Adventures in Africa
There has been a recent initiative in Nairobi to "clean up" the streets which has resulted in painting the lines on the streets and curbs, more garbage cans around the city and the latest aspect of this has been the removal of stalls. They went into the HUGE area that Mutumba occupies late last night and flattened the whole thing.
I UNDERSTAND that they are illegal means of generating income, that they don't OWN the land on which they have the stalls. But I can't get over the people who worked there. What are they supposed to do now? Where are many of the locals going to be able to buy such inexpensive clothes - the market was always packed and most of the people I knew shopped there? Why couldn’t they have just set up a licensing system or something so that they government can get their cut and then these people can still keep their livelihoods rather than join the other 35% of the population here that is unemployed. Or maybe they could actually patrol for the vast number of car-jackers instead of regular people selling clothes. I know to some extent that I am being irrational and overly emotional about this but there just has to be a better way.
Sorry. Long post about something most of you are uninterested in. Tomorrow I'll write about my GREAT climbing day that I had today. Elise and I kicked ASS on the mountain and did some REALLY hard climbs.
I personally find this sort of thing very interesting, actually. Just wanted to say. I'm more intertested in the differences in culture and city and way of life that you are encountering than anything else. Just wanted to say that!
Pole sana - it's always nice to stroll through those 2nd hand markets. I don't know what's this new policy of "cleaning up", however, we must not forget that such markets do kill the textile industry within the country.
Hey Kat… I totally understand your frustrations, but you haven’t looked at the other side to the argument, the micro/macroeconomic side of the argument. The mitumba trade as a cheap alternative to new cloths also helped destroy the local textile industry resulting in a number of factories shutting down. With workers having to be laid off, you can guess the rippling effects on the workers families and local communities and the country as a whole. The problem then is that Kenya then loses the ability to grow, expand and compete in the textile industry especially on a global scale since we don’t have workers building those skills and businesses investing in those areas. I guess what I am trying to say is that the free (used) clothing we get handed down to us is really, really bad for the Kenyan economy and the Kenyan people in the long run. This inexpensive source of clothing that you are worried about are what is retarding our economic potential now and in the future. That being said, I used to shop in those markets when I lived in Nairobi/Kakamega/Mumias years ago.
I'm glad you guys left those comments and were able to give me a greater insight into the matter. I will still miss the vendors and atmosphere though. I guess I am supporting the textile industry though too on a small scale - I have been getting lots of clothes made - Biashara Street is great for it. Kenya has a lot of growing pains to go through before it is able to flourish the way it should.