Sometimes the media can really be social. People (including us, we have to confess) tend to look at the social media with a bit of suspicion. Everybody communicates nowadays with each other via laptops, iPads, smartphones etc. For a lot of the people it is the new way to reach beyond their borders. For a lot, it is the only way to connect. For Africa Web TV, an online based media outlet, it is a necessary evil! One needs it to be able to inform and others of one’s activities and so on. However, being on social media has several other drawbacks. Most of these are known to most people. Being on the social media has also several advantages. In this blog we are going to go into one of the more unusually nice ones. It is about getting to know and meeting people one would otherwise never have known nor met.
In Koma, Kenya
5 years ago when Africa Night (one of our other core activity) joined Facebook, one of the people who became friends with Africa Night was an unknown lady somewhere in Nairobi. As with “friends” on Facebook, one was happy to have as many “friends” as possible given what one was promoting. But as with friends in reality, people start to show their true colours after a while. For good or for bad, people have a way of standing out in your personal crowd too. Slowly but surely this unknown lady in wherever she was in Nairobi started standing out in the crowd that was around 2500 then! For all we know this person could have been one of the fake profiles on Facebook. So we were extremely careful at first. But as time went on it became clear to us that this person was standing up and out for all the good intentions. Gradually but surely we began to relax and before you knew it, a unique friendship evolved with us and this person whom we had never met!
Africa Web TV first went to Nairobi last year (see the video above of Nairobi in 3 minutes we made back then) and after a bit of hesitation we decided to meet this lady to see what she was all about in real life. So we went with a couple of our friends to Umoja, on the outskirts of Nairobi, where she has one of her beauty salons. After the first 5 minutes of nervous greetings, it became as if we had known each other all our lives. In real life, this lady was one of the kindest people one could ever wish to know. And having met each other, one knew this was something that was special. A friendship that started online slowly evolved into a real and lasting friendship. One of the most viewed video on Africa Web TV (The dancing men of Kenya.) was sent to us by her using her smartphone
This time around she has even helped to ensure our stay in Nairobi is very stress-free. For starters, she got us the first hotel we stayed and when we did not like that one, she helped find a better one. She calls us every day to ensure that we are enjoying our stay in her country. She makes suggestions about people and places to see in search of local content and stories. Her daughter, who is an up and coming actress, has set us up with some interesting people in her industry. All of these without asking for anything in return! Our friendship is just the most important.
The Komarock shrine signpost
In our communications while we were still back in The Netherlands, she had promised us she was going to take us to her village, Kangundo (60 kilometres outside Nairobi). On Saturday 31st of May 2014 while Raila Odinga was busy addressing his supporters at the Uhuru park, we were headed towards Kangundo in the heart of Kambaland with her daughter and brother. The only person missing was her husband who could not make it as a result of prior commitments. What a trip. The Kenya countryside is a good as it gets. You have not seen Kenya unless you’ve been to the countryside. The vegetation, the roads, the roadside shops, the donkey and cow carriages competing with the cars on the road. Above all, we enjoyed having to shout above the loud music that was blaring out of the speakers of our vehicle.
Carrying the cross
Along the way, we stopped atop the mountainous Komarock shrine. Being in Kenya, Africa we were expecting the shrine to be a place of traditional Kenya worship. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Along the rocky hills were carvings of the Christian apostles and atop was a giant carving of a suffering Jesus being cared for by a lady. A lot of people were there worshipping and praying. For us the most impressive thing was the view from atop the rocks. Breathtakingly beautiful! We could not spend much time there because we were running late. The mother of our friend was constantly on the phone to remind her that our food in Kangundo was getting cold!
In Kangundo which is equally a beautiful place to be we were welcomed to the ancestral home of our lady friend. Ancestral is possibly the wrong word. It was the most modern ancestral home we had ever seen. It is a large and sprawling set of self-contained buildings in the middle of a bushy street. What’s more, it is mostly self-sustained too. There was a cow that supplies milk every day. There were rams (one of which was slaughtered for our visit) and chickens in the compound. There were even coffee trees and plants to provide for coffee when needed. To say we were welcomed as important guests would be an understatement. Everyone made us feel at home. Food and wine were in abundance. It was a real treat!
Sheila atop the Koma rocks
We rounded up the day with a photo shoot for the daughter of our friend. Unfortunately, the photo session was cut short when our lens gave up the ghost. (The lens and the camera had been through a lot lately in Nigeria, so we were sad but understanding. We would have to look for another one in Nairobi as soon as possible). However, nothing could spoil one of the most memorable days of our Kenyan trip so far. We were invited to stay the night there (after all, there are enough rooms to go round everyone) but we needed to get back to Nairobi this night. Surely next time we are in town, we will be on our way to Kangundo.
Barbecued goat head. Sweet Nyama Choma!
Chickens of Kangundo
Social media can sometimes be a mean media. For us we are glad it has introduced us to this special lady who has adopted and now has taken us to her roots. To all of those who made our day a perfect one, we shall never forget you. Asante sana!
