They are almost all long-term holidaymakers, with the tourist visa extended to six months and some even happy to have obtained the extension of two others because of the damn virus.
They are owners of houses, not only the villas with swimming pool of the nabobs, but also only small apartments, that so much the wonder is often outside and not within the four walls.
They are Italian residents in Kenya who every year in this period go on holiday in Italy, taking advantage of the low season. In their homeland they have parents, siblings, grandchildren, childhood friends and habits that it is a pleasure to attend. They have so much to tell about the African "buen retiro" but very often in Italy they feel like fish out of water and after a month, a month and a half at most they can't wait to return to what they now begin to consider the real home.
This is the portrait of the overwhelming majority of compatriots who yesterday took advantage of the second repatriation flight organized by the Italian Government and managed, I would say very well this time, by the Italian Embassy in Kenya.
We greeted them yesterday morning at dawn in Malindi and our staff did the same in Watamu. Of the famous 500 tourists abandoned and in trouble in a foreign land, besides the famous TV guests, there were five or six signatories of an international petition (almost all of them are property owners in Kenya too, and who knows how many reported regularly in their homeland...) and a couple of retired couples who had not come to Kenya for a short holiday anyway.
The others, and we say this to avoid any misunderstandings, had a legitimate desire or need to return and the wait for a second state flight, after the quick and impromptu one of last March 31, has been repaid, as well as with the next one on Thursday, May 21, the last ones who need it will be satisfied.
"I didn't leave on March 31 because the flight only landed in Milan - explains Adriana Etna, one who spends four or five months every year in Malindi - but I didn't make a big deal out of it: after closing the rental period in a residence, I was hosted by dear friends who have a villa with swimming pool, so it was easier to bear the lack of beach and sea. Now it's time to go home, a little later than in other years. We hope to see each other again next November".
On the same wave of thought Giuseppe Frasca Caccia who, with his wife, has been visiting Kenya for years, also because his daughter Camilla, one of the best and most professional Italian safari guides in the country, lives and grows their granddaughter here. "We hope to return very soon - says Giuseppe - you can't live without Kenya".
Betty Ciccolini, a doyen of Malindi and lover of Kenya until she ran a lodge in Maasai Mara with her family, is almost sorry to have to leave.
I was very happy here," she explains, "but in Rome at this time of year there are always deadlines and commitments to observe. As always I sort out my things and I'll be ready to come back".
They're almost all in the same line of thinking, who knows why you don't notice a face that's stressed, nervous or upset.
Silvano Celotto, a pensioner who for years has been a point of reference for many countrymen assisting the Consulate with the Italian-Kenyan association, admits: "My wife and I are two Italians stuck abroad ten thousand kilometers away: she in the Canaries and I in Kenya. Finally after months we will meet again. When the situation returns, I will be ready to return to Africa".
Our list could continue endlessly with faces that we have learned to know also through our portal, such as Lara Abagni, the wonderful hostess of the Lakshmi wellness centre in Watamu, who is taking a break in Italy with the inseparable labrador Ice, trusting in Phase 2, o Rita Valentini who is very busy in Kenya with her non-profit organization Mondo Solidale, o Alessandro Trentavizi, owner of the Tamu Beach resort and Daniele Tiritò, General Manager of the Jacaranda Resort with his beautiful Italian-Kenyan family and the last born to show to grandfather Pasquale. Then there's Monica, always positive, energetic and smiling who "has things to do" but will be back as soon as possible, Stefano who won't stay long without his Kenyan girlfriend and many pensioners that we'll see again next autumn "coronavirus or non-coronavirus".
The only abandonment they know is that of Nature, climate and hospitality of this place and the only question is "when will we be able to come back"?
The answer these days can only be one... "Karibu Tena!".