12th May
Mid week 8 in the Big Brother Kenya House and this Wednesday it truly lived up to its nickname! So its community day and we organized ourselves to spend the day with John from the Kisima project. Here in Thigio fashion is vintage! Though to them there just clothes they can afford. One day last week I saw people gathered together to receive food aid and it really opened my eyes to exactly how needy these people really are. Needless to say then, fashion is not a consideration of these people. The clothes they wear are all charity donated that they buy from a massive market at extremely cheap prices. Me being the vintage admirer that I am was quick to notice the quality of their old clothing and I wanted in on the action! Both to buy and to see these infamous markets. Little did we all know...!
So the day started off a bit dodgy. As per usual the matatu drivers were trying to con us into a journey 30 mins away. There were 8 of us and we ended up in a five seater car with 4 existing passengers in it. How? Well I was one of four in the front of the car. My thigh was literally on top of the handbreak! And the volunteer beside me was concerned her foot would hit the break! Then there were 5 of us in the boot of the car. The screams every time we hit a rock (which was frequent) i think adequately describes their ordeal!
So anyway we managed to get to Nairobi, a bit late mind you. I enjoyed an boogy in the matatu...eventually we met John in the much busier Nairobi then on Sunday and set off for the market. As we walked i vivdily remember noticing how we had we had entered new territory. 15 mins away was the Hilton hotel and here as we walked the roads became dirtier, darker and smellier. Then we entered the GHETTO or slum as they would call it here. People who live poor in the city, live poor. Much worse then here in Thigio where most people live on their agricultural produce. This was the real Nairobi. To your left a horrid sewage flowing with blackened potent smelling water and to your right a rank dump yard full of shed loads of waste.
After meeting John’s brother at the entrance of the smelly but decent market we walked across a bridge over a dirt filled reservoir into the market we were after. It was bad. It stank, was filthy and just horrible to walk in since we all had sandals on! As soon as we got in, much to my surprise a woman casually reached out to grab a volunteers earing out of her ear. It did startle me though we had been warned of such. I purposely wore no jewelry that day but i warned others to take off what they had on. The market was full of mud. But this wasn't red thick mud, it was slushy, wet black sewagy stuff! After a few minutes i gave up on tryna dodge the mud! I had to get my gear after all that and I did well in the time and heat and smell! To our surprise and pleasure at the end of the market there was a line of men with buckets and stones who cleaned our feet for 10 shilings, though I gave 30 since he even buckled my sandals! That was surreal.
So anyway, now we were presentable enough to head back, after leaving John we made our way to the matatu station to get a ride home in time for curfew. 2 hours ahead of time. We were swindled into a ‘express’ matatu to Limuru which was halfway between our town and Nairobi. Though I was reluctant, after a agreeing a price and confirming with other passengers where it was going we stayed on. This journey should have teken 40 minutes max since there was hardly any traffic but we were on this horrid journey for 2hrs! We stopped literally every 3 mins to pick up more passengers into this mini bus that was already full. Smelly people at that. This one woman got on with her small son, about 5. They sat at the back of the matatu next to a fellow volunteer. Suddenly she felt rain like water on her foot and called out that here foot was wet. When she looked to her right she saw this woman holding up her son who was pissing in the matatu and splashing urine on her foot! We were all disgusted. She insisted her son was just a baby so it didn't matter but she later apologized when she realised what the magnitude of it I guess.
Meanwhile the matatu man was getting ruder and ruder (I was lacing him with dirty looks tho!) and once all passengers got off and it was just us he began driving irratically to avoid pot holes and some volunteers got scared we would crash or stop and get attacked! I wasn’t that dramatic tbh. But by the end of the 2 hour journey and knowing we had missed curfew, I was VEX!
And when I get vex I get ghetto and it aint pretty. Its embarrassing and I did scare a few volunteers, I was told. The matatu man much like many local peole, he had no manners. As soon as I got off the bus he began shaking his palm of coins demanding ‘money money’. That’s when it kicked off! I refused to pay until he spoke to me with respect after the lies he used to get us on the matatu! We were both shouting and other volunteers too. From what I'm told i used the word fam and vex alot! And at one point I asked the guy if he was trying to hit me coz I was ready to come to blows (not). It was alot! All I was asking for was a please but that was a foreign concept to the man. I gave him a piece of my mind because I was sick of getting conned just because we’re foreign! Anyway so eventually, because it was rainy and getting dark a volunteer paid for me so we could go. I walked off and paid her later. Happy that I had proved my point but annoyed at myself for getting so angry. Eventually I calmed down after cussing the matatu driver who was going round telling the other drivers not to take us, and we got into another bus...
This journey was shorter but I witnessed what can only be described as the bubonic plague! When it rains here we get these horrid huge bugs with four wings! I promise you the road was absolutely swarming with them. It was so gross! We were all screaming at the ones in the matatu and one volunteer with a serious phobia of them even cried! The prospect of getting out and walking through them was not an option. Thankfully as we were late we had to get a bus closer to our house and because of the pitch blackness our security guard came with his swag torch to take us back in a walk of heavy mud back to the house!
After that huge ordeal we got home and were issued with disciplinaries and a punishment that amounted to us not going to Nairobi on Sunday. We all refused to sign. After all that I was not about to get in trouble for something completely out of my control.
Platform 2 have come to Kenya though after all the week 4/5 drama so we will talk to people of reason!
What a day...Still smiling.
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