That's a great story. I went to Nairobi in 2004 and had the opportunity to stay with host families for three months. In 2004 there, slow Internet was available in Internet cafes for about $1/hr and some people had cell phones but mostly a family would have one and share it amongst them.
Because the landline phones were so poor due to government monopoly, many people didn't even bother using them. It was common for friends to just suddenly show up at your home. It would have been the same way in the Western world before telephones. For me, it was pretty nice. Everything seemed much more social and there was much more spontaneity on a daily basis instead of everything requiring planning.
Now that cell phones are more common there, I have no idea if people still just show up at friend's homes. Unfortunately, I would assume it would be something that will die away.
