The Three Faces of Nairobi

 

The Three Faces of Nairobi

As the plane opened its wheels to land at Nairobi airport, I tried to catch a glimpse of the city below, for a moment it seemed like a giant snake was standing there spreading its feathers. I was going to Africa for the first time, so strange thoughts were coming to my mind, maybe it was because of the stories I read in my childhood, in which Africa was mentioned as a mysterious land, where people spoke an ancient language and in whose dense forests there were poisonous snakes that did not ask for water, the strange rituals of Joseph Magunda's tribe were also in my mind, but at the same time, the images of Nairobi in which this city of Africa were moving around in my mind. But after spending five days in Nairobi, all these images were erased from my mind and a new image emerged. It was the image of poverty and injustice and the image of a city in one corner

After New York and Geneva, Nairobi is the third country in the world where the United Nations headquarters is located, about five thousand foreigners and twenty-five thousand Kenyans work here. The area where this office is located in Nairobi also has embassies of other countries, which makes it the most expensive and posh area of the city. This was the first appearance of Nairobi that we saw. There are mostly government offices and high buildings in the central part of the city, and there is a lot of rush, Nairobi's heart, the Central Business District, is here, like other parts of the city, there is a risk of getting mobile phones or purses. We have set glasses. This was the second look of Nairobi. If you go a little outside the city, you will see on both sides of the 'Ring Road'.

We thought that Kenya would be a cheap country because of poverty, but it turned out to be the opposite, Kenya's inflation blew our minds, the currency here is the shilling, one shilling is exchanged for two rupees, so it is easy to calculate, the price of something that costs five thousand in Pakistan is three times higher here. Poverty has killed people, while we were here the opposition leader announced anti-government protests in which three people were killed, we also took a lot of precautions during those days, our host said that the police here have wide powers and they do not hesitate to open fire. We thought to ourselves, who knows better than us about the Kenyan police!

The best thing about Kenya is its weather. Nowadays, it is winter here, but if you want, wear a jacket and if you don't, put on a T-shirt. In Kenya, because the pleasure of winter only lasts for a few days, these poor people wear overcoats in these two or four days as if it is snowing here like in Europe. However, this weather was very pleasant for us, in these five days we also sunbathe, ran the AC in the car and also used the heater in some places.

Just as the people of South Asia look the same in the eyes of the world, we also think that all black Africans are the same, but this is not the case. Kenya is an East African country, these people are different from other African countries and are relatively polite. I have to give a damn, no woman was seen who could be given the title of African Hasina, Hasina was not even accepted. Our next flight from Nairobi was to Amsterdam, only that day we saw a black woman about whom Mir said, "The petals are like a rose" but that black rose was not in front of our eyes for a long time. That when you mention a beautiful woman, you must say that she was dead after a few minutes of conversation, even if you did not ask the lady for directions to the toilet in that conversation!

If you want to see the practical demonstration of injustice, incompetence and incompetence, come and see Nairobi. The United Nations headquarters is in this city, the budget of this office is billions of dollars, the best, most capable and most intelligent people of the world work in this office, their salaries are in dollars, they are always sitting and making plans to end poverty, but the state of their performance is that the slums and the poverty born in them are eliminated from the city where they are sitting. But educated people don't think like that, they hire a consultant before thinking about anything, make a report from him, then in the light of that report, hold conferences and meetings where presentations are given, papers are read and it is decided that the plan to implement the consultant's recommendations will be made in the next conference. Today, if five thousand foreign officers of the United Nations in Nairobi it is said that in the next year, the slum dwellers should plan and implement it in the city with respectable housing, otherwise their salaries and benefits will be stopped, then the slums of Nairobi will end before the twelfth month.

Column tail: There are some other forms of Nairobi, they are mentioned in the next column.