Dr Strange Love

What a random Monday - someone took me to the phone flashing aka unlocking shack - cost me 200 bob (KSD) to get it unlocked. Bargain! Now I'm up and running with my Kenyan mobile. Good times. I really respect the guy who took me - we were talking about all kinds of things and he went, "In Africa the one thing that really counts is your studies - it's not like Europe where if you have some other talents like art or sports you can get ahead without ever reading a word - here unless you have your studies and your degree you're nowhere. It's the most important thing." I was so impressed by what he said, how candidly he said it!

Monday afternoon we set off for running club - known as 'Hash' for Has House Harriers at 4:30 to beat the traffic. Not sure if I've mentioned but traffic here comes to a complete stand-still. It makes the M5 look easy... So we arrived with plenty of time to change before our run. It's 400 bob for the run and food, excluding drinks. All sounded like a pleasant evening to meet new people and get some exercise. Should have been awesome. It's the host person's responsibility to mark out the run, but unfortunately by the time we went running at 6pm on Monday night there were almost no markers left. We went up one path and ended up running through a shanty town somewhere in Loresho and were followed by 15 running kids of all ages from 3 - 15 shouting (nicely), "How are you?" "How are you?" when we turned around and asked them how they were they replied, "We are fine!" It was very cute. I found it a bit voyeuristic to be running through this shanty town, along what was effectively the high street of their makeshift town, but until this point I hadn't seen real life in Kenya for many people so it was good exposure.

We continued to make our way - running in a green and leafy area of Nairobi we didn't know. At one point someone pointed out the short run and long run, but as everyone was going down the long run route I clearly couldn't take the short run. On, On indeed - as they say! We were still unsure of where we were going and at one point it was about 6:30pm and we hadn't seen any route markers for several kilometers. We were 6 all together and it's unadvised to be out later than 7pm here as there are no street lights, people drive quite dangerously and it's generally quite unsafe to be walking/running around after dark. One girl suggested we double back and find the the short route... 4 km more later we eventually found our way home, but not without a lot of stopping and starting, panics about it getting dark, and having to drop off 1 lady with a 13 year old dog who couldn't run anymore - poor thing! Anyway, we made it back to the house, but to complicate maters further, power was out on the whole street. What would we do about dinner??

Back at the house the group of approximately 35 runners gathered around in a circle and insisted the 'Virgins' or newbies come into the center of the circle for 'interrogation.' Each Virgin got a beer - after the round of questioning which included " what's your cup size " they were told they had to chug the beer in 10 seconds or less and if they failed they had to pour any remainder on 'natural hair.' Creepy to even make the distinction on natural hair... I hate to think what people got up to. Add this scene to the fact that everyone gets some weird name like 'bum fluff' or 'sex pistol' and that the guy taking cash when we arrived had plastic poo on his hat it was all too weird to handle.

If you're wondering, what did you do? I didn't join the circle and skipped out on the beer... I was releaved when the taxis arrived, even though it meant leaving without my 400 bob worth of food. No more running club for me, no way! It was all too weird. Shame as the exercise was good...


If you're curious about Hash, here's more:
Hash House Harriers
“Down Downs”At the end of the run, drinking, eating and an informal gathering usually takes place, overseen by the “mismanagement”. If there are any “Virgins” (people new to the HHH) they can expect to be put on show in front of the gathering and even have pints of beer poured over their head (all in good fun) Questions will be asked so the club members can get to know the Virgin a little better. Depending on who is mismanaging the crowd, most people get off pretty lightly, but be prepared in case you’re easily embarrassed!
Who goes to Hash House Harriers?I’ve heard that many HHH’s around the world are very child friendly and have lots of children attending. I would say, the Nairobi Hash’s are pretty adult orientated, although a fair number of young adolescents do go and I’m sure the group would be very friendly and welcoming to any younger members. Just be aware that there would be a high chance of them hearing rude jokes and smutty humour!

Hash House Harriers History
British colonial officials and expatriates who would meet on Mondays to follow a paper trail started the Hash originally in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1938. A “hare” was given a lead and had to run ahead dropping a paper trail, trying to create false trails to confuse the “harriers” who were chasing behind. Only the hare knew where he was going. Apart from the excitement of the chase, the runners were rewarded at the end of their run with a tub of iced beer.

During world war, the Hash died out, and then resumed again in KL soon after the war was over. It was not until 1962 that the Hash began to spread internationally, starting in Singapore then spreading through the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. Now, there are around 1700 Hash House Harrier groups all over the world; there are even two organized HHH groups in Antarctica! Hashing in Kenya began in 1978.