(by Naomi) Blips From Kenya
So, it's been about a week or so that I've been living in Nairobi. I still can't believe I'm in Africa...crazy. I have a few little tidbits I thought I'd share...
monkeys, lots of monkeys
I'm sitting here, typing on my laptop, composing an email at my office, which is equipped with great internet connection, and outside are several fields of corn occupied by a family of monkeys. Yup, monkeys. At least 8 of them. My boss just told me about a time when he came back to his office and found that the monkeys had ripped off a few buttons off the keyboard to his laptop. That makes me laugh.
pegging my pants
So, every morning, I make my way to work along these narrow, rocky, dusty roads, past fruit stands & kiosks selling cell phone recharge cards. I walk alongside lots of other Kenyans, making their way to work, or accompanying a daughter to school or whatever. So the dirt road wouldn't be a problem, except for the being dressed up part. People here dress SUPER nice (read collared shirts at the minimum) and I'm working at a quasi-law firm with suit clad "advocates" -- so, that means I too am cruising down this dusty road in a suit. Because I end up with reddish brown dust on my suit pants, I have recently resorted to pegging. Remember back in the day, pegging your guess jeans so that they'd sit just right on top of your schrunchy socks & LA Gears? I am styling. And my pants are relatively dust free. But the guard at the front of my office looks at me funny. oh well.
running water
On Monday, I spent the day accompanying a group of visitors to meet some of our clients & some of the aftercare facilities. Our first destination of the day was one of the slums of Nairobi -- scrappy dogs, mysterious rivers of murky water with maybe a shoe, banana peel and some burnt garbage, mud shanties with corrugated roofs, and no apparent water source, let alone a clean one. But just a short distance away, there is so much opulent wealth. It's like that scene from the Constant Gardner, where they show Kibera (one of the biggest slums in Nairobi) and right next to it is this lush green golf course. I go home at night to our little apartment (which, by the way, is more spacious than our apartment at home), where there is running water, hot showers, a back-up generator for Nairobi's predictably consistent black outs and I am humbled by the privilege and wealth of my circumstances. Still trying to reconcile all that in my mind.
my work
It has been a tremendous week so far -- trying to learn the basics of Kenyan law, figuring out where things are, what is safe and unsafe, and meeting lots of fantastic people. As you might guess, the cases are generally really hard to read [you can take a look at the IJM or Daily Nation website for some examples]. But I feel really privileged to be here, to participate in the work of justice & feel like I already am and will learn a lot....
naomi
[edited and posted by josh]
monkeys, lots of monkeys
I'm sitting here, typing on my laptop, composing an email at my office, which is equipped with great internet connection, and outside are several fields of corn occupied by a family of monkeys. Yup, monkeys. At least 8 of them. My boss just told me about a time when he came back to his office and found that the monkeys had ripped off a few buttons off the keyboard to his laptop. That makes me laugh.
pegging my pants
So, every morning, I make my way to work along these narrow, rocky, dusty roads, past fruit stands & kiosks selling cell phone recharge cards. I walk alongside lots of other Kenyans, making their way to work, or accompanying a daughter to school or whatever. So the dirt road wouldn't be a problem, except for the being dressed up part. People here dress SUPER nice (read collared shirts at the minimum) and I'm working at a quasi-law firm with suit clad "advocates" -- so, that means I too am cruising down this dusty road in a suit. Because I end up with reddish brown dust on my suit pants, I have recently resorted to pegging. Remember back in the day, pegging your guess jeans so that they'd sit just right on top of your schrunchy socks & LA Gears? I am styling. And my pants are relatively dust free. But the guard at the front of my office looks at me funny. oh well.
running water
On Monday, I spent the day accompanying a group of visitors to meet some of our clients & some of the aftercare facilities. Our first destination of the day was one of the slums of Nairobi -- scrappy dogs, mysterious rivers of murky water with maybe a shoe, banana peel and some burnt garbage, mud shanties with corrugated roofs, and no apparent water source, let alone a clean one. But just a short distance away, there is so much opulent wealth. It's like that scene from the Constant Gardner, where they show Kibera (one of the biggest slums in Nairobi) and right next to it is this lush green golf course. I go home at night to our little apartment (which, by the way, is more spacious than our apartment at home), where there is running water, hot showers, a back-up generator for Nairobi's predictably consistent black outs and I am humbled by the privilege and wealth of my circumstances. Still trying to reconcile all that in my mind.
my work
It has been a tremendous week so far -- trying to learn the basics of Kenyan law, figuring out where things are, what is safe and unsafe, and meeting lots of fantastic people. As you might guess, the cases are generally really hard to read [you can take a look at the IJM or Daily Nation website for some examples]. But I feel really privileged to be here, to participate in the work of justice & feel like I already am and will learn a lot....
naomi
[edited and posted by josh]
posted by Josh at 12:38 AM
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