Category: maisha

jua kali ²

Somewhere downtown Nairobi there is a place called ” Kaburi” on Quarry Road. Muslim cemeteries have given the place it’s name – and just like dead bodies, the area also accomodates jua kali workshops – auto/car garages that turn dead car chassis into saleable items of desire. In other words: if you have a broken car and need it to be fixed fast, cheap and efficiently: THIS is the place. I think it’s also the CHEAPEST place in Kenya.

I was told they have a turnover of about a million Kshs. every day – remember: everyone of the guys working there needs to pocket about 500/= Kshs. per day (on average) in order “to buy lunch”. The basic principles of this business are that a) work is done fast and b) the place regulates itself (hakuna City Council supervision). Anyone who dares to mess with customers will be thrown out the compound. Strict rules for a self-regulating business. Hard, but fair.

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The “operating room” (note NBO’s skyline in the background)

Our 1986 Suzuki SierraJX (“Hey, my friend, how much for you car? Me I want to buy…” – ppl love these small 4WD cars) needed a refurbishment and when we got it some time ago, I had removed the old carpets inside which were just too dirty. Our dear friend Peter showed us the way to the place and also helped to negotiate the prices. Since I had already removed the old carpets, making news ones by using the patterns was a relatively simple job for the experienced fundis. After choosing the desired material (really thick but stilll flexible carpet for 800 Kshs./m), they rushed away to buy everything needed and after that immediately started working. Anyone who says things in Kenya are slow should pay these guys a visit.

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taking measurements…

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A matatu had ordered a new interior…

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1,2,3….done!

While waiting for the carpets to be finished, other guys (of course) approached us and offered their services. “My friend” (the typical mzungu approach), “you need licence plates duplicating? For front and back licence plate me I just charge you…..uhmm….500 Kshs. ..and I will make them straight and recolour them, even with reflecting colour, and put something around them and make them look nice. Look, yours are worn out…” – “Yeah, well, but you see: mine can still work – isn’t it? Even I could only give you 50 bob per plate…” – “Oh, but please, my friend, help me to buy lunch….” – “Oh, I think maybe next time but thx anyways…”

One of these guys actually managed to persuade us to have the car repainted from the inside. We urgently wanted to have this done, actually also from the outside – the car needs a major “beautification programme” – but time was running out and money is always limited so we just went for the inside repaint job. Pull out a 1.000 Kshs. and these guys will actually dismantle the interior of your car, clean it (more or less), respray it (= > hire a painter for that particular job!) and put everything back into place. Unfortunately, these guys weren’t as fast as the carpet dudes – whereas the carpets were done within 2 hours (!), the guy responsible for the repainting job just talked in Agwambo-style and gave commands to his colleague who was supposed to do the job. Since we also had other appointments on this very special saturday :-), I put on my own overall and pulled out the screwdrivers and spanners. Imagine a foreigner somewhere in Nairobi’s River Road area jua kali workshops in an overall who actually works on a car whereas the Kenyan customers just stand next to their cars and give commands to the fundis. There’s always a way to make fun of yourself. But so what…

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Yess….sloooooooow work :-)

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Look! Even (Germany’s Ex-Chancellor) G.Schröder witnessed the beautification process! :-)

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Harambee! Some cars are just moved from A to B to C and back to A….

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Compressors such as this one (left) are used for repainting jobs – these guys are specialised.

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mixing the colour…

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After finishing his job, he carefully made sure that not a single drop of petrol was left inside the (rented) compressor motor’s tank – but forgot the empty (metal) paint container. He just left it there – I SO much hate this attitude of disposing waste just like that. There’s no concept. Our industrialized world is nothing but a huge landfill….aaaaargh!

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Sawasawa, ama? After 20 minutes of drying, the carpets came…

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Fixing the carpet….

We arrived at 10:30 am and left the place at ~ 03:30 pm. Not bad for a start. And I know we’ll be back for more…

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These are lockers as used by the (older) fundis. The’ve put their mobile phone numbers on them so that they can be reached in any case. The mobile phone industry has opened up so many different opportunities in Kenya…an interesting development, I think.

AOB:

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Who’s this DJ @ Club Soundd? Horriboool mixture sato nite… the place is nice though. Also home to Kwani? open mic sessions…and no nasty cigarette smoke!! :-)

Lung Tonic

I caught a cold earlier this week and killed it with some Panadol Coldcap. To fight the upcoming cough, I bought “Good Morning – Lung Tonic”.

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“Good Morning Lung Tonic is (a) greyish brown Syrup – dawa ya kuponyesha kukohoa, makamasi, maumivu ya kifua na kadhalika. Each 5ml contains: Tolu Solutionn BPC 0.56ml, Capsicum Tinc BPC 0.25ml, Creosote BPC59 66.65mg, Anise Oil BP 13.89mg and Liquorice BPC 25.00mg.”

Liquorice, yeah! Lakini….

Dear Parents,

please please please NEVER ever think about buying “Good Morning – Lung Tonic” for your children. Your children would otherwise instantly hate you for the rest of your life.

Verdict: -4 out of 10 points, but only since it only costs 55 bob which is ok for medicine.

Panari Empire

Have you ever wondered where all this Nakumatt Kitsch goes (I’ve mentioned earlier)? Ever thought about getting a taste of Dubai without leaving the beautiful City of Nairobi? Or spending some 800 bob on 60 minutes of ice skating?

Well, wait no longer – Kenya’s “new” Panari Sky Centre has it all.

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The Entrance looks a bit too Dubaiish. But compared to Grand Regency (which is another faux pas in terms of good taste) it is even worse. Big doors = big people? When I went inside, I saw a fat (very fat!!) American coming out. Hmm…

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“Solar Ice Rink” @ 500/= pp under 14, 800/= Kshs. over 14 years and adults. It looks a bit improvised, BUT it works and looks great. Even shoes are available in my size 12 (I asked).

Ok ok ok….the centre of course accomodates a Hotel as well – and this is what we came here for. We came for the view. And because I am afraid of heights. The other day, Mbuzimoja took me to Safari Tower downtown where we just took the lift to the top floor and searched for a view until we found the fire exit ladder. I couldn’t look down. But take pictures :-)

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This is the view from one of the floors where the rooms are located. Nice view. Please have a closer look at the interior design….hehe…
(=> this is a guests-only area….we stayed there until we got kicked out by Duncan, the security guy…)

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Nairobi National Park in front.

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Nakumatt Kitsch, exampoool 1

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Nakumatt Kitsch, exampooool 2

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Nakumatt Kitsch, exampoool 3

Just look at this picture: imported tiles, an ugly plastic Zebra carpet, some yellow & undefinable chairs from another spaceship (1970s rock, dude!) and a completely unfitting copy of an old (dutch, I pressume) oil painting.

In other words: the Panari Hotel has it all for those who ever wanted to get a glimpse of Dubai and never really developed their own (better) taste.

P.S.: the swimming pool looked nice though, even the Gym. Daily charges are 1.250 /= Kshs. pp., monthly membership 9.000 Kshs….they even have a Steam Bath!

Wachira

Thx for everyone’s comments so far + all the good wishes. I really appreciate that.

First impressions:

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literature & cooking @ Sarit Centre Saturday morning
(they were playing Ukoo Fl. as background tune…hoho…cool)

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Michael Jackson (top) look-alike competition @ a local kinyozi…scary!

Now, upon arrival, I was extremely lucky enough that Madame Mbuzimoja offered me her “new” car for use while I am in Nbo (this week and next). However, the word “new” stands for a really worn out, old, ******* up pre-1990s Suzuki Sierra/Samurai (1.3l) that first of all needs to experience lots of tender, loving care (TLC) before it could be send back on the road for longer duties. The deal was that I get the car and pay for the repairs. A fair deal, I think.

I went to Westlands on Sato asubuhi and tried to find some good shops where I would get spare parts (“hello, do you have spare parts?” – “yes, we do – what do you need?” – “well, I am looking for a new head lamp, a sealed beam for my Suzuki…” – “Oh, I am sorry, we don’t have car accessories…” (lamp is not a spare part??)). Anyways, Westlands tends to suck from time to time and the traffic jams were horriboooool so I continued driving off to KANGEMI.

Behind Kangemi there is an area called Mountain View. When I left Nairobi 10 years ago, there was nothing there, only stalls and 600/= rooms. Now the area has developed (looks great), and with lots of GoK ppl living there, I was told it is a nice place, electricity + water are available. Plus, it takes you about 20 min to get to the city centre from there. I really digg that area for its convenient location. Anyways, behind Mountain View there’s a small garage run by an old friend I hadn’t seen since 10 years. Things change, but some remain the same even after such a long time. The garage is still there and upon arrival, I asked for Wachira and he quickly rushed out from underneath a car.

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Wachira of Mountain View Garage
(the Peugeot 504 in the background is used as a locker)

Seeing him again after all these years was great and after we exchanged some memories of the times back then, I explained my probs with the Suzuki (head lamp, thermostat, holes and dents that needed some welding, etc.) and he quickly called all his specialized fundis (the electrician, the welder, the colour guy) to fix this and that. 2hrs later and we were done. Perfect!

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identifiying the earthing-mmprrobbbreeemmm with a simpoool lamp

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welding the ramshackled door

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welding a hole in the floor underneath the drivers seat…

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The funniest thing was the “colour-guy” – a young “trainee” had been sent to organize white paint to repaint the welded spots and he returned with a crown cap full of white paint (=origin of Crown Paints?! :-). About 1ml of paint! ROFL!! Well, it worked so why worry? :-)

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The thermostat wasn’t in stock so we went back to the bridge/flyover in Kangemi where a shop sells spare parts & accessory for Matatus.

Lesson learned: some things might take some time but if you know what you want and where to get it, you can save a lot of time, money and pain. Thx, Wachira!

Btw, did you know that they have been trying to install new street lights on the highway?

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Wachira told me that the company maintaining these lamps had been too greedy to invest some money into a decent crane. Well, this solution works but given that they will always need to fix some lamps, they should really look out for an alternative solution.

AOB: Yeah, why not??

(Cool – blogdesk seems to be working. Blogdesk = offline blog editor that helps to upload everything at once while providing a WYSIWYG editor that’s even better than the internal wordpress editor.)

As for blogging from the road – I am 100% with you, Mental! Java House is one of the most expensive, yet also most comfy ways to get things online in Nbo unless of course you are enjoying Inet @ work (what I hopefully will by next week :-). Oh, did I already mention their wlan access also works from the parking lot? ^^

@Hash: does this qualify as afrigadget material? I even shot a short clip with my phone which still needs some editing…

being around…

I just realized it’s only four (4) more weeks for me over here in Germany. Jessas! How time goes by these days….four more weeks of working on some papers and studying for an exam in hydromechanics. Four weeks left to vacate my current flat, to pack my stuff up again (relocation No.11), to give away half of the stuff that has been accumulating here and has never really been used (so why keep it?) and to repaint the flat. Four weeks that will get me away from here and back on the road again into UHURU – freedom and independance. A lovely, scary feeling!
And then?

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Embu, Kenya. For at least 3 months until some time in January 2007. Doing an internship @ a state office on behalf of a German Agency. Will keep you updated on this as blogable content comes up – I am really dying to cover this on my blog as it involves some form of nation building, something with a meaning and hopefully a win-win situation for both sides involved: Kenya & Germany. For my partners at the office, and for me as a student.

The Tana river in Kenya has the biggest catchment area – and Kenya being a country of various landscapes, it will be particulary interesting to see how strategies for integrated water resource management can be implemented in reality and how to scale these complex and sometimes also confusing dimensions on a local level. Consequently, my approach on this isn’t the “mzungu coming to Aaaaafrika to change everything” attitude, but to listen and learn and help where I know an answer.

Now, for others wazungu that have come to Kenya (~you are prolly aware of the stereotyped pic), this might just be a single step on their career, but as for me – I really tried hard to convince the involved agency in placing me to Kenya (and not somwhere else) as I would like to take this opportunity to contribute something from me to the place where I grew up. And let me be honest – the “Kenyan part” in me of course asks why I should leave my comfy nest with 24/7/365 electricity, warm water and broadband inet for such a job. Well, why? Because I can. Because I was given this chance to learn more. And I think that’s reason enough.

Now, enough turgid words – let me go back to my papers and see how this adventure turns out…(yes, I am a bit scared :-)

(Ati, four weeks? Haiyaaaa…..*gulp*)

Vodafone

Meine Frage an Vodafone:

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

ich habe einen (alten) D2-Fun Tarif, den ich nach Vertragsverlängerung im Spätsommer/Herbst auch weiterhin behalten möchte. Für diesen Tarif gibt es zwei Kurzmitteilungszentralen (..000 und …333), die es ermöglichen, netzinterne SMS ab der 101. SMS über die …000 günstiger zu verschicken. Für diesen Zweck bieten die mir bekannten Nokia Modelle aus der Vergangenheit (z.B. das Nokia 6230) die Option an, vor dem Senden via “Optionen > Sendeoptionen > Sendeprofil > Sendevorgaben (Auswahl der SMC)” die Kurzmitteilungszentrale für jede einzelne Sms auszuwählen. Also direkt vorm Verschicken – nicht erst umständlich über das Einstellungsmenü.

Meine Fragen daher an Sie:
1. bieten die zZt aktuellen SONY Ericsson Modelle diese Option auch an (zB K800i)?
2. bieten die zZt aktuellen Nokia Modelle der Series 40 (6233/6234) diese Option weiterhin an?

Und die Antwort (nach 3-4 Tagen):

vielen Dank für Ihre E-Mail.

Sowohl die neuen Nokia als auch die neuen SE Modelle bieten die Möglichkeit , mehrere Kurzmitteilungszentralen zu hinterlegen. Vor dem Versand der SMS kann die gewünschte Kurzmitteilungszentrale markiert werden.

Dieser Vorgang wurde am SE K 750i und am Nokia 6230 getestet.

Lieber Vodafone-Kundendienst,

beim Testen der neuen SonyEricsson Modelle (z.B. W810i), als auch der neuen Nokia Modelle 6280/6333/34 habe ich diese Option NICHT im Menü finden können. Meine Fragestellung bezog sich auf genau diese neuen, für UMTS “optimierten” Geräte.
Wann wird es eigentlich endlich mal eine SMS-Flatrate in Deutschland geben (so wie es in anderen europäischen Ländern auch schon der Fall ist)?

to be continued…

Baobab Family Project

Ich muss das jetzt einfach mal posten hier…. ein Videomitschnitt der ARTE Tracks Sendung vom 06. April 2006 über das Baobab Family Project in Mombasa, Kenia, welches im April bei YouTube.com hochgeladen wurde.

This video is about the Baobab Family Project in Mombasa, Kenya, someone recorded from the french/german tv channel ARTE and uploaded to YouTube. Andreas Triebel, the founder of this NGO at the coast, came to Kenya the other day, fell in love with the country and its people and saw a need to actually do someting about these many orphans and homeless young mothers. He consequently invested all his money and built a children’s home that aims to give the children a perspective, shelter and lots of love. Kudos and respect to him for this great task!

The reasons I posted this here is because a) Jahcoustix, one of the musicians in the video who contributed his earnings of a concert in Bremen earlier this year to the Baobab Family Project, is an old friend with whom we have been schooling back in the days, b) I would like to see even MORE of these projects being pulled up by ordinary wanainchii who could equally create something like this (just think of Wangari – a lonesome fighter during all those years) and c) I would still like to see the GoK ease up their daily bureaucratic hassle of NGOs and their work.
While I agree that some NGOs are heavily overfunded and wasting a lot of mbeca on overhead expenses (which has spoilt the general opinion on their work), others are struggling hard to be acknowleged for their work and are doing this purely on humanitarian grounds without asking for any allowances or the typical “what’s in it for me?” questions (and you know I could endlessly elaborate rant on this inherited cultural phenomenon where people put “money first, work later” and wealth-accumulating-schemes in the foreground which is SO counterproductive for the mutual growth of a nation… just like those Agwambos talking politics on Mashada & Co. – what a waste of intellectual capacity!).