sasa

Sasa is how young Kenyans acknowledge each other — a verbal nod that says "I see you" without formality or distance. You'd use it walking past someone your age on the street, greeting a friend at a café, or opening a conversation with someone you're comfortable around. The word carries an invisible boundary: say it to an elder and you've crossed a line everyone recognizes.

The phrase emerged in Nairobi during the 1980s and 90s as part of Sheng, a hybrid street language young people created by blending Swahili, English, and indigenous Kenyan languages. Sasa itself comes from the Kiswahili word meaning "now," but somewhere in the informal settlements and streets of Nairobi, it shifted from marking time to marking connection. The transformation mirrors how humans everywhere turn time-based phrases into greetings — asking about "now" became a way of asking about someone's state.

Sheng exists because Kenyan youth needed something that was neither colonial English nor formal Swahili — a linguistic space that belonged to them. Sasa became one of its essential markers, a word that signals you're part of urban youth culture without announcing it. The standard exchange is simple: someone says "Sasa?" and you respond "Poa" (good). Get it right and you belong. Get it wrong — use it with the wrong person or in the wrong context — and everyone knows you're an outsider trying on language that isn't yours.