“All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful, but the beauty is grim,” Christopher Morley
Niaje, uko poa? (slang for; Hi, how are you doing?) Hope you had an awesome weekend and bravely faced this Monday 🙂 . Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya and where I was born and raised. The name Nairobi was derived from a Maasai word that means cool waters. Yes there was once a time our rivers flowed freely with no pollution and beautifully clear, cool waters. Like for real, during this shoot I accidentally stepped on a smashed dry as cardboard rat, eeww!
The city is a crazy place to live in, I think all cities are, but all are unique. We are the only city out of the other thousands that exist to have a National Park right within the city. I’m not talking about a few kilometers drive out of the city but within, pretty awesome, except when some cats get lost and wind up beyond the fences, which is seldom. Also the culture of the city is on another level of crazy and energetic. Plus the public transport sector on several occasions has been in the spotlight internationally and locally for been different and unique. It even reached a point Nganya awards was created just for that sector, specifically manganya, pimped out rides. One interesting survey even suggested that Nairobi spends the most cash on entertainment in the whole African continent. That’s from partying, drinking, getaways, restaurants, movies, you name it. Though, like every city you will definitely find the pick pockets, street kids even con men and boy are they many. The number of times people have tried to con me is hard to count, from women claiming they need ten shillings to add on to their fare, to kids looking for ‘sponsorship’.
One thing though I have seen with Kenyans is tenacity! No matter what the problem or issue a solution must be found, in fact it’s not an option. You rarely hear haiwezikani ‘it can’t be done’, even if they do say those words the next to follow are lakini ‘but’ meaning there is a solution but it will take more effort, like switching on switched off phones haha. Kenyans on Twitter, fondly referred to as KOT are another bunch of crazies never backing down and blood always boiling for a challenge or slander, just ask CNN. One thing I really do love though is that with the entire fracas and what seems like chaos there is beauty what you may find ugly or misplaced I see the beauty, like a wall tagged with graffiti 🙂 also, the way we willingly help each other out whether a grand issue like a disaster or small. God bless Kenya.
Keep Smiling 🙂
Simply Siro
Photography-Same as here Makeup-me
Chambray top- old
skirt-same as here
Bag-old
Gold chain- old
watch-gift
Earrings-random shop in CBD
Shoes- thrift (Nairobi streets)
Sunglasses- Naivas Supermarket