Looks like Livingstone: Expanding our territory

"Kikulacho ki ngudni muako"
"Whatever eats you is in your clothes"
Swahili proverb

The mostly quiet and rather modest apartment in Kileleshwa has become our little oasis in the otherwise very bustling city of Nairobi. Our safe haven from all the storms. With the view from our balcony it is hard to believe that we are in one of the biggest cities in the world. And that's the way we like it. For this can be quite the intense and startling place for two young Swedish men. I have sometimes been overheard claiming to be "a man from the city". It was much later that I realized that what we call cities in Sweden would merely be called villages in a big part of the world. So even though I am a son of Sweden's number 5 biggest city, it gives me little if no confidence when braving the streets of Nairobi. And Nils, being a country-boy even with Swedish standards, well...

The first day we were so tired after the trip that only the thought of leaving the apartment was exhausting for us. Nevertheless, we had no choice, if we didn't want to starve. So after gathering courage for a ridiculously long time we took a deep breath and opened the door to the outside world. A place where the sun was shining and people were going about their daily business. It being either walking to the office in a newly pressed suit, or sitting in the shade by the side of the road just staring at bypassers. Nearby our housing compound is a smaller shopping area with a food store, a butcher, a bakery and some other smaller installations of commerce. "Kasuku Center" is the name, which in English translates to "Parrot Center", so now it just goes by the name of "The Parrot". The distance to this place is just a couple of hundred meters from our compound, but for us it felt like a trip to the moon and back. I've never really felt the same exotism and fright when walking such a short distance in a new place. Off course it was more or less completely safe, maybe apart from the one crossing of a major road that has to be done to get there. But no muggers, no hustlers or other fortune-seekers tried their luck on us. All of the scare that we had gotten prior to coming here had obviously gotten the best of us. Almost everyone that we had talked to before leaving for Nairobi had told us stories about how dangerous it is, that there's a reason why it is called "Nairobbery" and so on. The interesting thing is that almost all of the stories about muggings, shootings and violence came from people who had never ever been to either Nairobi or Kenya for that matter. The ones we spoke to who had been here usually only had good things to say about the city and the people that inhabits it.
Yes, we have been told stories even by people that we now meet here that makes you want to be extra careful and think one more time before you take a stroll down that dark alley. But that goes for almost every city in the world these days. There's a difference between being scared and being careful. But with all the brainwashing that we had it took a very long time for us to let loose of some of the paranoia and stop looking over our shoulders once every two minutes when walking the streets. And with our initial caution we have taken very small baby steps when exploring our surroundings and such "expanding our territory". Our second day was a Sunday. Sunday means that The Parrot is closed, something we found out when trying to go and by some necessary groceries. Just outside we met our neighbour, Eddie, a fantastic man who has "Hakuna Matata" written all over him. He pointed us in the direction of a restaurant where we would be able to get some nice lunch. So we started walking. And walking. And walking. In the dust. Much later it turned out that we had misunderstood the friendly direction, so no restaurant was to be found. So despite being extremely hungry and tired, we could comfort ourselves with the thought that we had expanded our territory and comfort-zone quite a lot.

Lightweight Nairobi traffic

Backyard vehicles

Our neighbourhood witchdoctor, Dr Suleiman offering his services

Walking yes. That's it how we usually get around here. The Kenyan way. There are a number of reasons for this. The simplest is that we were brought up with the Swedish notion that all exercise is good, so also your every-day walking to work. The other reasons are linked; walking is a way to stay out of the crazy Nairobian traffic which is something of the craziest I've ever witnessed. The Nairobi traffic is also quite schizophrenic, it is either going pass in a 100 miles an hour, or completely standing still. So at the times when it is standing still, which is quite often, walking actually gets you places as opposed to sitting stuck in traffic. Our walking is however something that greatly confuses a lot of the Kenyans. Even though a Kenyan walking is nothing unusual, seeing a white man walking is extremely rare here in Nairobi. The white Kenyans NEVER walk. They drive their luxurious Land Rover between their gated, white community and the expensive, luxurious shopping mall and their workplace. Which also makes that it is extremely rare to see another "mzungi" (Swahili for a white person) in this place. Both together which could explain the next phenomena; the staring. Like I implied in an earlier post, it doesn't matter what you are wearing here if you are like us. People you meet sometimes stare their eyes out anyway. This is a bit annoying, but not much to do about it I guess. Nevertheless, the walking has now taken us as far west as the "Yaya-centre"; a place where one can get both a decent cup of coffee and a meal of Chinese food that will make your stomach rebel against you, and as far east as the Westlands, where a more genuine, chaotic shopping area can be found. Last Saturday we even ventured to the city centre for a quick look and a good lunch. Who knows, in another two weeks we might actually even have dared to go outside of Nairobi?