This is the column I published in the Signpost: Please read it!
A tale of two cities
By Cameron Morgan
Published: Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Updated: Wednesday, January 13, 2010
**Signpost columnist, Gina Barker, worked with Cameron Morgan in Kenya.
Nairobi, Kenya, is a tale of two cities. Walk its crowded streets and you might be surprised to hear the tormented teen vampire Edward courting clumsy Bella at a high-tech movie theater, the nostalgic smell of popcorn and chocolate more reminiscent of Ogden than the third world. Take a left or two and everything changes — you are in the Kibera slums. The smell of popcorn fades to the stink of sewage and garbage and you realize you are not in Kansas, or Utah, anymore.
Kenya is a hot spot for tourism. Its Great Rift Valley — specifically its lions, flamingos and zebras, attract westerners: Muzungus, from Europe and the United States. Tourists typically congregate in up-scale shopping malls and dance halls, but increasingly, so do middle-class Kenyans. Expensive shopping malls accommodate comparatively wealthy tourists, but are supported primarily by middle class Kenyans — a group gaining increased sway as its numbers grow. The Kenyan middle class and upper class defy the somewhat stereotypical notion of a universally starving and poor Kenya.The country’s elite, the top 10 percent who are most likely the friends and family of Kenya’s rulers, controls 34.9 percent of Kenya’s wealth. This wealthy group, when not investing their money in Swiss bank accounts, are helping to finance new banks, cafes and concert halls.
Wealthy Kenyans live well, sheltered behind gates, security guards and suites — these are not the emaciated women and children with bulging bellies, sad realities are amply covered by the major western news outlets. According to The Daily Nation, a Nairobi-based periodical, rich Kenyans are spending $534 million a year on lavish weddings alone. A sharp contrast to the millions of Kenyans who live on less than a dollar a day.
It is hard to dispute that Kenya’s elite is largely tainted by cronyism, nepotism and corruption — Kenya is consistently listed as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by the western governments and NGO’s. However, this shouldn’t discount the fact that distinct, albeit narrow segments of Kenyan society are living the capitalist dream.
Where does Kenya go from here? The country is the most stable and prosperous of its east African neighbors; its people are friendly and love Americans, especially Obama. It borders a failed state to its east, a country devastated by the messianic cult the Lord’s Resistance Army to the west, and a genocide and civil-war-ravaged Sudan to its north. Too many still starve in Kenya today; too many can’t afford to attend its supposedly free primary schools; too many face violence, a 40 percent unemployment rate and an uncertain future.
It is hard to say if Kenya will follow the economic path of the Asian nations like South Korea and Singapore or if perennial election violence and tribal hatreds will drag the country to the depths of a Somalia or Sudan. The next time water-bottle-wielding tourists stroll down the pock-marked streets of Nairobi, they may well hear the wail of Tchaikovsky’s violin in place of the sickening sounds of gunfire. This time I’m pulling for Edward and his obsessive audience, Kenya’s blooming middle class.
[from http://www.wsusignpost.com/editorial/a-tale-of-two-cities-1.1010680] -structure changed with copy and paste-read original there]
Thanks!
Cameron
