I live in a bubble. Sure, I take a matatu to town whenever I run out of groceries. Or, sometimes, I ride in a wasili when I have too much luggage to carry with me. I do eat from kibandas. They have the best chapatis around. And from five-star restaurants when I have a meeting or something. It's a bubble I find comfortable for me, safe. Where I co-exist with my network. Safe. I feel I have to say that, no, I have never lost my phone in the street. I've learned to avoid picking up calls while running errands. Or shutting the matatu window closed if I have to use my phone seated next to it. You have to know these subtle rules to stay safe, and so I get by without fear or worry.
Three P’s
But Nairobi Noir by Peter Kimani. That book is determined to turn your world upside down. To break apart all the horrors of living in Nairobi. The kind of stuff that happens without the public ever hearing about them. Things that the police are okay with because, more often than not, they instigate or are very much aware they happen. Right under their noses, sometimes in their face. Teenagers get shot in plain sight. People get pushed in front of moving buses. Deputy Commissioners get murdered. Revenge killing that one. Prostitution. Persecution. At the core of it all, poverty.
Nairobi Half Life
The book is a bunch of stand-alone stories. All under the same theme, except for Ngugi wa Thiongo's part, I still wonder what the point of his story was. All stories sour and sad. All depicting some form of injustice. The hunters. The hunted. And the herders, so the book says. I enjoyed reading this, not because it colored my world, it took me out of whatever struggle I was dealing with at the time. But because it was an eye opener on all the things that happen so close to my vicinity, yet manage to continue to stay hidden.
Poverty Vs. Hope
Perhaps more people reading this book would equal more awareness and, thus, more people speaking up. What am I saying? Some things seem out of control, out of our hands. Like everyone knows, traffic police pick up bribes at the checkpoints, with the aim of meeting a certain goal per day and taking to their superiors their cut of the money. So, who do you report to then? When they get punished, fired, or reassigned to worse-off posts manning Kayole or some other gun-ridden place so they meet their early deaths. I mean, I'm just rambling here. But I do have hope. Someday, Kenya will be better for everyone living on these lands.
Have you read Nairobi Noir? What do you think of it? Share with us any questions, too. Meanwhile, feel free to check out our “Tyler Perry’s Sistas Season 6 is Out Now: Here's What You Missed” deep-dive!