On this day….coming from Ghana I thought we had slums…so I was not too excited about the journey ( I was under the impression that Kibera is like Nima, a community in Ghana).

The Journey started at the Java cafe at Junction Mall where we got to meet our host who was taking us there. Very fun and exciting lady she was.

She gave us some papers and asked that we learn a basic song that we can sing while visiting the place. So we did and it was interesting because the song was in Swahili language which my family and I have no idea how to even start a conversation with anyone.

So after the song learning moment we left and headed to Kibera, it was not very far from all the luxury apartments at all….It was a shocker to us how close the slums are from this nice places.

When we got there we had to be accompanied by an armed police officer ( now in Ghana you don’t have to have a armed officer accompany you to Nima ) So that was a weird feeling for us . And when I asked why they said because its not a safe environment for foreigners to be in.

So the journey began and we walked about 25 min to the exact location which was a school that has 500 kids for a building that I think should only have 50 kids. I was very sad and at the same time very grateful for my blessings.

while there our girls taught the kids at the school some basic self defense moves and also we got to speak and motivate them that this should not be their future….they must dream big and shoot for the sky.

One thing my family and I noticed was that this kids are happy and smiling all over the place and very content with their current situation.

Oh and most of this kids don’t have a home, their parents died and so the lady who opened the school has made it like a home. about 100 kids in a room, its the size of my 3 kids bedroom. It brought tears to our eyes and my girls got to see what life could be. But this children at the school are very grateful with the little they have. Also found out some of the kids have HIV and staying there is much better because they can be taking care of.

One of the ways the lady who opened the school is able to support the school was to train the older girls some sewing skills. And so all the kids uniforms are sewn in the school and also they have a small shop that they sell the things that they sew. So I decided to make a nice shopping day out of it. I bought a couple of African handmade skirts and also some bags.

After our tour around the small compound filled with so many lovely kids our host at the school had prepared some Kenyan dishes for us to have for lunch. Truly grateful for that.

It was a trip that we really enjoyed and will always remember.

If you do visit Nairobi please find a way to visit Kibera you will love the journey through the slums

Well with us travelling and not spending a whole lot of time in each country we decided to just use local transportation while in Nairobi and in the other countries we visit.

So before we arrived in Nairobi I decided to research on the best way of moving around.

They have what is considered the cheapest ride which is the Matatu ( its a 8-12 passenger van that everyone going towards the same direction will get on and can get off when they reach their destination so like a shared ride). Now I have not tried riding that one yet because in my home country Ghana we have it also and its called Trotro, and I have being on them before so not so much of an excitement to get on while in Nairobi. And also they drive recklessly. So all the best if you decide to try it out.

The next one that is very new to me is called Border Border and basically its a bike rider. its very very reasonable and with the traffic in Nairobi it actually is a fun and nice ride for short distance. They charge around KSH 100 ( $1) for most short distance trips. And they give you helmet and a reflector to put on…. I like that because it gets me to my destination faster….

Then there is Easy Taxi, its an app that you can download and you request for a ride. ( I think they can do better with the App) But I used it for a while and still uses it on and off. prices are minimum of $3 for all short distance. But the drivers seem never to be available when you need them. And I end up cancelling a lot of my taxi ride that I request. and also even though the easy Taxi tariff is on the app the drivers still try to negotiate because after the trip you pay them directly. with us not having our own car going to short distance and paying $3 all the time can add up so the border border is our best option without the kids.

The other option is just a regular Taxi that is not registered with easy Taxi. But their prices are almost the same, but with regular taxi you can negotiate with the driver. So what I do is that I check the tariff on easy Taxi then when I pick the regular taxi I am able to negotiate to a reasonable price.

Then the more fancy option which we usually will take  when Marcus and I are on a date night because the cars are much nicer and the drivers are more knowledgeable. its UBer Taxi. We used UBer a lot while in Cape Town but In Kenya we realized its time to find a cheaper route. And with Uber we had to use a credit card which was also being charged international fee. so for a trip that cost us $3 now will have to charge another fee for international usage of the credit card. And we wanted to use our debit card but Uber does not allow debit card usage. So that’s why we only use UBer for our date nights just to have a more romantic evening in a nicer ride…

Now If you are coming to Nairobi, one advice I will give you is make sure from the airport Change your cash, buy a new phone chip ( its like $5 or less) and load your cash onto MPESA. That will save you some stress because in Nairobi everyone from the road side coconut seller to the high end hotels all accepts MPESA. It’s like having your money saved on your phone. its safe and very reliable money exchange services

Happy Border Border In Nairobi

Karibu ( Swahili meaning “Welcome”)

Our first month in Nairobi was not easy to adjust to the environment. Especially coming straight from Capetown the city of buzzing activities.

We are staying in a great location, called Lavington. walking distance to the famous Junction mall and walking or bike riding distance to most activities. I personally think if you are just visiting Nairobi then consider staying around Lavington area.

After a few weeks we started our activities. We hired a chess coach who comes to our apartment 3 times a week to teach our family how to become master chess players ( as they say chess teaches you the way of life….Thinking ahead ). About 5 min drive from our apartment is the Lavington Green Mall that is where we spent most of our hours in the day.

We joined the Bikram Yoga class there which the whole family get to practice the art of peaceful moments and also being flexible. ( the saying goes “if you don’t use it you will loose it”). We practice Yoga as a family 5 days a week and so far everyone is enjoying the journey. We also signed our kids up for Gymnastics,  as you know  with kids jumping without any control can always make their day.

We have made great friends in Nairobi now and enjoying play dates and movies days with our new life long friends.

will be right back with more adventure