I’m not quite sure how to put my thoughts and impressions into words. When I landed in Nariobi (it feels like I’ve been here for a week), I was picked up at the airport by Alvaro and Eric and we took a taxi to the apartment. As we drove further away from the airport and closer to the city, I felt I didn’t have enough eyes to see everything I wanted to. It’s a sight that can’t be explained using words; it has to be seen. People appeared out of nowhere walking on the side of the highway, going to work, as they explained to me; they sold bed posts and sofas on the side of the road; a man pulling a wheelbarrow on one of the lanes, like another vehicle. Driving and vehicles in Kenya, that’s another story.
After leaving my suitcase in the small apartment in the neighborhood of Umoya, we went for a walk looking for a place to buy an avocado. To my surprise, I found myself in a safe neighborhood near the capital, with unpaved streets, a lot of garbage, chickens and turkeys that got angry if you took pictures of them. The people on the streets are lovely, and with a huge smile on their face, say; ‘’Muzungu! How are you? ´´
In the afternoon we went to Kibera, the biggest slum in Africa. Here is where I lose my words. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a naïve person, a virgin of Africa or because I have all my basic needs more than covered, but I was in shock. Looking at a distance and seeing a sea of orange metallic roofs, unpaved streets, hills, garbage, a kind of sewage system that runs down the sides of the street full of a liquid that I can only imagine what it carries, goats, chickens that eat all of the rubbish whilst walking and living next to all the people…is something unimaginable to me.
We wait to be attended at the school where Lisha Mtoto helps to pay school fees for kids. At the door, we see five kids playing with a wheelbarrow. A girl of about two years old walks barefoot around Kibera, and the other had a key in his mouth and licked it over and over again; all this in a country with 20% of the population suffering from AIDS. You could see several schools, businesses like hairdressers, fruit stands, phone recharge stands…etc and people that seem to be happy, all together in a scene that I wasn’t able to process. Before coming here, I wasn’t quite sure up to what point it was necessary to educate with what I understood as the normal academic European system to someone who has a totally different culture.
Later on, I spoke to Eric and Alvaro about this and I came to the conclusion that building schools and trying to get children to receive an education, is not about imposing an academic system that comes from Europe, but to teach them to think and use the tools to decide. Eric would say ‘’in school you study Pythagoras’ theorem, but in Kenya no one has ever invented a theorem, so we only study those of others.’’ Our immediate and logic response was that in Spain we also have to study the theorems of others, but when you are older and you have received a secondary education and have gone to university, if you decide to do a thesis on geometry, you can do it, and maybe one day you can discover your own theorem.
The problem in Kenya is that primary education is free (in public schools, as there are many other schools like the one in Kibera where it is necessary to pay the teachers, food…etc). However, secondary education is not free, ever, and many people can’t pay it or don’t even have a secondary school nearby to which they can go to. Not to mention university, where only privileged students with scholarships can attend. That’s why it seems (as far as I’m concerned) that people here accept that going to primary school is a ‘’must’’, but once its finished, secondary isn’t necessary, instead, starting to work and help at home is much more important. This is why it had to be a Chinese company that had to come, design and build the only highway in Kenya.
It’s a very strange culture, with intriguing contradictions. The atmosphere is indescribable; it’s relaxed. The people are calm, and are in no hurry. I think this is part of what enchants you and makes you feel so comfortable. For example, we are walking to catch a ‘’matatu’’ to go someplace, and on the way we stop to talk to Mr.Joel, a man who brings wood from Congo and makes hand-made beds. We greet him with a strong handshake in his workshop on the side of the road and he tells us how his business works, Alvaro asks him for prices, times, and other details in order to start thinking of how to furnish the future orphanage. After a while talking, we continue our way. This is how things work here.
I will continue to tell you my impressions of Kenya but, for now, I am more than happy to help Mas Por Ellos grow.
Bea Martínez Torres
The first volunteer for Mas Por Ellos. She is helping Alvaro build our delegation in Kenya.
"Dreams will only be dreams until you put dedication and work to make them real" (Anonymous)
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