an angry (civilized) mob

I experienced my first peaceful protest in Kenya this morning. At the Jomo Kenyatta airport.

It all began at 4:30am with my alarm finally going off – I had one of those restless nights where I never really could fall asleep and awoke every hour in (subconscious) fear of not awaking with the alarm and missing my early morning flight (which is quite laughable now).

I arrive at the airport (packed at 6am) waiting an hour and a half to get up to the gate. I go through additional security to sit in the boarding room - where I fall asleep. Awakening, I see people are all getting up and being ushered back into the airport. I close my eyes again, desperate for just a few more minutes. Nope - airport guy insists I too get up – my flight has been delayed. “Go get breakfast” he says “come back at 9am for more info and a new departure time”. Fine. I move to the hallway and proceed to continue my nap. At 9a we are told to come back at 10a. I go for a coffee and bonus – Java House has apple pie! 10a the airport man in the most hideous color of mustard (head to toe and with a matching vest!) tells us the flight is delayed indefinitely because they don’t have a crew and can’t find a pilot. Maybe, he says, we will leave at 4p on the LAM flight stopping through northern Mozambique (and taking double the amount of time). But we all need to stick around to find out. Suddenly, a handful of large Kenyan men stand up and started asking very loud “what?” “are you kidding me?” I watch and to my entertainment, the mustard colored man turned and RAN down the hallway! Ha! He just ran away! I wanted to laugh at the comedy of this, but before I knew what was happening, I was being pulled from my chair and told to join the group. We were going to “negotiate” our side of the story - as that is the Kenyan way! And delaying the flight because no pilot was scheduled to fly the plane (which they also don’t have, btw) is not acceptable. What about our schedules? the angry mob shouts. Our ring leader believes Kenya Airways should be asking about our schedules, our plans for the day and what a delay of indefinite would mean for us. I so desperately wanted to laugh. I also wanted to be involved in this civil protest. I march on and stifle my giggles.

There were at least 30 of us in this group, marching through the airport, full of excitement and working up those that were already upset. To the customer service counter! We want to speak with the manager on duty! To my surprise and delight, I watch as our ring leader, angry and very tall, turned into a peaceful negotiator – but not until after the manager “hid” from us. We were told the only way to speak to the manager on duty was to go out of the airport, lose our visas, and wait outside. There was then a discussion of what “manager ON DUTY” was suppose to mean. “On duty” logically would mean the manager is here and available. Not to Kenyan Airways though. Nope. We didn’t move. And thirty people congregated in one area gathers a crowd. It was kind of fun, to be honest. Random travelers came up to me to ask what was going on, what we were protesting about. It was 11am at this time and all we wanted was an explanation, a confirmed departure time, and an apology. And oh yes, maybe a pilot to fly the plane. Oh, and a plane, please! The “negotiating” with the manager on-duty went on for a good 45 minutes. I was standing between a European man and an elderly Indian woman. We were all impressed with how peaceful this protest was occurring. It really was impressive.

An unidentifiable free lunch and a free stay in the KQ lounge passed another five hours by. 5p and we are finally on the flight to Maputo – 10 hours late! So much for my sunny Sunday on the beach in Mozambique. At least I got to be a part of my first mob and peaceful protest. It was worth it.