Walking

I’m sure most of our blogs will cover a lot of different things , like what we’ve done, and where we’ve been, but one of the biggest parts of us being here is  how we get from place to place. So, I think it’s fitting that our first blog details my first experience in Nairobi and one of the things that we’ll be doing every single day. Walking.

We arrived in Nairobi after dark on Tuesday, so that night on our way to our home-stay, I didn’t really get to see much more than the headlights disconcertingly flying by on the right side of our car. So, the walk to Hamomi was one of my first major experiences here. We left our compound and walked through our neighborhood, which has apartment complexes similar to ours, with concrete walls and guarded gates providing security. We walked a few blocks further when all of the sudden I looked around and realized, “oh, this must be the slum“. I was hoping we would continue walking past one very busy street in the middle of it to someplace more quiet, but much to my dismay we walked right into the action. As we walked through, there were crowds of people hustling and bustling, listening to music, pushing carts around of who knows what, standing around, grilling meat, it is quite a sight to behold. There is stand after stand after stand of random stuff for sale. Laurel turned to me and said “Yea, I think this is the street we’re supposed to be walking on” and I thought “Ok well if it’s not that’s perfectly okay with me but we should decide now!” 

We kept going, and I started to feel better about it. The random groups of sheep walking in the middle of the road are pretty entertaining to watch. The slum dogs were almost inviting to pet, until I saw what they were eating, and thought it may be better to keep my distance.  Between the smell of grilling meat and burning garbage, our walk was quite the way to wake-up in the morning. I was actually really impressed with the stands where men were building pieces of furniture that were nice quality, anything an American would be happy to have in their home. I find it odd for these things to be sold alongside random junk, anything from lollipops to worn in shoes. It felt like the road we were on went on forever, a good 25 minutes at least, until all of the sudden, boom! The road ended and there was nothing but plants, and garbage, and far fewer people. It was a nice reprieve from the almost claustrophobic atmosphere of the road we left.

By this time, my legs were getting a little tired and I asked Laurel if we were almost there. She responded with “ Yea, almost”, and then went into detail about how we just needed to go down the hill then back up then around the bend and turn at the rainbow umbrella and then we’d be there. I realized that “almost there” in Kenyan translates to “you’ve barely started” in American.

The rest of the way to Hamomi is reminiscent of a lush tropical environment, very hilly, and if it weren’t for the piles of garbage, you could take a picture of it and put in on a postcard.  I’m really excited to see more of it, all of it-- the slum, the lush green, around town-- and to get to know my own way there. I think a huge part of our time here is going to be spent walking, as it gives us a chance to take everything in in a special way and I’m sure it will be some of the most interesting and lively times we have here. And that’s exciting. 

-Eric