Nairobi, Kenya

After work on Tuesday, June 22nd, I took a bus to Nairobi and went to dinner with a graduate student from the University of Nairobi named Megan. Megan is studying international development and I had contacted her several times while planning my trip. It was amazing to meet Megan and I went with some of her friends to an Ethiopian Restaurant. The conversation over dinner was amazing. It was awesome to hear her perspective on development in Kenya and to share my experiences as well. After dinner, I went back to the hotel and meet up with my friend, Kirsten! Kirsten goes to Vanderbilt with me and had been working in Uganda. It was so amazing to meet up with her halfway around the world and to just see a familiar face! I introduced Kirsten to the two Vanderbilt graduates, Marubu and Ken, that I had met on my first night in Nairobi. It was a wonderful night full of laughter, smiles, and great conversations.

Kirsten and I spent some time in Kibera, which is the largest slum in East Africa. I had learned about Kibera in one of my sociology classes and promised myself that I would go and see it while in Nairobi. We went on a “tour” of Kibera with an organization called Kibera Tours. This organization was started to bring tourism into the small businesses of Kibera and to reduce the negative stigma attached to the slums. The tour was led by three residents who had spent their whole lives in Kibera. The tour was eye-opening and amazing. We saw several NGOs that are working within Kibera and got to talk with many people. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. After the tour, Kirsten and I went to the Giraffe Center and got to pet giraffes! Giraffes are my favorite animal…so I was pretty excited! On the way back from there, our taxi driver started talking about Kibera and the people who live in the slums. It was interesting to hear his perspective on the people and the community—it was such a different perspective than what we had heard that morning. It was very nice to be able to sit in that cab and picture the faces of the people I met, the people who shared their lives with us. I was very thankful to be able to put individual faces to the people in Kibera rather than simply blanketing all the residents into one stereotyped group. That night, Kirsten and I watched the USA beat Algeria in the World Cup…it was wonderful! And the three tour guides…whose names are Freddy, Frankie, and Richard…watched the game with us! It was awesome to be halfway around the world surrounded by great friends!