“ The immigration official stamped our passports. I was pleased to see that it was a modest little stamp, unlike most developing countries, which seemed to have decided that if they couldn’t be Great Powers, they could at least have Great Stamps, ornate displays of grandeur occupying a full passport page, sometimes two.” passage from The Sex Lives of Cannibals
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Since my time here in Kenya, I have not met a Kenyan who does NOT like stamping….
The other day, a fellow teacher had a baby and we got him and his family a card as a sign of congratulations. I sat in the staff room ready to sign it. The headmaster was given first dibbs and what does he do? He pulls out a stamp, stamps it, initials it and then puts it in the envelope. I asked why no one was signing it and how does the person receiving it know who it was from? The teachers laughed at me and said the stamp shows its from everyone. They asked me did we do the same in the states. I said yeah from your dentist but not from your coworkers.
Going to the post office is always an ordeal. Not because of the lines, not because of the excruciatingly long time they make you wait as they go to the back stop to story with their coworkers and THEN start to look for your parcel, but because after all that, you still have to stand their as they stamp 5 pages of papers, your parcel, your receipt and anything else they feel like stamping.
I had a list from some of the teachers to take to the local supermarket, after purchasing the items, the clerk took the paper and pulled out a stamp. I looked at him like he was joking and said “ you really don’t have to stamp it, Im just going to throw it away anyway” He looked confused and almost sad he wasn’t able to stamp something. Feeling like I just ruined his day, I gave in and told him to go ahead if it would make him happy. He smiled and proceeded to stamp the hell out of the paper.
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