Festival of Lights

A few of our neighbours making their own light show on the street behind our apartment during the Hindu festival of lights.

Nairobi is an ethnically diverse city and is without a doubt the largest urban centre in all of East Africa. While we spend our days in Eastleigh serving among displaced Somali (and Oromo) people, we live in a very different part of Nairobi with its own cultures and customs. Most of our neighbours refer to themselves as south east Asians and practice various eastern religions including Hinduism, Sikhism, and Islam. Our side of the city is peppered with temples of various persuasions.

Currently, our Hindu neighbours are celebrating the "festival of lights" or Diwali (celebrated with the new moon of Ashwin in the Hindu calendar). Diwali is the abbreviation of a Sanskrit word "Deepavwali", meaning "row of lights". Many of our neighbours burn tea lights on their porches and walkways each evening and some even string electric "Christmas lights". There are a few different stories told about the origins of the festival. For instance, some Hindus believe it celebrates the mythic occasion of Krishna and Satyabhama, his wife, killing a demon (Narakasura). Another story says the festival is celebrated for the return of Rama and Sita to their kingdom after years of exile.

Along with the pageantry and family feasting, the festival involves a lot of fireworks! For about a week leading up to Diwali (October 28th this year), we would see and hear fireworks almost every night. The big show happens on the night of Diwali with fireworks lasting from 7:30 pm to almost midnight. Each temple has its own display, but for the most part the fireworks are more about the BANG than the bling! Honestly, you would think there were mortar shells going off! Around 10 pm the loudest booming explosions happen, enough to shake the windows and set off car alarms up our street.

We are so thankful for the people

and places where God has lead us.

Eastleigh Street Life

A view from the Streets of Eastleigh

Looking back over our photographs, I thought you might enjoy a few street shots from Eastleigh. They do not begin to do justice to the colorful and varied experience of life in Eastleigh, Nairobi's largest Muslim ghetto, but we hope that they will give you a bit of the flavour!

Erica and I met this gentle musicman during the Eastleigh street march in September: He played us a song on his tin box guitar (and with his foot bells) while we waited for a street performance by children of the community centre. Street performers are actually quite rare in Nairobi, we usually encounter street preachers and hawkers.

This kind woman allowed us to take a photo of her fresh tomatoes surrounded by the various electrical moldings and sockets for sale around her. Her pink flip flops are a common type of sandal found throughout Kenya. In Dadaab, it is common to wear another persons flip flops. One night, a friend of ours was surprised to find a large pair of white rubber boots in the place where he kept his evening flip flops. He was very unnerved by the experience, thinking that there was some supernatural source to the alien boots. He was quite relieved to discover days later that a worker at the CARE compound had been over for a visit that afternoon and switched his boots for the light sandal in the hot sun.

There are two primary industries in Garissa, livestock (goat, lamb, camel and cattle) and charcoal: both of these products are in high demand here in Eastleigh and throughout Nairobi. Sadly, the popularity of charcoal has contributed to the rapid deforestation of most of Kenya. Much of the land around Kenyan villages and towns is denuded by the constant need for firewood.