It's funny how the word west is associated with rich and
fashionable, while east is thought of as poor. In the UK, several fancy
shopping malls have "west" in the name; Westfields, West One, West
Quay to name a few. The only shopping mall with "east" in the name
which springs to mind is East Kilbride shopping centre. How exotic....
The east side of cities in the UK are generally associated
with poverty; east London and east Glasgow for example bring such images into
the mind. There is actually a reason for this - the wind generally runs from
west to east in the UK. As a result, industry was built on the east of British
cities to avoid the resulting smoke blowing back over the city centre. Workers
then chose to live close to their jobs, i.e. on the east side.
This positive aura surrounding the world "west"
has transferred its way to Kenya as well. The main eastern part of Nairobi,
Eastleigh, is a predominantly poor, Somali inhabited neighbourhood. It borders
other poorer neighbourhoods such as Kariobangi, which I have mentioned in aprevious entry. By contrast, the western areas are generally pretty nice areas
to live. Upper hill, Lavington and Kileleshwa are all affluent areas to the
west of the centre. That said, there are some slum areas to the west as well,
including Kenya's (and many say Africa's) largest slum Kibera.
But the hub of Nairobi's shopping and entertainment can be
found in an area to the north west of the centre appropriately called
Westlands. And at the heart of Westlands, stood (and still kind of stands) a
shopping
centre you might have heard of called Westgate. |
| Westgate nowadays... strange to think what happen here just a few months ago |
Westgate has been pretty present in my life the last few days.
I drove past properly for the first time during this trip Friday morning before
last. It was a bit spooky to imagine
what had happened there just a few months earlier. The same night, I met the a survivor of the
mall attack who had escaped with the help of waiting staff. Sadly I didn't get
to talk to her nearly as much as I would have liked to. I did however get to
speak extensively to an interesting, but strange French guy who, based on his
experience with Al Shabbab through his job, reckoned they weren't responsible
for the attacks. We had a long philosophical conversation. While
essentially on the same page, we differed a bit on the Westgate issue; he
believed that if you treat people nicely and with respect, you won't run into
problems, including on the day of the Westgate attacks. While I fundamentally
agreed, I felt that it didn't matter how you acted that day; that was one
situation where however nice you were, if you found yourself in the wrong part
of the building, it was curtains.
Every time one goes to anywhere fancy in Kenya, one is
reminded of the left over impacts of the Westgate attacks. I'm currently writing
this in a shopping centre called Village Market. After a long week with very
little contact to civilisation beyond negotiating material prices and fighting
over the direction of parquet laying, I felt the need to indulge a bit, so I
came here. Just to get in however, I had to pass through three security checks
(two vehicle one body search). Even now I'm in thought there are armed police and/or
army on every entrance. Still, it's a bit more lax than the first time I came
here during my second week in Kenya (and less than 3 weeks after the attacks);
that time I sat with my coffee to my left and an armed police officer lurking
to the right.
Westgate was a sad reminder of the instability which,
ironically, lies to the east of Kenya in Somalia. Like the attacks which on the
embassies which preceded it about 15 years earlier, it's left a lasting
impression on the country. But the country has fought, and is still fighting to
overcome the event.
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