On Tuesday, my 2nd day in Nairobi I met Stefan at the internet in town. He is from Switzerland and comes to Kenya since a few years and does sponsor children, so that they can go to school. It’s great to meet someone who knows his way around and can help you out.
Wednesday I took it easy in the morning. I went for a big breakfast at the Savanna and read the local newspaper “The Standard”. Later I met with Mojca, a Slovenian girl who is staying at the same Youth Hostel as me. We were checking out some tours but hers would have cost too much and I was not that keen about the place. As I still have a lot to see I rather use the money to see the things which are a priority for me. I went to 3 different travel agencies to get an idea. Now all depends on Karin, my friend who is coming over from Kampala tomorrow. She has only two weeks holidays so we will definitely do what she wishes. Later I met with Mojca again and we took a walk through the city and went on top of the KANU Tower to have a look at the city from the top. Nairobi seems to me like a very green place, that is also due to the fact, that the Nairobi Nationalpark just boarders the city. The climate is still great, not to hot and not to cold, just perfect for my taste.
We always make sure that we get home when it starts getting dark. Actually I am not really worried because I make sure that I get home in time and when I am lost I try not to look so. Well Wednesday our bus got checked. That means the police stops the bus and everybody has to get off. They then check the passengers and the bus and then you can get on again.
Now yesterday I went to visit a ghetto of Nairobi. Easy, it’s me writing this so I am still alive and everything is fine (nobody chopped my head). Stefan had told me on Wednesday that he would go to visit a school in the ghetto (Kangemi) and asked if I would be interested to go with him. Sure, no risk no fun, right Tamara?!?!?!? I met him at the internet and he told me he would 1st have to check again if we could go, because there were some problems. So I try to get this right. Kenya has different ethnies and one of them are the Kikuyus. Out of them in the early 50th a group was created, the Mungikis. They were helping the poor people but in the 70th this changed and they started to be corrupt. Well that is what I was told. Now they act like the Mafia, some call them a sect and if they decide that there is no transport to Westland (where the ghetto is), then so it shall be. In the late afternoon we saw hundreds of people walking home from the city (1.5 hrs) because they wouldn’t get a bus. They can also come and visit you and if you can not pay it may be that they kill you and cut your head. Stefan knew a guy who came to pick us up at the main road in the ghetto and there was nothing to see. Ok, it’s not like I would have loved to look into a gunbarrel of a gun, but a little action…… We went to visit the school where he will sponsor 3 or 4 children. As example, Christine is 10 years old, she should be in Primary School since she was 6 years old but she is still in Nursery School because her parents can not pay for the school. Public, Governmental schools are FREE, but the parents need to pay the admission fee, the uniform and the food. The total for one year school would be KES 7’200, that is approx. CHF 110.00. We did a lot of walking because we went to visit the families of these children. It doesn’t really make sense when you want to sponsor a child but the parents will not support it and make it work the entire spare time as soon as it comes home from school. If I need to compare Mile 14 (Cameroon) with the place I have been yesterday, Nembo’s place would be like a paradise. Not the room, it’s about the same size and in both places they split it up in living and bedroom. But the environment was a lot nicer in Cameroon.
It was a great experience and I am happy that I went there.
Further up I wrote that our bus got checked by the police. I asked Stefan for the reason of this. He told me that recently public buses got high-jacked (I don’t know if this is the correct spelling). There are groups getting into the bus, naturally you can not define them as a group, well and then at some point they kidnap the bus. Stefan told me that his friend who works at the internet got kidnapped while using a public bus about 2 weeks earlier.
Take are and hopefully I will be able to write some more. Today we are going to the real ghetto, Stefan is even organizing two securities……
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| Kenya: Nairobi and Kangemi 02.03. - 05.03.2009 |
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