A Lifetime of Love and Letters

In Kenya the postal history can be traced to early years of the 17th century characterised by thw invasion and seizure of Mombasa by the Portuguese who then sent correspondence to the outside world from 1610 onwards, via ship to Arabia, India then overland in Europe. According to the Kenya Posta website, the earliest recorded letters from inland Kenya date around 1848. These were letters written by white missionaries and colonisers who would send native runners to the Coast for onward transmission of their missives bearing regaling tales of their exploitation and conquests back home. Thankfully we are past those ridiculous times and the Kenyan post has been a lifeline for many wananchi. 

I trace back my earliest memories of handwritten letters, postcards when I was 6 or 7 years old in the early 80’s. My mother received far in between handwritten letters from my grandfather in Uganda during the difficult times of civil unrest. Having left for Kenya in the early 60s for college, letters were a way for her to let her family know how she was doing and vice versa. Eventually she fell in love and settled in Kenya with my dad and for her letters became a way to keep in touch with family spread across the world. 

My father was also a meticulous letter writer. He preferred aerogrammes which he considered cost effective and efficient. For the benefit of those who might not know what an aerogramme is..they are blue paper-thin pre-stamped foldable letter sheets that you purchase at posta cheaper than conventional letters. My father would go to great lengths to squeeze everything into that one sheet and famously mastered tiny font to do so. 

My own passion around letters picked up while boarding in high school. It was a way for me to update my parents and siblings how school life was going. I was especially keen to write to my siblings who were away for college for the kind of advise and ideas only they could give a little sister… I continue to keep up exchanging hand written cards, postcards and letters with a precious few… despite the emergence of the facsimile, email and what nots. Nothing replaces a handwritten letter or card in the mailbox for me. 

During the pandemic I found myself increasingly quieter and isolated from the world as we grappled with what social connections would look like in the new normal. I started sending out loads of love and check in letters to friends and family hoping the mail service would still be available. I got a couple of responses back. They brought me the same kind of joy I felt as a homesick teenager in school receiving a letter from home with updates on the going’s on at home…

More and more I struggle to get affordable and beautiful stationery for my correspondence. They are an extension of our sense of style and individual personality. With people going all digital, the glory of postal service and snail mail is declining… more stationery store attendants scratch their heads in wonder when I ask for onionskin letter writing pads. 

Kenya used to have an amazing array of writing pads, postcards and cards… the designs, colours and sizes fit a variety of tastes and pockets… now it is so hard to get a spunky punchy postcard that does not stink of some African cliché…. One of the most revulsive postcards for instance that unfortunately is so prolific in stores are oriented around western tourists featuring the “Big Five.” This phrase traces its roots to the 5 African animals white big game hunters considered difficult to hunt for their sport, pleasure and delights. Hunting for sport and pleasure confounds me but what should I expect from a global space dominated by needless violence, extractive, exploitative, white supremacist, neoliberalist and deeply patriarchal values as the norm?… But hey I digress…. 

The larger point I am making is the missing vast imagery and aesthetic Kenyans who are home or away resonate with that offer slices and sights of nostalgia and home need to be more available. I like to be able to share a bit of who I am in the choice of postcards, notes and cards I send out. We forget or underestimate the power of handwritten correspondence have on the ones we care about. 

We offer one of the most precious gift in handwritten mail… our time, the time we spend writing and taking it to the post office and dropping it in the mail and the intentional attention and deep value of friendship and affection is irreplaceable. 

I  began designing my own range of postcards with my photography and artwork that allow me to share parts of my world with my beloved around the world. It has been my way of expressing and experiencing love.

I have tried to keep as many handwritten letters postcards and notes over the course of my life. Treasured memories of days gone by…

A visit to the local post office for me will always be a portal to the world… as long as my hands can write and the post office doors open… snail mail will always be my love language.