Three day odyssey to Kenya - first images of Nairobi

Nairobi Kenya! Can't believe I'm on the African continent. I finally arrived in Nairobi safely after a three day odyssey through London and Dubai. It has been incredible here...not just the cultural shock but also the pan-African nationalism in the wake of Ghana winning the US in the soccer match. Here are my first observations:

As our plane from Dubai flew over the Eastern African Savana landscape towards Nairobi, I was flushed with joy realizing that my three day trek through four continents has finally brought me to my destination - the kingdom of Lion King. Even though Nairobi is close to the equator, due to its 8000 feet elevation the weather is perfect for human living – fluctuating around 55-75 everyday of the year with relatively comfortable humidity and mild rainfall. I was quite relieved from the NYC heat with no air-conditioning!

After we got out of the airport, we were immediately bombarded with narrow bustling streets filled with European style cars, matatus (small vans that are basically local buses that serve the capital). In some sense the chaos of human activities reminded me of Ecuador when I first got out of the airport. My driver realized that I was of Chinese descent and quickly pointed out all the Chinese investment projects engulfing the city as we drove from the airport to my residence - including the first flyover (expressway) through the middle of the capital. He pointed out what he called a "Chinese engineer" working alongside Kenyans by the side of the road. I really couldn't tell the difference between that Chinese guy and other Kenyan workers in hardhats and construction uniform - I believe he's just an ordinary construction worker. But apparently they are "the Chinese engineers".

Rich and the poor:
To my disappointment, Nairobi is not cheap at all – in fact the consumer price index is close to NYC level. Due to the huge influx of expats, the incredible income difference between the rich Kenyans and the average Kenyans, and the fact that even today a lot of everyday items - from food to electric appliances to garments - are still imported, you can see why it's expensive for a poor nation. This is unlike India, Ecuador or China for instance where although there are still extreme poverty, so much stuff is manufactured locally making everything incredibly cheap for western standards. Hence you can imagine how a typical Kenyan may have a difficult time surviving in this capital.

And indeed, you see the physical ramifications of the dramatic income differences between wealthy, politically well-connected Kenyans (many of South Asian descent and expats) and ordinary Kenyans especially those who flood to the capital from the countryside. The country's economic growth is around 3% per year, but that's how much the population is growing annually!! Moreover, most of the growth is going to the already rich. Even nearby a totally modern western style five story shopping mall there are those "empty fields" filled with bare tents and zero water/sanitation where dozens of Kenyans call home.

Story of a Kenyan gardener:
A call at 10AM from my roommate next morning (who was vacationing at the time) kicked me out of my jet-lagged late morning deep sleep. As I stumbled my way downstairs, I was surprised to see a Kenyan guy standing outside my door. I have no idea how long he has been there waiting for me. He very politely introduced himself, and I could sense an air of guilt on his face as he looked away….he probably thought he woke me up as he saw that I was still in my pajamas. I was the one who was supposed to be embarrassed with my pajamas and sleeping through his knocking on my doors for God knows how long.

Apparently he is the dog trainer and the gardener. He was here to formally introduce me to the two dogs that live in the same compound. So I went with the dog trainer for a walk with the dogs. He explained to me how he is 25 and with a family to support. He didn't have the money to go to a university after high school. He works part time as our dog trainer and gardener, and at other times (late at nights) as a security personnel guarding some house like ours. All this while, images of all these Kenyan guards who spend 24/7 guarding compounds like mine - spending hours in pitch dark with nothing but one chair to sit on flashed through my head. It's incredible how so much of this country's economy and employment is sustained not just via direct Western assistance/aid, but spending by Western diplomats and tourists!! This guy, Daniel, is incredibly well-spoken and his English is excellent. He is also quite well-mannered and I understood from interacting with the guards and guys like Daniel and the expeditor just in the first day that these people are already considered the well-off, well-educated and thus were hired by Westerners. I was just thinking how much untapped human resource potential is there in this big and fast growing Sub-Saharan country - not even thinking about all the unexplored, undiscovered natural resources! But such a nice and smart guy like Daniel doesn't even have one full time job and have to do a few part time jobs for expats to support his family. And they are content with spending day and night just sitting there guarding a house or training dogs.

City is different from our image of a city:
At first I was a bit disoriented as we navigated around the streets of Nairobi. While there are plenty of people on the streets – from people dressed in suits to beggars to people loitering around, as well as plenty of cars, the entire city is ill-defined in the traditional sense of a city in America or Europe – orderly streets with sidewalks and in busy sections of the cities shops lined up along the streets.

Nairobi city is quite different – except for the central business district far from where most people live – the city’s streets are devoid of orderly sidewalks and even smooth pavements and citizens generally all live in gated communities quite a few feet away from the streets. Roads are little more than just raised surfaces above the orange colored soil and it’s for pure transportation purposes with little shops and sidewalks along the roads for people to stroll around. Everybody hustles along and you usually don’t see many women or children walking on the streets- unless they are in the middle of the road selling stuff or begging for money or food. At first I was quite intimidated by the pace of people walking – especially when gangs of men came up behind me. They simply wanted me to yield so they could hustle through the narrow "sidewalks" by the dusty streets...

to be continued...