British Influence

Maybe I am wrong, given the fact that I have only been in Nairobi for about a week now, that is totally possible. This city is reminding me something of Hong Kong with the international and particularly British presence. I don't know, maybe they are all Australians but there is something very British about the many Caucasians who I am seeing here. What do I mean by that? Remember this is only my own opinion based on what I am seeing and feeling here, and I am observing this from a coffee shop at the Sarit Shopping Centre that may attract a certain clientele. A British influence to me is a certain kind of person who is well to do, that is probably wealthy. Sometimes there is a sense of entitlement emanating from the person. There is a sense of the person being out of touch with the realities of life in a developing country beyond the protected, gated, manicured sanctuaries that have been created for their pleasure. Now, in all fairness, I also saw this in China and sometimes it was even with some of the wealthy Chinese men themselves. There was a sense of entitlement with some of them -- a hunch that no one had ever said no to them about anything. I have thought of an illustration. If any of you who are reading this ever saw the movie Exodus, the military high command and families exhibited the characteristics that I am describing. They lived in a world beyond the life of the ordinary people and rarely ventured into that world. They were protected and gated.

I will be very interested to see how Khartoum contrasts with this. Speaking of Khartoum, I now have my ticket to leave Nairobi and fly into Khartoum on this coming Sunday, October 11th! Time is short here now. I looked into visiting a Game Reserve and the cost was far beyond my modest budget so instead I will be staying locally and going to the Karen Blixen estate. Karen Blixen is the amazing woman who was portrayed in the movie Out of Africa. So I am quite excited about this venture! Also, the beautiful jewelry called Kazuri was inspired (I believe) by Karen Blixen. This jewelry is hand made out of locale Nairobi clay and provides a living for about 350 single women/mothers who would be otherwise unemployed. I have done my share to help support this non-profit business venture which is part of the reason that I cannot afford to go to a Game Reserve. Ah well, another time!

This has been a good morning. I got to have a shower and wash my hair -- this seems so basic in the United States, but here in Nairobi, it can prove to be a real blessing and not to be taken for granted. My laundry is being done at the house where I am staying as I write, I will be so thankful for clean clothes once again! My laundry was supposed to be yesterday but with the power outage that happened on Monday night that did not happen. I look forward very soon to being able to organize my life in a way that will allow me to withstand power outages, etc., in a more efficient manner. It is very kind of the people who are housing me right now, and at the same both they and I are very aware that this is a way stop on the way to my new home and my new life.