Kawanguare - Video

Check out how was our visit to Kawanguare, one of the slam areas of Nairobi, and know one of our friends Paul. Some parts of the video are hard to understand because of the noise but its hard to avoid noise in this kind of places. Give us feedback!

Muzungu II

Some people, and I do not want to generalize, think you are a billionaire and give out money for free because you are white. Every week we have people asking for something or trying to trick us in paying more in everything we want to buy.

People follow you around and play with your temper or just want to charge you more when you are buying things. For them we are money! You realize after giving sometimes something you are not thanked after. In my opinion there is a type of thought by these certain individuals where they think it’s your obligation to give them something since you are white and an outsider. If I had given what they have asked me to give on my trip until now we would have spent over a billion dollars.

On matatus, in shops, tourist office… we sometimes have to discuss prices because we see that the guy in front, paid three times less then what we are being charged, and we hate when people think you are dumb, or do not care. We dress worse than people here, but that does not help, what matters is the color of your skin.

Even when helping people in the organization where we work, we sometimes are asked for money by them or even wanted to do all the work without them helping, which in the end is for their own benefit. We have even been told that sometimes when organizing events that are free to assist they ask for money for assisting when it is for there own benefit.

To clarify this is not everyone, this is not the nice and loving Kenyans we have mostly met. We like the people that work and earn fairly what they have.

Masai Mara (Photos)

Here are the photos we took while our trip in Kenya. Stay close to read the article about the trip!
Click on them to watch them bigger.

Kawanguare - Preview

Francisco and Daniel went to know one of the biggest slams in Nairobi. This is just a little sample of what happend that day. On sunday we will show the whole story.

David's Video

I promised to preset you guys to David. Here is a video that he maid to win a Samsung competition, in which he got the third place and won a camera. In the video you can also see the handcrafted product that he makes. Let us know what do you think about the ornaments!

See you around guys.

David Mwangangi

David is an ornament maker business man. While our stay here we will try to help him to increase the production of the ornaments. This is his story: 

David is a 21 year old boy from Kawangware, Nairobi. The first born in a family of 13 children.

 David was born in the Eastern province of Kenya (rural area) where he attended primary school. He enrolled for the first year of secondary school in the same province but had to drop out after 6 months for lack of school fees. This unfortunate situation was occasioned by a factory accident that his dad suffered. The family then moved to Nairobi (capital city) in search of other possibilities in life. After sometime, David got admission and restarted his secondary schooling. Unfortunately, the type of school in which he enrolled tended to be more for commercial reasons than for the education of young people. It was not a model school for one who was keen on studying hard and living a straight life. David found the rampant drug abuse and prostitution among some of the students to be unbearable. Midway through his second year, he couldn’t take it anymore and faced his dad on the issue.

“I was harsh with my dad, one of the few times this has happened. Eventually he gave in and arranged for my transfer to my third secondary school in 2006”.

Back at home things moved from bad to worse as his dad lost his employment round about the same time. As a consequence, David was a student in his third secondary school for only three months.

Later on he moved to his fourth secondary school.

This fourth school did not prove to be better than the schools earlier mentioned. In fact, it was not even certified by the government to offer the secondary school certificate. On discovering this, he and his classmates approached the principal and pleaded with him to arrange for them to get registered at least for the final exams in a different school. Eventually, David and his classmates did their final exams in a fifth secondary school in Western Kenya, over 350 km from Nairobi.

This dramatic experience was going on with a background of financial constraints at home. Young David had to juggle between helping at home and studying. He seems to have spent more time out of school than in school between 2003 and 2007.

His experience in school was challenging but it didn’t crush him. Some hope for a brighter future still lingered in his mind.

“After high school I was exhausted and a bit desperate. But life had to continue, so I picked up myself and started looking for a small job somewhere, anywhere.”

The searching efforts bore some fruit when David landed himself a cooking job in one of the local hotels in Kawangware (an informal settlement in Nairobi).

“My job was to make chapatis (a kind of pancake) out of a whole bundle of flour (24kgs) every morning for a Shs. 120 (US$1.5) wage”, David recalls. “What I took home though was Shs. 100 (US$1.2) since I had to pay someone Shs. 20 (US$0.25) everyday for assisting me with the job. Cooking one bundle worth of chapatis is not funny” David reminisces half seriously, half jokingly.

David didn’t last in that job for long. The poor pay and hard work conditions contributed to the decision to quit. Moreover, David had over time developed chest problems which required him to have a lot of fresh air. Unfortunately this was not in plenty in the sooty and smoky Kawangware kitchen.

In December of 2008, David bumped on Benard Matheka, one of his long lost classmates from his third school. Benard had since joined ISBI for some after school courses. “It was he who introduced me to ISBI and encouraged me to enroll in early 2009. I thought that after learning computers I will get a job…I think I was wrong”, David chuckles.

At ISBI, David decided to try another shot in life by taking a specialization in Office Management in the Samsung Real Dreams program.

“I met friendly teachers. They were very patient with us, something that I picked up and am now trying to make my own. I also used to be tense whenever I had to address people, but not any more. Thanks to the discussion forums of the program, I guess I am now over confident. I also learnt how to use computers and did entrepreneurship as well as life skills, tools which I now find to be very useful. But above all, I could say that the course made me a better man, I am not sure I was one before”.

David is aware that although he has had a difficult past, his story is not very unique in the informal settlements of Nairobi. His short but intense experience has opened his eyes and given him the ability of analyzing society’s issues with a critical mind. “Young people don’t know what they are capable of. They only think of accumulating academic qualifications without knowing what will come out of that pile. Unfortunately, our government is encouraging this”, reckons a somber David. He believes that, “to discover oneself takes time and requires some soul searching and attempts at many things in life”.

After the program, David decided to start a business of making and selling ornaments. With some assistance from the ISBI business incubator, David managed to make a simple business plan and gather up the tools for his trade. He now makes necklaces, earrings, bracelets etc, from a secret material. “I met a fellow who was in this business and I took some interest. He demonstrated it to me and I picked up the skill in 30 minutes. I was very happy with myself and I went ahead to finish my first necklace on that same day. I brought this necklace with me to ISBI the day after and I think they liked it a lot. I keep it as a reminder because it marks the beginning of my story in business. Later on I made a necklace and some earrings for my step mother. She liked it very much and wore it on Sunday”.

Through the Samsung Real Dreams program, he was put in touch with a business mentor who is helping him to run his business more professionally. His mentor is a seasoned trader in the artifacts industry in Nairobi.

David’s business has since then, increased in volume and intensity. “I have earned some money from my business and am now able to buy my own things. In future, I want to be able to take care of my family as well. As for the business, I hope to one day dominate the market”, states an animated David.

David is very optimistic about the future. With the skills and confidence gained from his training, he is ready to take on the world.

“Thanks to the program, I am not fearful anymore. Now that I have discovered myself, I must do what my heart tells me”.

 

Stay close if you want to know more about him and his new business.

See you around guys.

On the streets of Nairobi

You are probably asking yourself what are the things you can find in the town dani (town center) in a developed African city, as Nairobi. It is not like any other city I have seen in my life.

The first things you find in the center are tons of matatus. Matatus are a type of public transport, which we will describe in more extense towards the end of our journey, as there are many interesting stories about them. You also find thousands of people on the streets. I can say that the majority is better dressed than us, and they are not all businessmen. People in Kenya like to dress well every day, in a neat and clean way, even with ties. You can also find the counter part, poor people asking for money or selling small things while lying on the floor.

You may not believe me but you can also find various skyscrapers, taller then many European buildings, as well as thousands of shops. The shops are usually dedicated to sell fast food, mobiles, CDs, DVDs and clothes (mostly second handed). You cannot imagine the amount of these tiny shops there are.

What struck me most was the amount of Fast food restaurants, where they all sell the same thing, fried Chicken, and fries. This Chicken, I can tell you from personal experience, is better than KFC Chicken, and is very cheap, a quarter Chicken with fries and a drink costs less than two Euros. Although I must recommend not eating more then once a week because of the amount of calories and fat it has.

I do not understand how there are so many mobile retailers and how they survive. This must be because getting land lines here is really hard, they have even better mobiles then us in Europe. Selling CD copies is supposedly illegal, but why are they all selling them in well-established stores? If you give a little to police they amazingly become blind and do not see them.

As a msungu I can walk “calmly” through the streets, for almost three weeks now I have been walking and using public transportation every day and we haven’t been mugged or threatened in any way. The only thing they have tried is to con us in the matatus, but they have not succeeded. The most dangerous thing to do here is to walk, you can find any obstacle when doing so. You can find a matatu on the sidewalk in front of you or coming from behind, as well you have the danger of crossing the streets as there is no place to cross. Red lights are not followed so when crossing just run and remember to look all around you as you do not know from where a car can arise. The best technique is to cross the street at the same time a local does it. You can even find holes where your whole body fits.

For future tourists I can tell you it is a wonderful city and is one of its kind. Do not worry about what they tell you in books or on the news, it is a secure city. People here are so welcoming and ready to help in any moment.

Kawanguare

Where the streets are used to walk and the sidewalks are used to let the hurried “matatus” pass by. A place, where you can smell food and garbage getting rotten both to your left and right. The goats walk with you eating what they can find on the streets and craping at the same time. If you look to your right, to your left, forward and back, you will see informal businesses everywhere, people are trying to survive. This place is called Kawangure and is one of the poorest slams in Nairobi.

Last Saturday Francisco and I went to pay a visit to the place, while Lucas was training the football team in Salem (short for Jerusalem, in East Lands). Here you can feel people welcoming you as you walk; being a “muzungu” in Kawanguare is even rarer than in other places of the city. Children are extremely happy to see a “muzungu” and they don’t stop saying “how are you?” as you pass. We were told that if we replied to their greetings they would get so excited that tell their friends, parents and teachers. But don’t think everyone is happy to see a white man, some people stare at you with a face in which you can read a: “How are you and what are you doing here?”.    

Aside from the people, you can find so many needs in the place. Being there for some people that haven’t visited a slam before can be a bit shocking. When you reach a point in which you are no longer walking in solid ground but in a mix of mud and garbage and you see boys and girls playing in the place, you feel that something is wrong in the world. The feeling of altruism arose in our heart; Francisco even gave his lunch to a mother with her children.

We were taken to the place by Paul, a fellow that Francisco met in the streets last Thursday. He is an owner of a clinic there and invited us to know the place. The clinic is about 60 m², really small to be called a clinic, but it has the basic necessities to help someone in an emergency. He told us that the main treatments he does are: receive babies, fight malaria and heal wounds.

After visiting the clinic we went to his house where we meet his wife and two of his smallest children. The house was about 30 m² and it had a sitting room, a kitchen and place to sleep for 6 people. The house was well cared and they look comfortable in it. In that moment we didn’t know what to say, because for us this house was really different from what we know. We tried to be as polite as we could. At the moment I remember that while walking on the streets some people called him their leader, so if the leader has this house I can’t imagine the house of the rest.

 

Being in Kawanguare was really good for me, it helped me realize where I am and who are the people that really need help. In this week I will try to show more images of the place for all you guys to know it better, until then you can imagine.

See you around guys.  

Kazi yetu nchini Kenya (Our work in Kenya)

You may ask yourselves what we are doing here in such a distant country, also if we are going to ever talk about the jobs we are going to have while we here. Well this is a start to all this.

This week has been full of meetings with the objective of planning each of the projects we will be doing and develop new ones in the following weeks. We have all been assigned different tasks we will do during the stay.

Our friend Francisco will be in the business incubator. You may ask yourself what this is. It is assessing an already established informal company with new ideas and strategies, as well as looking at the problems they have. One case he has come across is a man that breads rabbits, which are dying in great amounts. Kiko as they call him here (it means a smoking pipe in Swahili) will try to understand the problem and develop alternatives.

Daniel will be giving classes on Spanish to people in Hodari center, in the western part of Nairobi. These classes will be three times a week and will last around one hour each. He will also be giving a course on IT to people who already now the basics, mainly outlining flash and html language.

I will be teaching as well Spanish but on the eastern part of Nairobi, in a place called Salem, which is short for Jerusalem. I will be giving these classes five times a week to a big group of people over 20 years old. As I am a great fan of sports I will also be training a team of youngsters in football for the next two months.

As you see we are starting to work and will try to be as busy as possible during our stay here. We will be incorporating new work tasks to our list in the following hopefully.

Kwaheri (Goodbye in Swahili)

Good or bad luck?

Some of the most interesting images of how we move from Madrid to Nairobi with an interesting and unexpected stop of 24 hours.

Destination: NAIROBI. Flight lost in Cairo.

The best way to visit ‘’The Vanquisher’’

Lost our flight! People may think this is not the best thing that can happen when you begin a long

journey, but it was the perfect beginning to this story.

Our flight was delayed a few hours in Barajas Airport while seated in our seats on the plain. After the intention of catching our connection in Cairo, we realized that it would be impossible, so we just took out our 1 day visa and went to the hotel. In the airport, we had the pleasure of meeting two nice Spaniard guys: Juan & Pedro. When we arrived to the hotel, we agreed that we should make a tour to know Cairo (literally ''The Vanquisher'' or ''The Conqueror''), and I had the opportunity to put into practice my haggle skills with Ibrahim (the hotel receptionist) reducing the price of the tour.

That night, Lucas, Daniel and me, tried to go to the hotel’s disco and casino, but we found it closed, and we couldn’t get out of the hotel because Cairo was under curfew from 2am to 5am, because of the last months revolution. The next day, we started our tour at 10am. Our driver, Halem, was a really nice guy, and he explained us a lot of the history of Egypt, and took us to the Egypt Papyrus Museum, where we could see how to make a papyrus, and we bought some papyruses too. After that, we passed the Nile River , which separates the city of Cairo from Giza. In Giza, we had the opportunity to visit the pyramids and the sfinge, and learn some of its history, thanks to our guide, Mahmud.

One of the things that impressed me the most was the high amount of people (even kids) that were trying to sell souvenirs on the streets of Cairo and Giza.

Once we were finished at the pyramids, our driver invited us to smoke some shisha at a perfume shop.

Daniel and me, bought a really cheap ‘’Hugo Boss’’ fragrance that now we have to mix with alcohol. The owner explained us that he sells that fragrances to perfume factories in Europe (mostly France), where they mix it with alcohol and sell it as very high cost perfumes. The other thing that I realized is that Egyptians really know how to make business! At 3pm, we had to go back to the hotel, because our flight was at 9.30pm. We had lunch and we tried 4 different typical baklavas from Egypt. We had a short nap and at 7pm we went to the airport.

It was a great improvised visit to a new country we had never been in and we hope to return in the future.

Here are some of the words we learnt in Egypt: 
Shukran - Thank you
La Shukran - No thank you
Sahbi - Friend
Masalema - Good bye
Hal talakalam englisie - Do you speak English?

Shukran Sahbi! ¡¡Un abrazo!!