture that is unfamiliar to you?

– I come from the city of Eldoret in Kenya, which is 315 kilometers from the capital Nairobi. I came to Vilnius by way of an exchange semester programme to study at Mykolas Romeris University for a semester. I study environmental protection at Nairobi‘s Kenyatta University. I had to go study in Canada, but preparation of documents took too long. I was offered to go to Vilnius. I asked, „where is Lithuania?“ A Kenyatta University representative told me that it was in Greece. I checked the Internet and noticed that Lithuania is a beautiful, green country and without hesitation, I agreed to go. Also there was a chance for me to further my knowledge of environmental issues at the MRU Environmental Management Laboratory.

– So you knew absolutely nothing about Lithuania before coming here?

– No, nothing. Well, once I heard on BBC news that Lithuania was mentioned. I found out that such a country exists. At the time I had no plans to go to Lithuania, so I didn‘t think much of it.

– So, it was surprising for you to see so many white people in Vilnius?

– Yes. I was surrounded by them and it was scary for me. Up to then I had never seen so many white people in one place. From this fear I closed myself in the dorm room for the first 5 days and didn‘t leave the dormitory. I stopped talking to people. I tried to understand where I had ended up. You should have seen me the first day when I arrived and had to take the bus. I was filled with total fear. My sisters, parents, gave me lots of advice before leaving. Even now I talk to my mother every day on the phone. There is a very negative view of white people in my country. However, after a month in Vilnius, my fear of whites diminished. I made friends with students from other countries and I like Vilnius now.

– How about the weather in Vilnius? You were met with snow and icy cold weather.

– Yes, when I came to Vilnius the winter was very cold. I didn‘t even have gloves. I like cold weather, but it was way too cold here. When I saw snow, which had covered the rooftops, I was surprised. It was white everywhere. Visur balta, balta. It was strange. I‘ve fallen in love with Vilnius, eventhough I‘m only here for a few months. Vilnius – is a clean and beautiful city. There are less people here and the streets are emply compared to Nairobi, which has more than 3-million inhabitants. Only during the St. Casimir‘s Fair in Vilnius (in March) did I see more people in the city center. I enjoyed the Fair very much. Occasionally, a passerby would stop me to ask what country I was from. I noticed also that Vilnius is very green and has lots of trees. The River Neris is very clean, unlike the Nairobi River, which is polluted. The Nairobi River had been cleaned up, but after a month people started to throw garbage there, so it‘s polluted again and stinks. I‘m also surprised that in Vilnius residents continue to use plastic bags for their groceries. In Kenya it is prohibitted to use plastic bags since 2017. It was the first country to do so in Afrika. Now, you can pay a hefty fine for using a plastic bag. There are policemen, dressed in plainclothes in the city, checking up to see that this is enforced. It was hard to get used to this at first, during the first several months because we really used a lot of plastic bags. Now we have gotten accustomed and use woven types of bags. Others use material or paper bags for groceries.

-After your studies, you plan to return to Kenya? You want to get a job there?

-I would like to work at the United Nations Office in Nairobi because my specialty is environmental protection. Maybe I will get a job abroad. I want to travel. I dream of visiting Iceland, Switzerland, other European countries. When I get married, I will be a bride-in-demand and he groom will pay more goats and cows as a dowry. Our traditions are such that a future husband pays for the wedding and asks the father for the hand of his daughter. However, I have no plans to get married soon. You know, there are not many people my age from Kenya that go abroad to study. That is unusual. Studies, like travel, widen a person‘s horizons. Upon return to Kenya I will be more educated and fear white people less or maybe even stop being afraid of them.

Translated from an article that appeared in the “Lietuvos Rytas“ daily newspaper
2019-05-14