What's a wire fence?

by Beza Tekleyohanes (Ethiopia)

I didn't expect to find Kenya

21 with super excitement started as we arrived at the airport two hours early to check-in, we couldn't wait to fly to our very first trip to Mombasa, Kenya. All 5 of us dedicated to make this trip as interesting as possible. Though our flight was an hour and 20 minutes, I brought a book to read and yes, to look all cool. The other girl I was travelling with is already writing a travel memo even thou we just boarded on the plane while the rest of my friends are taking selfies with everything they find in the plane, except the captain. So yes, our excitement was beyond the limit. As we have arrived at the airport after eating and drinking everything which is given by the cabin crew, we were able to be picked up by the training organizers of Kenyan medical students. They rented a local city car to pick us up and drop us to the lodge rented for us, we were discussing about the money we have, the money we exchanged to Kenyan shilling and how rich we are in our own world. As we arrived to the lodge, we decided to take the family room which has three bedrooms and one living room along with open kitchen. We didn't have time to unpack our staff due to our excitement to explore the lodge and of course try to swim. Almost everyone knows how to swim except me, therefore one Nigerian guy offered to help me learn. By the time i was almost good enough to swim by only supervision, everyone was done and left the pool except me and two Sudanese and one Tanzanian girl. It was almost 8 pm when we heard an alarm but thought it was just a noise and we stayed in the pool until this Egyptian guy came and told us to leave without saying a single word. That's when we started jumping out of the pool and running bare foot for our lives. Then we found this shield at the back of the pool just by the fence of the lodge. We gathered there for 30 seconds then we saw this guy coming to the pool to check if there is anyone around. It was right after he left that we heard a gun being shot from somewhere around the rooms. I was super shocked and started running towards the room until i was being stopped by one of the students who was hiding with me and within a few seconds this girl from Tanzania started jumping on the wire fence which was triple to her height and looks really not convenient to climb it that fast. But she has the look of "what's a wire fence?" When we tried to tell her it's dangerous. Due to the awareness I have about my physical capability along with the unknown status of the safety outside, I decided to stay barefoot until somebody gets us out. By the time the robbers left, we went to find out what happened only to find my friends crying in their room stating that everyone lost their bags with their money and passport except me. The thieves car has been recognized by one of the students which ended up being the car that picked us up from the airport, yes they completely misunderstood us of being rich and ended up stealing few passports along with a total of 800 dollars. We were surprised by not only Mombasa's white sand but also by the 3 doors prepared for a single entrance in every house in Mombasa.