Face to face with Hardships

Coming back to Kenya feels like moving from one world to another, very different, one. As if I wasn't already aware of this, it was brought home to me further yesterday in a conversation that I had with my househelp. Esther works for me 2 mornings a week, and following the departure of two of my colleagues for a year’s furlough, I’m now her sole employer. Her wage is not exactly a king’s ransom. Whilst a single lady, so with no family of her own to support, as the firstborn in the family, she is expected to provide for her parents.
And this is where her story becomes very sad. According to Esther, her family once had a tea plantation covering many acres. Now however, this has been substantially reduced, her father having lost the land, largely, presumably, on account of his drinking habit. As a result of imbibing some noxious brew, he has been in hospital for the last few months, in what sounds like a coma. Hospitalisation isn’t free, and the longer he’s there, the greater the bills are.
Esther is the firstborn of nine – six boys and three girls, so you’d think there’d be plenty of family support for her parents. However, her brothers have unfortunately followed in her father’s footsteps and are drunks, while her two sisters, who she’s not seen for 15 years, are prostitutes on the streets of Nairobi. So, who does the family look to for financial provision? Esther. Thankfully, her church has been very supportive, and had a harambee (whip-round), coming up with about £650 for the hospital bills. A niece and nephew are also in the mix, children of one of her sisters. They’ve been left with their grandparents. Who is expected to pay their school fees?.... And so it goes on.
It struck me how heavy the burden of responsibility sits on Esther’s shoulders. She who has her own health issues, and is in need of more work so that she can provide for herself, let alone everyone else. And yet, I know that she’s not alone, and that her story is replicated many times throughout this country and continent. I know that there are genuine hardships in the UK, but I don't think that anyone would argue that it is on a different scale here.

'First' Impressions

I’ve been back in Nairobi for 3 days after 5 months in the UK and US. A good time to make observations on things here, before they become ‘normal’ again. So, what are my first impressions?
• Dust and dirt. The streets are dirty, with lots of loose dirt and stones. Everything soon gets coated with fine brown dust.
• Various sounds:-
    o Dogs barking at night in my neighbourhood. One starts; others join in; it all builds up; and then, suddenly, it all stops, and peace returns.
    o The raucous calls of Hadada Ibis, flying overhead.
    o The thunderous sound of lorries bouncing down the pot-holed road.
    o Cockerels in the morning.
    o A thud in the tree outside my flat, as a Sykes Monkey leaps down from the roof into the branches.
• Potholes. People say they have them in the UK. They don’t!
• Road construction, and the resulting detours onto remarkably unsmooth, undulating, roughly hewn alternatives, making the drive to the shopping centre feel more like an off-road rally, than just nipping out to the Kenyan answer to Sainsburys or Tesco!
• Driving through red traffic lights, because it’s what you do – at least at some of the roundabouts. Knowing just which ones is an art form!