Sexy Burqa, the National Archives & Liquid entertainments
For one year now Africa Web TV has always used the building of The Kenya National Archives as its reference point when making appointments in Nairobi. It is a big pink coloured building sitting at the heart of Nairobi city centre. To say it is a busy spot would be a great understatement. To us it looks like it is the nerve centre of Nairobi. If you stood where we always waited to meet our appointments, near the entrance gate of the building, you would be amazed at how much there is to see there.
If you want to feel the heartbeat of Nairobi, just go and take your spot at the Kenya National Archives square. In 10 minutes you might see more than 100,000 people pass you by. We are sure we are understating that figure. You see the beautiful and stylish men and women of Nairobi going to or back from wherever or whatever brought them to town.
The high level of employment in Nairobi is very visible when you are standing in that square. These unemployed, numbering on a given day from hundreds to thousands just sit there, sometimes the whole day. There are enough wretched looking preachers shouting and competing for their attention. 90% of these unemployed people don’t even bother to hide their boredom at these preachers. The other 10% mostly pretend as if they are listening. We bet some of them are thinking they are even better off than the preachers who mostly look like they are in need of food, bath and a complete costume make over.
Standing where we always stand, you see people in different religious outfits. Our favourites are surely ladies in burqa. We have always felt that religion is private and it is about how one interprets it. The ladies of Nairobi certainly do their best to make a statement in their Islamic dresses. Africa Web TV has seen many sexy and provocatively dressed ladies in its travels worldwide. However we can say without any shadow of a doubt that the sexiest ladies are those passing us by at the Kenya National Archives building in Nairobi. To be very specific; the sexiest and most provocative ladies in the world are those ladies in burqa in Nairobi. Wow!
They certainly know how to make a (on the face of it) sad looking, widow-like black dress really attractive. The high heels, the necklaces, the ankle rings and bracelets, the shoes, the sometimes bra-less round chests with hard and in your face nipples, the undulating and gyrating hips as they walk from and into oblivion makes one wonder whether women all over the world should not be on this dress code. If the hijab or the burqa is meant as a means of oppressing women and hiding their personalities, it is failing completely in Nairobi! We love the way the personalities of the ladies shine through the clothes. We also love the personal and individual statements these ladies make.
Phew! Where were we? Yes we were telling you we have been literally standing at the gates of the Kenya National Archives for one year now. Till now it never occurred to us to take a look inside. Not until today when Christine, Ruth and Sheila (our Nairobi guide) suggested we went inside because it might be interesting for Africa Web TV and what we are trying to do generally. So in we went!
Holy Macaroni! We were overwhelmed by the African treasures we found inside the building. The name; “Kenya National Archives” is confusing and does not do justice to what treasures the building holds. Archives in Africa are places you go to only if you want to be confronted with a mountain of papers and documents. But here you were met with ancient African artefacts which exudes most of the Africa culture and past.
Most of the items there have been collected and preserved by the 2nd vice-president of Kenya Joseph Zuzarte Murumbi (1911–1990). He had the largest private art collection in Kenya. This was a guy who was clearly ahead of his African times. He had singlehandedly saved and preserved a lot of African cultural artefacts and prevented these from either being destroyed or taken to Europe and beyond. The exhibition has materials from all over Africa from Madagascar to Morocco and from Lagos to Lusaka. While walking through the exhibition hall, we felt like we were walking in the 7th clouds.
There are many things to see in Kenya and Nairobi in particular but you have to go inside the Kenya National Archives to have a bit of a look at the proud past of the Kenyans and Africans in general. From rare stamps and pictures to ancient ivory carvings. All of these you can see for an entrance fee of 50 Kenyan shillings (ca. 42 cents!) if you are a Kenyan resident or 200 Kenyan shillings (ca. €1.70!) And to think we’ve been standing at the doorsteps of history for a year without realising it. Better late than never.
It was a perfect way to end a day that started with Africa Web TV meeting with Peter Tosh and some of the actors and actresses of Liquid Entertainment Arts. Peter is a stage and theatre director who co-founded Liquid Entertainment Art some years back out of the desire to help develop the acting and creative skills of the youth. At the moment, the actors were rehearsing for a play that is going to première at the Kenyan National Theatre in Nairobi at the end of June 2014.
The acting and theatre world is full of egos and fake characters who are more interested in highlighting their own personal goals using every Machiavellian methods in the book. Peter is a total opposite of that. He is more of a leader than a boss. He is a mentor who has earned the love and respect of his crew by leading from the front, the middle and behind if necessary. The actors warm up to him. He listens to them and they listen to him. The mutual respect was there for everyone to see. Africa Web TV has witnessed the greed and the lack of foresight of many Kenyan directors but Peter is cut in another mould.
Africa Web TV was proud to be able to watch the rehearsal of Rufus the play. One was privileged to witness some raw talents in action. Talents that are going to be the stars of the very near future. We are even prouder that Peter Tosh permitted us to record snippets of this for our upcoming report as soon as we are back to our Netherlands base. Above all, the crew was kind enough to record an appeal to those who are holding the kidnapped Nigerian girls. It was a short but very emotional appeal which we hope to release on our channel as soon as we are back to base. Africa Web TV wishes to thank these very nice people for receiving us. We are looking forward to our future collaborations.
