Thursday, November 02, 2006

The Contradictions of Nairobi

There’s something about Nairobi that always bothers me when I come into town. I was thinking about it as we sat in the traffic jam coming back from the Masai Mara (It took us 2 hours from the time we entered Nairobi to get to Lucy’s house where we were staying.) A big part of what bothers me is all the contradictions. It is definitely a place of extremes. People who are very, very rich and who are very, very poor. I don’t have words for it right now. The other side is what it brings out in me. As you come into town from Western Kenya, you go through the very posh areas where the houses are gorgeous, there are big green yards, trees, etc. I find myself so attracted to those areas where it is nice, pretty and not so overwhelming. I know that I could never in good conscience live in an area like that, but it still bothers me how appealing it is. It is so easy to think that it would be nice to live a comfortable, easy life. But I know that I am not called to live a comfortable, easy, pretty life and that no matter where we live, I will never be completely comfortable.

Well, I’d better go to sleep. I’m getting very sleepy and have to wake up early tomorrow morning.

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