Umm.. Nairobi?

Heya, Chilling here in Nairobi in what was considered the hottest February in 20 Years !!!  The sun, the heat.. oh so much fun.  It finally rained yesterday, and boy did it rain!!  I'm staying here another week to spend some more time with my dad.  Emirates was very good in extending my tickets.. can you beleive that they changed 2 of my tickets... for FREE!!  so I lose a week in Australia, oh well, it's kinda nice out here, lots of business opportunities...but personal security and safety is a bit of an issue. 

 

I have been really bad in providing updates to what is going on for the last 3 weeks.  I will also be putting together a summary of the most excellent Safari that we went on. :)

 

It's really nice here, had my rubber arm twisted into putting in a computer and accounting system for my dad's restaurant.. go figure, working while on vacation... I am a computer geek for sure.  The people are very friendly, everybody is addicted to their mobiles and will txt and sms constantly.. some things are really cheap, others are the same price or higher once you do the conversion.  Internet access, being slow, is pretty reasonable at about 120 shillings an hour.. that's roughly C$2 an hour... and it's sooooo slow... did I mention it's slow?

 

It's amazing how much poverty there is in this country and how so many things that we take for granted in the western world aren't available here, or if they are, it's for a price.  There are cars that were made in the 80's and early 90's all around, auto spares is a booming business... it's cheaper to fix things, than to replace them.  But the biggest shock was the difference in the labour and working class wages... a waiter or waitress, shop hand, stock boy etc... makes about 4000 - 6000 shillings a month.. that's about C$66-$100 PER MONTH!!!  some of us will spend that in an hour or a day without even thinking... and then there are the office jobs where you can get about 15,000 - 30,000 /month or $250-500.  it's really sad when you think about it, that's not a lot of money... rents in ok areas would run you almost your pay... now if you're a good skilled person in IT or running your own business, then and only then can you make 150,000 - 300,000 shillings a month... $2500-5000 which gives you a lot of freedom, but the people that make that kind of money are not your average citizen.  Schools cost money, hospitals cost money, guards cost money... it's so sad,... and then there are stories of massive corruption on the parts of the local government... where they are driving around in posh Mercedes Benz' the people of this country are starving.... to the point where there are fights and violent arguments over dead meat and roadkill.  A hippo strayed from the water and got hit by a bus... the police had to come and organize the people so that they could get some meat... same thing with a buffalo... all in the span of one week.. it truly is sad.  It's a vicious cycle... poverty, crime, corruption, and the cycle repeats... when the police officers of the country are seen and caught stealing and robbing people, sometimes in full uniform... when banks have to employ machine gun wielding guards 24/7 to patrol and protect the premises... there are issues...and the only way to combat it is to educate the population and attempt to reverse the poverty cycle... but it's hard to do, when the only way in is through the government... a government that is corrupt and will ensure that the funds dedicated to helping the people, will only go into their pockets...presumably to service the Mercedes' and employ the locals at substandard wages to keep their posh mansions clean and kept... it's sick.

 

I've added some pictures from Paris on the photo site.. they're still unsorted...hopefully will get a decent connection in Dubai and get them all sorted out, I sent a cd of Safari pic's back, will attempt to get my sister to upload them. 

 

Speaking of little sis... she got her first real job!!  Way to GO!  She'll be doing some sort of Sales/Support work for Replicon..  It's about time she got a real job.. .now she can pay rent :)  Wish her luck!!!  Welcome to the real world Zayn!

 

There's my update for now... getting hungry... time to finish up some emails and go eat some free food (I think the real reason I'm staying another week, is I'm liking the fact I haven't spent a dime since I came...hee hee...thanks Dad!!)