City Tour

My host mother took me into town with my younger brother, BM, and his cousin, Bethwel, to get some things for school. Apparently there is some theft at boarding school, and so some of the kids buy metal footlockers to keep their stuff safe. We went into a section of town called Eastlands and to a street where various artisans had set up their wares for sale along the roadside. Most of the shops, or dukas, looked like shacks right up against another, and it wasn’t clear if the workers slept somewhere in back or how they kept their goods secure at night. These workers are called juacali, literally “sun-hot” since they used to work under the hot sun before the government gave them small loans or grants to build tin shacks for shade. My host mom says she likes to shop here since it’s generally cheaper and she’s supporting the local economy.

This city is full of people! Constantly moving, very few are just hanging out and to my surprise I didn’t run into many beggars. There were many hawkers, or young boys/men selling all sorts of random items. This informal economy reflects the high unemployment rates facing many Kenyans. Even so, everyone looks their best on the streets, mostly sporting nice Western attire, despite the seeming overall blanket of dirt on the streets and buildings. A white person, or muzungu, is quite a rare sight, although I do see many Indians (who, incidently, are called Asians since there are very few people from further East here in Kenya, and predominantly live in an area of the city called Parklands).

We also visited the National History Museum (considerably more expensive for non-residents, like many things in Africa). Fortunately, I should be given a temporary one-year visa soon that will qualify me for lower entrance rates.