Kenya, being a third world country, from a young age your eyes are open to the real world. I'd like to think growing up there taught me to stand on my own two feet, make my own decisions about what I wanted to be.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I grew up in Sudan and Kenya, and lived in both the rural and urban centers of both countries throughout my life.
My conscious life has all been in Kenya, and it's my point of reference. But going back to Mexico was very formative.
Living in South Africa and periodically coming back to Kenya, my relationship with officialdom in Kenya was just insane.
I had moved back to Kenya after undergrad, and I went through this crisis of, 'What is my life going to be about?'
Africa has lost its dream, and when people don't have a dream and don't pursue it, they flounder. People are shocked that I would move to Africa. But I say the place of greatest need is the place of greatest opportunity.
In terms of competitiveness of new global environment, Kenya will have absolutely no choice but to tackle the most important constraint to its development: it has been corruption.
South Africa gives me a perspective of what's real and what's not real. So I go back to South Africa to both lose myself and gain awareness of myself. Every time I go back, it doesn't take long for me to get caught into a very different thing. A very different sense of myself.
Being from Africa is the best thing that could have ever, ever happened to me. I cannot see it any other way. All of my fundamental principles that were instilled in me in my home, from my childhood, are still with me.
I am actually a resident of three worlds - of America, of India, and of Africa. I live in Uganda most of the year. It's extraordinary to have that worldview that is an expansive one rather than just looking at the world from where you sit.
I didn't grow up with my Kenyan family. I grew up in a small, conservative suburb of Chicago.