THE STORIES
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Nairobi

When I first came to Nairobi I was so amazed to see all those people well clothed doing their business not the "pole pole" way, but running arround like ants working on a piece of sugar. Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, on one hand shows it's modern, business face with new office buildings, international organizations like the UN and companies. On the other hand, when one looks at the details, Nairobi shows a bad side, too. The lanes behind the glamouros shop windows, full of American and European stuff, advertised in every magazin and TV spot, are dusty, tormented by potholes. The builings in these darker areas of the city seem to rot as nobody cares about their concrete bodies. Between the busy crowd of bankers, managers, politicians and other lucky citizens with acceptable salaries, the women and men from somewhere of the rural areas coming to find a better life in the city, must sit in the dust with their kids, begging for a daily income.


Daily Crimes

The people in Nairobi can sing a song about the thieves and conmen bringing other people into trouble. I had my contacts and realize that now, six years after the incident happend, even the CIA in it's travel warnings is reporting about similar things happen every day.
One day a naive 'Mzungu' which is the name for any white person but is translated 'European', who was me, was walking on the roads of Nairobi, not thinking about anything bad. Then there was a man in a clean, white shirt:
"Hello my friend, where are you from? Are you from Britain?".
I stopped by, exchanging some greetings and ready to make a new friendship in this town, which seemed to be as friendly as the rest of the country.
"No, I am from Germany, just enjoying myself and curious about how Nairobi is."
"Oh, I see " the new friend said, "me, I am a teacher, my school is just around the corner, do you like to visit it?"
"Sure" I replied being happy learning about new things would be so easy.
Together we went some meters down the road and at the next restaurant the man stopped: "Ah, lets have a cup of coffee first" he said and I agreed.
We went into the restaurant and choose a table in the last corner of that place.
"You, know my friend, the true story is that I am not really a teacher. The truth is that I am just right from the Sudan, running away from the violence there. I think you know about the situation there, don't you."
I nodded, who had not heard anything about the civil war going on there for so many years now.
"My friend, now I am really in trouble. I am an alien here in Kenya and I want to go back to my homeplace in Sudan. I already have a plan, rushing through Tanzania, via Rwanda and Burundi I will find a way back to my village in Sudan, the truth is that I am a teacher there. But how can I do it? I need 50 $. Could you kindly help me, please?"
"Well" I thought, "what is it to leave this poor guy and not helping him"
so I offered him 20 bucks as I did not have more with me. He was grateful, thanking me for doing him the most important favour in his life.

Suddenly two other men came to our table:
"Good afternoon, we are officers of the central intelligence departement."
They presented their id cards.
"We have to arrest this friend of yours as he is an illegal alien here and we are after him since many day. As you are involved in this crime show us your passport and all what is in your pockets and your wallet."
The officers checked my passport and explained that they have to take my money as they want to check the serial numbers as it might be stolen. The teacher already was taken aside, to prison they told. To make sure that I am not involved they gave me 45 minutes to go to my hotel and present them a statement that I am a tourist staying there. They told me to come back to this place. Being scared to death, in a strange city, confronted with a crime I offended I started walking. After three or four minutes my brain started to work again:
"What stupid thing is this. No police officers in any country of this world should take your money when you do a crime and tell you afterwards to walk alone and come back later."
I stopped a well suited man on the road and asked him for help, I told him the story and he agreed that this all makes no sense. We went back to the restaurant, he asked the staff of the restaurat but they have not seen or realized anything. None of the 'officers' or the 'teacher' was there any more.
Ashamed I realized: I was conned.

Despite this and other bad experiences I made in Nairobi, the common people are not bad but sick of being associated with the criminals.
Like in many big cities take care about what you do, with whom you do and where you do. Nairobi has some places worth a visit and also some better not to show up there.

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