Nairobi Days

Nairobi has been kind to me. I have been stranded here but it has all worked out incredibly well and now it really feels like home. I am trying to decide how I might fit into this world and what I should do as a career and after the post-election chaos here in Kenya, I know this is the kind of thing that I want to be involved in.
As tragic as all of this has been, I think being in conflict zones is the best place for me to be able to help people. I am drawn to either journalism (but seriously doubting my skill as I have yet to sell a story despite knowing the situation so well after being here for so long and being in this conflict which seems like it should have been my big break) or relief work.
The last couple weeks I have felt so incredibly alive. The tension, adrenaline, excitement, chaos, compassion, pulling together and sense of community is amazing. Though the situation has brought out the worst in some, it has brought out the best in others. It has been an unbelievable glimpse into the world I want to live and work in as well.
After being swept up into the security house and regaled with tales of relief workers who have this sort of competition to be the first to conflict zones I am utterly enchanted with the idea. The woman I was staying with told me about the time her relief group convinced soldiers to let them ride in their tanks so they were able to get there and start helping the injured right as the fighting began. What a way to have a tangible impact!
I have been enjoying my time in Nairobi, the center of the world for NGOs and a lot of media groups. I have been able to help with a few NGOs and watch as Kenyans show a real sense of community. People are acting with so much integrity and intelligence that though conditions are poor at the moment, I have a feeling that things will be ok here.
One contact has lead to another and I have not had to spend too much time in scary hostels. Rather I have been able to stay in spectacular homes. Right now I am in one of the nicest houses I have ever been in and I have it all to myself this week as the owners are out of town but just offered it to me. This is the third house I have stayed in!
Before the people left, I went out with their daughter and got a sense of Nairobi nightlife, which might be the best scene I have ever seen. People are trying to get their lives back to normal so the bars were lively and full. It proved to be fantastic people watching. There was such a variety in the crowd and everyone just wanted to dance and have fun. There were locals, ex-pats, diplomats, kids of the diplomats, backpackers, Indians, business people, old, young and everything in between and everyone got along.
I have gotten a glimpse into the ex-pat/diplomatic lifestyle with this family here and I have to say, what a way to live and grow up! The ex-pat community here is great and something I would love to be a part of someday. I think that people that are driven to live in a place like this all have similar open-minded and adventurous personalities. I like how the circles run too, ex-pats don’t keep to themselves like in other countries, they mix in with the locals and everyone seems to be friends.
I am finally getting a grasp on the landscape of Nairobi and getting the transportation in the matatus down. It is feeling like home. The Kenyans might be the nicest people I have ever met in my life. I feel so humbled when I think about how most of them are fluent in 3 languages: Kiswahili, English and their native tribal language. Quite impressive.
I have made contact and made friends all because of the friendliness of everyone I have met in Nairobi. It has been a glimpse into a life that I hope so much someday I will have a place in.
The journalists are great too, that is a circle I dream to enter but fear I don’t have what it takes. Yesterday was the day that parliament opened. The whole area was sealed off, but I managed to get in with the press. There were more soldiers around than some small countries have in their own armies. Guards were on horseback and the tension was high as protesters tried to get in.
I hung around by the press trying to work up the nerve to talk to them. Finally I approached one crew, it didn’t help that one of the guys (they were all AP) was possibly the most attractive person I have ever seen in my life. They were all really nice and sympathetic to my plight as a freelancer. I was envious of their press passes and access, their circle of hotels and parties and press conferences. Maybe someday.
One thing that happened that was exciting was all the cameras were gathered in front of the parliament house filming the MPs entering the gates. It wasn’t very exciting and I thought the story might be somewhere else so I wandered around the back. Almost like a “Where’s Waldo?” book, I found Raila and the pentagon! They were meeting out in the back, so I quickly pulled the AP god aside and told him. In return he gave me the phone number of one of the executive editors in the Nairobi office. They don’t need help now, but I am holding on to that contact!
I wandered around the city talking to people. I think journalists have the best job in the world. They get to just talk to everyone, discern what the stories of the day will be and filter out what is important. I can imagine nothing better than being sent into conflict zones and places of chaos to talk to the locals and bring a human aspect to the abstract images of turmoil, negotiating obstacles as they come, rushing for a deadline, never knowing where I will be going or what will be happening and seeing so much of the world and ways of life.
At the same time it is frustrating, how am I supposed to help people when I don’t have the credentials to get their story out there? Really knowing the situation here I thought this would be a big break for me. Despite being two of the best weeks in my life, they have been two of the most frustrating. I do feel like this is my calling, this kind of chaos, but I don’t know how to get there. But I can imagine nothing more satisfying than going to some of the most difficult places in the world and being able to make a difference. What a way to connect with life and experience so much of it. What a way to really explore our humanness when it is all broken down to its most basic elements. What a way to live a life of adrenaline and challenge and bring the world together in our own humanity.
I leave Kenya tomorrow. I have no idea what the future will bring. I am going to see my mom in Tanzania, then when she leaves I will hope that the road will be safe to go to Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. It is unsettling having everything up in the air, but I should be used to it by now. T.I.A.