My hands have never felt so soft and my shoes have never
smelt so bad. Grace and I had another little adventure to Nairobi today. We
visited Susan, another volunteer at Rafiki who owns a salon in Nairobi. In Africa
when you get offered a mani pedi you don’t say no. The amount of dirt and dust
that accumulates under your nails is enough to build a second Sahara desert.
Trust me my feet were beginning to resemble my bright red hair.
It was also nice to see another side of Kenya. Nairobi
exemplifies Africa through its diversity and development. There are parts, such as where Susan’s salon is, which resemble an up and coming western city. Other areas make you forget you are in
Africa, you could just as easily be in NYC or Miami. But what people think of
when they think of Africa in general is a continent that is primarily populated
by zebras, giraffes, elephants, and slums. Ten minutes outside of Nairobi city
center and you would find that Africa. On one side of the road is the Nariboi
National Game Reserve. On the other side lies the largest slum in Central and
Eastern Africa, Kibera. As you step out
of the car and into the city of Kibera you are first hit with the smell. A
smell so significant that it can define a city. It is a combination of
everything in the area, the mandazi being fried in hot oil, the damp clothes
hanging on wires from hut to hut, and the overpowering scent of human waste.
Flying toilets, that is how they use the bathroom in Kibera, nothing more than
a plastic bag. Now imagine houses not much bigger than your bedroom at home, packed
together like cars in rush hour traffic, barely enough room to walk in between,
let alone enough room for kids to play. Street vendors line the sides and
it’s the people that control the roads not the cars. Kibera is situated
in a valley and on either side houses fill the sloping hills toward a valley
floor. The fallen debris and rivers of human waste, used water, and trash
collect at the valley floor creating a pit of garbage.
The difference ten minutes can make. The contrast between
Nairobi Center and Kibara is representative of the contrast between a typical
western civilization and how that western civilization perceives Africa. Two sides. One Country. Kenya.
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