In Kenya, official documents are both harder and easier to come by. If you are a legitimate sort of person, getting the government to work for you is like going to war. You need to outnumber and outgun your opposition in every way possible. If you can bring in your entire extended family to the government office, you'd probably have more luck getting an resident's card. At the same time, most government documents are easily forged and most people ignore the bureaucracy and just buy a fake.
That being said, a funny thing happened on the way to Najile last month....A woman visited us and asked if we could photocopy her daughter's birth certificate. This has been very common recently since the government passed a law saying you need a birth certificate to go to secondary (high) school. Unfortunately, most Maasai don't have birth certificates (or any government papers) which puts them in a tough situation. To go to school, they need to go to the district office (a 4-5 hour drive from Najile) and wait in line, often 5-10 times before the official agrees that they are indeed....alive.
So, this woman needed a copy of her daughter's certificate. No problem. Our printer is 3-in-1 so we shoot off a quick copy, to her amazement. Then she asks a more tricky question, "can you make me a passport too?"......Welcome to Kenya
