Different Worlds

Having bought a couple of items of new furniture at the beginning of May, I offered the pieces that these replaced to my househelp, Esther. It’s common practice in Kenya to employ staff, be that full-time, or, like me, part-time to work in the house. Unemployment is high here, and domestic work is a good form of employment, supporting not only the individuals involved, but where there are children, oftentimes helping out with their school fees. Esther just works 2 mornings for me, cleaning and doing laundry. She has a long commute to work as she lives the other side of Nairobi, and because of the traffic jams during rush hour is generally leaving her house by 5:30am.
On Sunday, she met me at my flat, we loaded the car, and then drove over to Kahawa, where she stays. The last section of Thika Road before we turned off was a throng of people, market stalls open, and a church crusade taking place on one roundabout. We then followed murram tracks off the main road to her house. The best way I can describe where she lives is as a square in a square. Her ‘house’ is actually 10x10 foot room in a series of over 23 such rooms, most of these forming the square on the outside, the remainder a block on the inside. Behind her metal front door, a net curtain allows light in whilst providing privacy. Her living area was divided by a curtain from the bedroom. Floor space was exceedingly limited, most of it being taken up by a settee and 2 armchairs, a side board, a couple of small side tables and a bed. I did rather wonder where she’d put the two items we’d brought with us. Surprisingly, on top of the sideboard were a television and DVD player. Apart from water stains on the ceiling from the last time it had rained, everywhere was spotless, and decorated such as she could, embroidered doilies covering the backs and arms of the 3-piece suite, and various posters on the walls. In one corner were bottles of water, the only source being a communal tap outside which doesn’t always have water in it, and a paraffin stove. On this, she boiled up water and milk for chai (tea), and then produced some bread for us to eat. The bathroom, both latrines and for washing, was communal, and the smell rather wafted over from there when you went anywhere near.
Esther’s world is so different to mine. I drive places in a vehicle, protected from pickpockets. My 2nd bedroom is larger than her entire house. I am not beaten, as she apparently is by one of her brothers, for being single. My holidays are often spent travelling, seeing different parts of the country, whilst hers are spent at home. Her life is about survival, whilst mine incorporates the concept of leisure. And yet we could spend a pleasant couple of hours together, very different people, employer and employee, but both as Christian believers. I often consider how fortunate I am to have been born where I was, into the family and at the point in history that I was.

Daily Commute

My office is only about 7km from home, but the drive can be quite interesting. Going to work, I use fairly main highways, but coming home, I drive through a largely Muslim residential area, dominated by a large mosque. It struck me on Friday that there were a number of things that I was passing that are a part of everyday life here, but that might be of interest to people living elsewhere. So, I figured I should make a mental note, and then write them up. So, here they are:-
1. A road surface that at one point is so full of potholes / craters, there’s barely a smooth stretch on it. Vehicles are now more likely to drive off road than to stay on it.
2. A group of 3 burkah-clad Muslim ladies chatting at the side of the road. All that was visible was their eyes.
3. Stalls of second-hand clothing, the clothes on hangers and waving in the breeze.
4. Turkeys wandering around, and getting whatever scraps they could.
5. A lady having her hair straightened at a salon (or ‘saloon’ as they’re often called). She was sitting on a wooden chair in full view of everyone in the street, the hairdresser using what seemed to be a cross between a hair dryer and a steamer.
6. A guy roasting maize on a jiko (charcoal stove), and fanning the charcoal to get it to burn better.
7. Cars driving down the wrong side of the road (or on the pavement) in a bid to jump the queue in the inevitable traffic jam.
8. Two foam mattresses under an overhang of a building. One had someone sleeping under a blanket; the other just had possessions left there, the occupant presumably having gone for a wander.
9. Stalls of fruit and vegetables, the produce neatly piled up.

Out and about in the Rift Valley

Monday was a holiday here - Madaraka Day. Having not been able to go away as planned to minister in Kimilili in western Kenya, due to a heavy cold, and feeling somewhat better by Monday, I really wanted to get out of the city at least for part of the day. In the end, a colleague and I went for a drive around the Ngong Hills, which are about 20 miles from Nairobi. I’d walked the length of them before, and had driven over them to go to Lake Magadi (a soda lake near the border with Tanzania), but had never done the circuit. It was great to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, and be out on the open road. Some of it was tarmac, but all of the road at the back of the hills (which is effectively in the Rift Valley) was murram. Quite a contrast going from one side to the other. On the Nairobi side, it’s all pretty green and cultivated. On the far side, it’s dry, the landscape dotted with flat-topped acacia trees, and with the occasional Masai manyatta (dwelling), with their thorn fences. The hills themselves are quite beautiful, with their folds, and undulating peaks. We had lunch under an acacia, with the backdrop of the Ngongs. No traffic noises, just the sounds of different birds, and of cowbells as cattle were being herded. Most of the traffic we met was on the way back, when we passed a large number of pickup trucks packed with Masai! They’d evidently been out for the day too! An extra detour took us on the tarmac road going down (literally!) on the way to Magadi. Amazing views, several potholes and some interesting encounters with cows in the road!