Danish man holds on to Kenyan love 40 years later

“That’s the current Queen’s father, he was a sailor, much loved by the people!” he said. The voice belonged to a bubbly Danish man riding a bike and clad in bright orange rain coat.

My two friends and I were visiting Langelinie pier to see a famous tourist attraction, The Little Mermaid. 

The Little Mermaid on Langelinie Pier, Copenhagen Denmark, (Photo courtesy of Jamila Mohamed)

The man on a bike introduced himself as Flemming Edvard Thomsen, a 70 year old resident of Copenhagen. 

Flemming was curious to know where we were from. We indeed stood out from the crowd of Danish people lazing away on a slightly warm Sunday afternoon.

“We are from Kenya and she is from Uganda,” I said introducing my friends. His eyes immediately lit up and a warm smile filled his face. 

“I lived in Kakamega Kenya for 4 years!” I have such happy memories from my days in Kenya. I even fell in love with a local nurse!”

Flemming Thomsen in Kakamega 1980 holding a black Mamba that almost bit him, (Photo courtesy of Flemming Thomsen)

Now this was getting more interesting by the second. Flemming told us that in the 80s, the Danish Volunteer Service (DVS) which was part of Danida sent out young educated teachers, nurses and craftsmen to several African countries to educate the young adults in those countries.

They all received a three-week training in Arusha at the Centre of African Culture before being sent to various African countries.  

Tour of duty in Kakamega

Flemming arrived in Kakamega in 1980 to teach at a school called Shamberere Secondary School.

They called it a Harambee School, he informs us. 

In the four years he was at the school, Flemming taught food and nutrition as well as helped establish various women groups

 Shamberere Secondary School in 1982, (Photo Courtesy of Flemming Thomsen)

“She was and still is the love of my life…” The look in his eyes as he said this was one of sadness and regret. 

“She refused to come with me to Denmark, he says, I asked her so many times, but she would not leave her home village.”

“I was heartbroken and cried for a year!” He says with melancholy. To date, nearly 40 years later Flemming still wonders what became of the nurse he knew and loved. 

Never married

He never married and says it could be because he had given his heart away years ago. But he is now living with a lady partner and has a son who is a newspaper journalist. "We have been together for 22 years now, she is a nice lady,” he adds…

In 1984 Flemming went back to Denmark and continued with his work  teaching in different kind of schools for young adults. The latest was the Copenhagen Hospitality College

But the thoughts of Kakamega and his lady love have always stayed with him.

I wondered why he never went back to Kenya and looked for the love of his life.

His words would remain with me for a long time. 

“I am afraid I will find things have changed…” He speaks of having been tempted to go back several times, but this fear always held him back from finding out how things are now.

He says if someone had asked him 10 years ago if he would go back, the answer would have been yes but since he traveled so much in his youth it was time for him to retire. 

Flemming visited Nairobi and Mombasa in the four years he was in Kenya and has never forgotten the warmth and kindness he saw and felt then. 

Baby named Flemming 

He talks about an incident that has stuck in his mind.

He says… “Back then, I had the only car in the whole area,”

One night a friend who he called Muhindi knocked at his door in the middle of the night. 

Muhindi needed help to take a sick person to hospital. It was a lady who was in labour, Flemming explains.

“All her relatives wanted to squeeze into the small vehicle and we had to ask some of them to stay behind, they were not amused!” He says smiling broadly.

When they arrived at the hospital, Flemming was shocked to hear that the lady had given birth in the vehicle en route.

“There was no sound at all, how did she do it?” He still wonders to date. The healthy baby boy was named Flemming! 

Somewhere in Kakamega, there could be a 40 year old man named Flemming after the kind man who helped take his mother to the hospital in the middle of the night. 

As he prepared to get onto his bike Flemming’s last words to us were, “It was great to experience such kindness once again, thank you”.

We watched him cycle away, a little sad but glad to have met the pleasant Danish gentleman who took time out of his Sunday afternoon to speak to us.