Bay Area traffic is terrible. LA traffic is terrible. I can imagine NYC traffic is terrible. I will do anything to avoid putting myself in its midsts and most of the time, through waiting, avoiding and careful timing I can more or less pretend it doesn't exist.
When we first arrived, we asked out cab driver about traffic hours. His answer went something like this:
"Well, it starts around 4pm and goes til 8:30pm."
"Oh, ok," we say.
"And in the morning it starts around 6:30am and goes til 10am."
"Wow, ok," we say.
"Then it is all day too."
"Hm."
This has proven itself to be true. So that is the level of congestion we are talking about. Then there is what happens during this congestion:
Yes, it is everywhere. Why is this happening? I have a slew of theories. Let's start with the facts: the cars are right hand drive. The main roads are paved, most of the side roads are not (even in the middle of the city). There are very few, if any (I can't remember of any), stop lights. There are definitely no road lines. The city is growing incredibly quickly and there is tons of construction going on:
This is one of the roads behind our hotel.
Then there are the more subtle things, from which you can draw your own conclusions. Relatively few people have access to optometry. There are vast numbers of public buses, matatus (private mini-bus taxis) and Range Rovers on the road. This is definitely not Switzerland, where everything and everyone is expected on time. Anyways, it makes for very slow travel through the city. But that's ok, god knows I'm in no hurry!
I just want to take a moment to express my extreme dissatisfaction with blogger.com. I have tried, for years now actually, and I'm not sure it is possible to make it any better. I spend most of the precious little free time I have trying to get photos to align and pages to load leaving very little for writing. Not to mention the internets here are slow and I have to transfer photos from my phone to my computer. Does anyone know a better blogging platform?
Although we are staying in a pretty posh hotel, our days are spent out in Nairobi's neighborhoods, talking with teachers, health workers, babyminders, pastors & other community leaders. The PC name for these particular areas is informal settlement, the common name is slum. Both names seem offensive to me and they are really just neighborhoods. They are all totally different and mostly not what I was expecting.
As you can see Google isn't afraid to take pictures from above, but they aren't cruising the hoods to figure out what is in there. There is plenty though! Tons and tons! If you search for images you will find all sorts of heartbreaking stuff, but I think its pretty one-sided and sensationalist. I'm not saying I know much about slums or I have seen what its really like. But I have met a whole bunch of amazing people who are trying to make life better for the children of their communities - a problem everyone, everywhere faces. This is one of the meetings Kidogo held where we are discussing what childcare providers need and how to go about getting it.
In one of the interviews before I left, a Kenyan woman living in SF said to remember: You know what? Safety, cleanliness, these things are relative. You may feel unsafe, but this is my home. I know there is better, but I'm doing ok.
This has had a profound effect on me. It has freed me from feeling guilty for my own life or sorry for anyone else's. Who am I to judge? For one very simple example, in San Francisco we have by far way more homeless people, not to mention people are substantially less friendly to their fellow humans. I'm happy I live where I live and I'm sure many would love to visit, but they would certainly miss a lot if they left their homes here, whether their floors are dirt or marble.
Mukuru
I spent only half a day here, but walked around and went into a couple of homes, so I have a better sense of it than the others. It was much more what I was expecting, with people engaging in much of life on the street, where there is more space than in the homes, most of which are made of tin without any windows so they are hot and dark. I saw some cats here and got to pet one who was sleeping in the babycare center we visited.
Kangemi
I have spent the most time here so far so I know the most people here. It is very different from what I was expecting, it feels much more like a rural village than an urban slum. There is a lot of space around, no open sewers in the streets and the building Kidogo has its babycare in is made of stone. I was told this is one of the newer settlements, so perhaps they built more infrastructure for it than the others. Everyone we talked with lived around the area and many worked outside of it, as taxi drivers, teachers and professionals (like a telcom operator).
Kibera
This is the famous one I was telling you about in the last post. I only saw the edges and it was was surprisingly mellow to me. One of the nicest things about these neighborhoods is how few cars are around, that and the general high level of energy because so many people are outside makes them my favorite places to walk. Kibera had few cars but not the high energy part. I will be back there tomorrow, and further in, so perhaps I will have a better update.
Mlolongo
This neighborhood is further on the outskirts of town along a truck route, so its a bit rougher and more spacious than the others. As with all of the areas I can't take photos unless I'm either in a car or in someone's home and have asked them for permission, so I don't have much to show here either. Can you tell a little bit how different they are though?
