Day Three

Today, we visited the Masai Market in Downtown Nairobi, an open-air market that houses a variety of products, such as handmade jewelry, pottery, art, and clothing, all made by local artisans. Each artist has their respective stalls, which are divided across multiple rows in the venue. Upon entering, visitors are met with vibrancy at every corner. The quantity of products, coupled with the artisans pitching their products and prices left and right, can be overwhelming for those who have not been to an open-air market. On the surface, our trip to the Masai Market can be seen as any other ordinary shopping experience, but there were several valuable lessons we took away. The first being, bargaining is an integral aspect of this market and in other African markets. One of our members, who was unfortunately temporarily separated from our wonderful Kenyatta University team leaders, Professor Mildred and Mychelle, learned this the hard way. Riley had stayed at a booth to browse as the others moved on. Because Mychelle was not able to help her bargain, Riley regrettably spent all of the money she exchanged at this one stall in a bad deal. Otherwise, the rest of us had the advantage of locals bargaining , which proved to be a massive help! We learned lessons in bargaining through watching Mildred and Mychelle. Bargaining is a skill, one which many of us lack. Even though we could not tell what was being said in Swahili (the lingua franca of Kenya), Mildred and Mychelle’s body language, tone of voice, and willingness to walk away for a possible better deal showed us how it’s done.

Another lesson we learned was politely standing your ground. At the Masai Market many vendors come up to you with products or try to persuade you to go to their stands, with the hopes that you’ll purchase an item from them. While it is a vital part of their business, (especially since these are all local artisans, no corporations here!) it can be overwhelming and difficult to walk away. A simple “No, Asante Sama” (“No, thank you very much”) and walking away can work for some vendors. However, there are some particularly dedicated artisans who will keep trying to persuade you. If they spot you at another area in the market, they will flag you down and inquire about your purchases and whether you’ll return to their stall. One can feel bad and guilty, but it’s important to remember that all of this is done in the name of business; artisans are persistent, because they want those who visit the market to purchase their works. This is where the help of our Hollins Professors and Kenyatta Team Leaders can help, but some of us were also able to handle the pressure on our own. 

While Zoe and Celeste were looking at a particular stall at the front of the market, another vendor (noticing that both were admiring rings) pitched his own stall. It was just a couple feet away, and he stressed that he had a much wider variety of styles more appealing to them. When both students were approached, they told him politely that at the moment they were not interested, since they were preoccupied with another vendor.  They told him that they would check out his stall while exploring the rest of the market with the group, but the vendor remained persistent and told them to just take a minute to look at what he had. Both students asserted themselves by informing the vendor that they needed to remain in the group to make sure no one gets left behind, and that they were in the middle of negotiating prices with another artist. Vendors don’t particularly care for group dynamics or the fact that you are preoccupied at a stall– they want to pitch a product and sell it to you immediately. So we routinely had to say “I’ll come by later to check it out,” or “At the moment, I cannot because I have to stick with my group, but if we have time later, I’ll come back.” While establishing that boundary may feel disingenuous– especially since these are local artists who have dedicated a great deal of time and effort to curate the products on display– one has to remain firm, or else you’ll spend hours bouncing from stall to stall being bombarded by various vendors at a time. 

Our next stop was The Embassy, a swanky lounge and bistro serving beer, wine, and juice during the day and becoming a club late at night. We were there while it was a lounge and were greeted with large bottles of Tusker beer, liters of juice, and water, which proved difficult to finish, and they sell only full bottles of wine per person. This was a nice opportunity for the team to socialize and decompress before returning to lodging. Overall, we were enlightened by our mentors and the locals of Nairobi. We also got special souvenirs from a trip we will all remember forever. Thanks Vendors!

By Izabelle and Celeste