Mimi moved to Africa from London ten years ago. “It’s amazing how much further the old trust fund goes here,” she says. “Driver, house help, botox, booze and blow dries all much cheaper and they even have Uber here.”
Mimi has a certain standard of living that is wonderfully easy to maintain in Africa. She has a sweet little house with a two acre garden and a romantic, furnished veranda that is always filled with fresh flowers and friends. Her closest confidants include fellow trustafarians, interior designers, fine artists, photographers and the wonderful thing is, they all have time to do lunch. With year round sunshine, one absolutely can’t go wrong.
In spite of the overriding world view that Africa is struggling, Mimi would be the first to tell you that she can grab an espresso at any number of sparkling new shopping centres, has at least five fabulous (should be Michelin starred) lunch spots on her doorstep, boasts her own private European yoga instructor and is toying with the idea of going vegan (now that she’s found almond milk and quinoa at the local health food store). At weekends the gang will head up-country to any number of fully staffed homes, invariably located on private ranches. Long lunches, a dip in the pool, alcohol and/or chemical fueled evening game drives followed by very entertaining dinners are favourite weekend pastimes for the trustafarian set.
A couple of Mimi’s friends have pilots licenses and private planes which prove useful for getting about (one certainly doesn’t want to be stuck in town over the weekend). Mimi loves to pop to Lamu for a re-set from city life when possible and often finds herself socialising with celebrities under the bougainvillea at the Peponi bar (used to be popular with Royalty before the damn travel advisories told international visitors to exercise caution). Not only does she love the Lamu beach, the donkeys and the evocative calls to prayer but there are some darling fashion boutiques to explore in Shela too. Mimi is even thinking of opening up her own (just for fun).
Of course, some aspects of life in Africa can be tiresome (the street demonstrations, the traffic, trouble with domestic staff) but that’s exactly the moment when one should book a trip to London, New York or Ibiza. For the most part, Mimi’s life is peachy and most of her friends (on Instagram at least) envy her – which is exactly the idea… #trustafarianinafrica
*Apologies – this cheeky post was inspired by the featured Daily Mail pic of Lady Victoria Hervey at Tortillis Camp, Kenya #andlife #inkenya. Also inspired by the Insta famous and brilliant New York social satirist and fashion illustrator Julie Houts who releases her book Literally Me later this month. Finally I’m convinced that social satire is an actual thing/genre! Yay!
(Search: Social stereotypes and/or expat stereotypes or click on the ‘Cowboys‘ tab on this blog for more).
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