It is nighttime and I am sitting in a hotel room lit by candles, under the limited protection of a mosquito net with palm-sized holes and cigarette burns scattered throughout. My windows are open but the smell of the rain that fell just a few hours ago has been replaced with the smell of pollution and burning trash.
This is Nairobi, Kenya, a place where just a few months ago people were in the streets slaughtering each other and burning homes in the wake of their national elections. Now there is relative calm and the country has taken on a new national image after Barack Obama won the U.S. presidency.
I have been here about 10 days already and have been a bit on edge since my arrival. An angry protest over the situation in Gaza passed me in the streets and all was well until one of the protestors screamed that I was Israeli. In a split second about five protestors were running at me at a full clip, fists clenched and with wooden sign stakes in hand. A group of locals watching the protest intervened, tackling a couple of the protestors and temporarily subduing the rest as another good Samaritan grabbed me and ran me down the street to safety.
I was pulled into a restaurant and rushed into the kitchen. The man helping me had a frantic exchange with the restaurant workers in Swahili. He then turned to me and said, “You are safe here, but stay hidden and do not come out until I come back to get you.”
I thought it was a bit of an over dramatization and said I thought I would be ok if I left right away, that it was probably just an isolated incident. My new friend looked me in the eyes, with one hand on my shoulder and said, “They killed a man by kicking him to death one block away from where they found you, please stay here until I come for you. You are in danger.”
I spent an hour in the restaurant waiting for the coast to clear. I thanked the man for his kindness and for helping me and went on my way. It was not the ideal start to my project here, but it turned out OK in the end, which I all I can ask for.
I have a workshop student arriving tomorrow night and we will be heading to the village of Kogelo, Kenya, to photograph the home of Obama’s family during the inauguration. My student will be producing a full photo story on the event and we have set up a publication that will print it as well as a photo agency that is interested in selling it worldwide. It will be a great opportunity for her to work in a real-life environment on a real assignment, from capture to publication. After that we will focus on social documentary photography and digital storytelling, capturing subjects such as urban poverty in Africa’s second largest slum, the country's out of control AIDS epidemic in Kisumu province, and the life of children affected by poverty and disease. We now have far more stories to cover than we actually have time for, so it will be a matter of choosing the most interesting and packing them into the 10-day workshop period.
There's always a guardian angel around when one does good. Glad you are ok. Keep well.
Posted by: Penelope Gan | February 07, 2009 at 19:03
I think it is an amazing picture. Unfortunately yes war creates terrible things but the arguement should not be, why are we there the arguement should be why arent people supporting our troops. We follow orders we go to protect our country. Whether you agree or disagree were there.
Posted by: running shoes sale | June 23, 2010 at 03:30