I tell friends, family and visitors that nothing in Kenya is ever simple (ok, maybe life itself is but nothing else!) Here are a few examples:
1) short handled brooms – most of the brooms in Tala are like these:
however a few are sold with handles but still short (even for me). On one of our trips to Nairobi we bought 2 “regular” handled brooms, no bending over to sweep for me!
2) do-it-yourself extension cord – yup you read that correctly. On another trip into Nairobi we were looking for an extension cord. We asked at one of the Nakumat’s (kind of like a Wal-Mart only MUCH smaller) and at first he had no idea what we were talking about, then he informed us that “ah, yes we do have those, you make it yourself”. So he measured off 5 meters (I think that’s what Chuck ordered), gave us the male end to attach and a paper with how much it costs. Chuck looked at it and asked where the female end was to finish the extension. The worker had no clue what Chuck was talking about, but after about a 10 minute conversation he finally said “we don’t sell those”. We purchased what we could and then checked at several stores before finally finding what was needed. Chuck attached everything and the cord works!
3) cat litter box – Bella is using a cardboard box right now and it’s getting torn apart, we checked at Nakumat again (see, just like Wal-Mart) and found cat litter but no box – what is up with that? What do people do with the cat litter? We didn’t get any litter because we are using sand and I fixed a plastic basin for her and she seems to be working with it! But I’ve noticed a few unfriendly visitors on her so maybe cat litter is the next purchase…no more outdoor sand.
4) closet rod – we had a closet built into our bedroom during construction (which seemed like a strange concept to the workers) but we had no idea it would be an ordeal to find a rod. No one has closets in Kenya? I guess not because we have been unable to find a rod, guess I’ll have to improvise something.
Just about every day we find another example. Life is simple in Kenya and I’m not trying to turn Tala into “little America”, but sometimes a small idea or change can be a good thing, after all isn’t it more comfortable to stand up to sweep?!