Premiered on 20 Apr 2026 Kisses From Kenya

EPISODE 12: Is the Grass REALLY Greener?

Is the grass actually greener on the other side - or does it just look that way from here? Brendan and Vuyanzi sit with the uncomfortable feeling that the right seems energised, emboldened, and utterly unbothered while everyone else scrambles to keep up. Plus: what a four-day work week in Pakistan and the Philippines tells us about who's really driving global economics right now.

In this episode:

• Whose America Is It Anyway? - Democratic senators invoke the War Powers Act over Cuba; how U.S. policy is quietly triggering a four-day work week in Pakistan and the Philippines
• Lost in Translation - American friends versus Kenyan friends: do our friendships get lost in translation when we relocate? A Kenyan woman who lived in Boston weighs in, and the conversation gets into romantic relationships too
• Queer & Black Joy - Brendan sleeps his way into a better flight during a Boston blizzard; Vuyanzi attends an intergenerational women's brunch

Democrats Abroad Kenya | Expat life Nairobi | U.S. foreign policy | War Powers Act | Global economy | Black diaspora podcast | American abroad Kenya | Kenyan expat community | Four day work week

Kisses from Kenya is the podcast for Americans living abroad who haven't stopped paying attention. Subscribe and join the conversation.

#KissesFromKenya #DemocratsAbroad #GrassIsGreener #BlackDiaspora #ExpatsOfNairobi #AmericanAbroad #WarPowers #GlobalEconomy #QueerJoy

Support the show

About the show Kisses from Kenya is a social and cultural podcast produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya. It explores personal stories about race, queerness, culture, politics, and the experience of being American in Nairobi. The views expressed on this podcast do not represent the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.

Listen, subscribe, and share If you enjoy conversations about language, identity, diaspora, and culture clash, subscribe for new episodes on a weekly(ish) schedule! You can find us on Youtube at ‪@KissesfromKenya and on all Podcast Platforms.

Follow Democrats Abroad Kenya on Instagram, Facebook, or on the DA website!

Contact us Share your stories, questions, or comments at: kissesfromkenyapodcast@gmail.com

Premiered on 13 Apr 2026 Kisses From Kenya

EPISODE 11: Has the Sky Fallen Before?

Is what's happening in America truly unprecedented - or have we been here before? Vuyanzi and Brendan pull back the lens on patterns of injustice, the centering of whiteness in political outrage, and the question of who gets to be shocked. Fair warning: the cynicism is showing, and we're not sorry.

In this episode:

• Whose America Is It Anyway? - ICE, CBP crime statistics, and the headlines making us pause
• Lost in Translation - natural scent, cultural memory, and a story about what it means when your body is the controversy
• Deep Dive - the centering of white reactions to injustice: who says "I can't believe this" and why that matters
• Queer & Black Joy - IShowSpeed and the joy of discovering artists you didn't know you needed

Democrats Abroad Kenya | Expat politics | African diaspora podcast | Black American abroad | Queer diaspora | ICE and immigration | U.S. politics from abroad | Nairobi expat

Kisses from Kenya is the podcast for Americans living abroad who haven't stopped paying attention. Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss an episode.

#KissesFromKenya #DemocratsAbroad #BlackDiaspora #AmericanAbroad #Expat #QueerJoy #ICE #Immigration #NairobiPodcast #AfricanDiaspora

Support the show

About the show Kisses from Kenya is a social and cultural podcast produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya. It explores personal stories about race, queerness, culture, politics, and the experience of being American in Nairobi. The views expressed on this podcast do not represent the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.

Listen, subscribe, and share If you enjoy conversations about language, identity, diaspora, and culture clash, subscribe for new episodes on a weekly(ish) schedule! You can find us on Youtube at ‪@KissesfromKenya and on all Podcast Platforms.

Follow Democrats Abroad Kenya on Instagram, Facebook, or on the DA website!

Contact us Share your stories, questions, or comments at: kissesfromkenyapodcast@gmail.com

Premiered on 6 Apr 2026 Kisses From Kenya

EPISODE 10: Home Away from Home

They're back. After a longer-than-planned break, Vuyanzi and Brendan return to find the news cycle hasn't waited for anyone - and neither has the question of what "home" actually means anymore. 2026 opens with a lot to catch up on and one big question at the centre of it all.

In this episode:

• Whose America Is It Anyway? - a full rundown of what you missed: ICE, Kendrick at the Grammys, nuclear treaties, the Guthrie disappearance, and more
• Lost in Translation - the unspoken rules of flying home: middle seats, plane drinks, and the etiquette nobody writes down
• Deep Dive - what happens when you go back and home doesn't feel the same? Disconnection, cold weather, the news, and the shifting definition of where you belong
• Queer & Black Joy - an all-Black crew on Kenya Airways, and why that moment deserves its own segment

Democrats Abroad Kenya | Expat life | Returning home | Black diaspora | American abroad | Nairobi podcast | Kenyan expat community | U.S. politics 2026

Kisses from Kenya is the podcast for Americans living abroad who haven't stopped paying attention. New to the show? Subscribe and join a growing community asking the same questions you are.

#KissesFromKenya #DemocratsAbroad #HomeAbroad #BlackDiaspora #ExpatsOfNairobi #AmericanAbroad #Season2 #KenyaAirways #QueerJoy

Support the show

About the show Kisses from Kenya is a social and cultural podcast produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya. It explores personal stories about race, queerness, culture, politics, and the experience of being American in Nairobi. The views expressed on this podcast do not represent the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.

Listen, subscribe, and share If you enjoy conversations about language, identity, diaspora, and culture clash, subscribe for new episodes on a weekly(ish) schedule! You can find us on Youtube at ‪@KissesfromKenya and on all Podcast Platforms.

Follow Democrats Abroad Kenya on Instagram, Facebook, or on the DA website!

Contact us Share your stories, questions, or comments at: kissesfromkenyapodcast@gmail.com

Premiered on 30 Mar 2026 Kisses From Kenya

EPISODE 9: Morals to Morale

What's the difference between morals and morale - and why does living abroad make that question suddenly urgent? Brendan and Vuyanzi connect the FBI's fear-based collapse, press freedom under attack, and the cultural standards you didn't know you'd inherited until Kenya quietly rewrote them.

In this episode:

• Whose America Is It Anyway? - the FBI under Kash Patel and why morale in a federal agency matters to all of us; the New York Times sues the Pentagon over press access rules
• Lost in Translation - things that are polite in America that land as strange in Kenya, and vice versa
• Deep Dive - how morals shape the emotional climate around you; what living abroad reveals about the moral code you were handed; how Kenya has quietly shifted what both hosts value
• Queer & Black Joy - community gatherings, unexpected connection, and a Black woman making historical fiction podcasts

Democrats Abroad Kenya | Expat life Africa | Kash Patel FBI | Press freedom 2026 | Black diaspora podcast | American values abroad | Nairobi expat community | Queer Africa

Kisses from Kenya is the podcast for Americans living abroad who haven't stopped paying attention. Enjoying the show? Share it with someone else living abroad who's asking the same questions. Subscribe for new episodes.

#KissesFromKenya #DemocratsAbroad #PressFreedom #FBI #MoralsVsMorale #BlackDiaspora #QueerJoy #ExpatsOfKenya #AmericanAbroad

Support the show

About the show Kisses from Kenya is a social and cultural podcast produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya. It explores personal stories about race, queerness, culture, politics, and the experience of being American in Nairobi. The views expressed on this podcast do not represent the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.

Listen, subscribe, and share If you enjoy conversations about language, identity, diaspora, and culture clash, subscribe for new episodes on a weekly(ish) schedule! You can find us on Youtube at ‪@KissesfromKenya and on all Podcast Platforms.

Follow Democrats Abroad Kenya on Instagram, Facebook, or on the DA website!

Contact us Share your stories, questions, or comments at: kissesfromkenyapodcast@gmail.com

Premiered on 23 Mar 2026 Kisses From Kenya

EPISODE 8: Left, Right, Center

In Kenya, the driver sits on the right, the traffic comes from the left, and nothing you learned at home quite prepares you. Vuyanzi and Brendan use that disorientation as the entry point into a bigger conversation: what happens when the political and cultural assumptions you built your life on get quietly, thoroughly flipped?

In this episode:

• Whose America Is It Anyway? - a deep-red Tennessee district shows signs of life; a U.S. president, 85 deaths, no due process, and a pardoned drug trafficker
• Crossing the Road in Kenya - driving on the left, bodas from every direction, silent prayers in Ubers, and what it means to reprogram your instincts
• Deep Dive - how living abroad forces you to confront your automatic assumptions and find your own centre when the world feels reversed
• Lost in Translation - "HELLO???" and what Kenyan urgency sounds like to American ears
• Queer & Black Joy - a friend visiting from Pennsylvania; mixing worlds; joy as resistance

Democrats Abroad Kenya | Expat life Nairobi | Living in Kenya | American abroad | Black diaspora | Queer expat | U.S. politics from Africa | Nairobi driving | Boda boda culture

Kisses from Kenya is the podcast for Americans living abroad who haven't stopped paying attention. First time here? Subscribe and join the conversation.

#KissesFromKenya #DemocratsAbroad #LivingInKenya #ExpatsOfNairobi #LeftRightCenter #BlackDiaspora #QueerJoy #BodaBoda #AmericanAbroad

Support the show

About the show Kisses from Kenya is a social and cultural podcast produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya. It explores personal stories about race, queerness, culture, politics, and the experience of being American in Nairobi. The views expressed on this podcast do not represent the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.

Listen, subscribe, and share If you enjoy conversations about language, identity, diaspora, and culture clash, subscribe for new episodes on a weekly(ish) schedule! You can find us on Youtube at ‪@KissesfromKenya and on all Podcast Platforms.

Follow Democrats Abroad Kenya on Instagram, Facebook, or on the DA website!

Contact us Share your stories, questions, or comments at: kissesfromkenyapodcast@gmail.com

Premiered on 16 Mar 2026 Kisses From Kenya

EPISODE 7: Celebrations & Complications

Christmas trees in 35-degree heat. Eggnog at the Equator. A goat that knows exactly what season it is. Vuyanzi and Brendan dig into what the holidays actually look like when you're far from where you started - the homesickness, the relief, the reinvention, and the complicated joy of celebrating queer identity abroad during the season when everyone assumes you're going home.

In this episode:

• Whose America Is It Anyway? - holiday travel chaos, Christmas starting in October, and inflation shrinking family gatherings
• Deep Dive: Vuyanzi on navigating homesickness and building new rituals in Kenya; Brendan on the complicated reality of queer holidays abroad - the escape, the loneliness, and finding chosen family in Nairobi
• Lost in Translation - Kenyanisms that once confused everything and now feel completely natural
• Queer & Black Joy - community potlucks, chosen-family dinners, and new traditions that actually fit

Democrats Abroad Kenya | Queer expat Africa | Black diaspora holidays | Christmas in Kenya | American abroad | Chosen family | LGBTQ Africa | Nairobi expat community | Holidays abroad

Wherever you're spending the season, you're not alone in finding it complicated. Kisses from Kenya is the podcast for Americans living abroad who haven't stopped paying attention. Subscribe and find your people.

#KissesFromKenya #DemocratsAbroad #HolidaysAbroad #ChosenFamily #QueerJoy #BlackDiaspora #ChristmasInKenya #ExpatsOfNairobi #LGBTQAbroad

Support the show

About the show Kisses from Kenya is a social and cultural podcast produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya. It explores personal stories about race, queerness, culture, politics, and the experience of being American in Nairobi. The views expressed on this podcast do not represent the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.

Listen, subscribe, and share If you enjoy conversations about language, identity, diaspora, and culture clash, subscribe for new episodes on a weekly(ish) schedule! You can find us on Youtube at ‪@KissesfromKenya and on all Podcast Platforms.

Follow Democrats Abroad Kenya on Instagram, Facebook, or on the DA website!

Contact us Share your stories, questions, or comments at: kissesfromkenyapodcast@gmail.com

Premiered on 9 Mar 2026 Kisses From Kenya

EPISODE 6: Global Erasures

Visible and invisible at the same time - that's the reality of being an American in Kenya, a queer person in a Global South country, a diaspora voice in a conversation that keeps getting shaped by people who aren't in the room. Vuyanzi and Brendan get into who gets heard, who gets quoted, and who gets quietly cut from the story.

In this episode:

• Whose America Is It Anyway? - the Global North's track record of telling LGBTQ+ people in Africa what their liberation should look like, and why that's a problem
• Deep Dive: Vuyanzi on diaspora political participation, being an outsider within global activism, and what "performative listening" actually costs; Brendan on queer erasure inside global organisations, including what's happening at the Rotary Club
• Joint reflection - how do you stay loud without being exoticised? What does real cross-border solidarity look like versus the version that gets press releases?
• Culture Clash Hotline - African men, cold coffee, and the audacity of timing
• Queer & Black Joy - Brendan got taken on a date; Vuyanzi is reclaiming her daytime and letting the nightlife wait

Democrats Abroad Kenya | LGBTQ Africa | Global South queer rights | Diaspora voting abroad | Black diaspora podcast | Queer expat Kenya | Global North Global South | American abroad Nairobi | Rotary Club queer inclusion

If this conversation matters to you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Kisses from Kenya is the podcast for Americans living abroad who haven't stopped paying attention. Subscribe for new episodes every week.

#KissesFromKenya #DemocratsAbroad #GlobalSouth #QueerAfrica #BlackDiaspora #Erasure #LGBTQRights #ExpatsOfNairobi #DiasporaVoices #AmericanAbroad

Support the show

About the show Kisses from Kenya is a social and cultural podcast produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya. It explores personal stories about race, queerness, culture, politics, and the experience of being American in Nairobi. The views expressed on this podcast do not represent the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.

Listen, subscribe, and share If you enjoy conversations about language, identity, diaspora, and culture clash, subscribe for new episodes on a weekly(ish) schedule! You can find us on Youtube at ‪@KissesfromKenya and on all Podcast Platforms.

Follow Democrats Abroad Kenya on Instagram, Facebook, or on the DA website!

Contact us Share your stories, questions, or comments at: kissesfromkenyapodcast@gmail.com

Premiered on 22 Dec 2025 Kisses From Kenya

What does it mean to live abroad as an American without becoming a spokesperson, a saviour, or a walking symbol of U.S. power? In this episode of Kisses from Kenya, we explore representation, projection, and the uneasy mirror Americans hold up when they leave home.

In Episode 5, Brendan and Vuyanzi dig into the idea of being seen as a mouthpiece and the fear of reproducing neo-imperial dynamics abroad. Vuyanzi reflects on moments where American presence, even when well-intentioned, carries assumptions of authority, influence, and cultural dominance. Brendan examines what it feels like to be treated as a representative for all Americans, or all queer people, and the pressure to explain, defend, or soften the United States from afar.

Together they talk about power, self-awareness, guilt, responsibility, and how living in Kenya sharpens their understanding of how American identity is read, resisted, and sometimes rejected.

This episode explores neo-imperialism, representation, identity abroad, cultural power, and the emotional labour of being American outside the United States.

Chapters

• Introduction
• Whose America Is It Anyway
• Being seen as a mouthpiece
• Neo-imperialism and good intentions
• Holding a mirror to ourselves
• Closing thoughts

Support the show

About the show Kisses from Kenya is a social and cultural podcast produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya. It explores personal stories about race, queerness, culture, politics, and the experience of being American in Nairobi. The views expressed on this podcast do not represent the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.

Listen, subscribe, and share If you enjoy conversations about language, identity, diaspora, and culture clash, subscribe for new episodes on a weekly(ish) schedule! You can find us on Youtube at ‪@KissesfromKenya and on all Podcast Platforms.

Follow Democrats Abroad Kenya on Instagram, Facebook, or on the DA website!

Contact us Share your stories, questions, or comments at: kissesfromkenyapodcast@gmail.com