Activities on Nairobi streets

Water is a precious commodity across the African continent. Each day countless people spend time carrying water in containers back to their homes. In rural areas many walk up to 20km to reach water, day after day. At many LDS meetinghouses a borehole (waterwell) with faucet was included in the constuction of the building and provides water to people in the surrounding neighborhood as seen in the first photo. When these containers were filled with water two teenage girls transported them away in a wheelbarrow.

The man standing on the left was our driver, Victor age 31. Married with two young children, he speaks 10 languages and is a counselor in his ward bishopric. Victor took very good care of us while driving on dirt roads in townships and paved streets in the heart of downtown Nairobi.



When water is not readily available at a community faucet many people fill their containers at any source possible. Along the streets we saw many scooping water from the nearby ditch into their containers. They carry these filled containers any way they can. The woman on the left has balanced the barrel on her head while the young girl to her side has a strap attached to a plastic container and looped over the top of her head. Notice the man in the brown shirt near the ground between them who is still filling his container with water from the bottom of the ditch. Some sights can break one's heart.

Still the people persevere from day to day. We have a great understanding and appreciation for why Humanitarian water projects are being funded in many countries across the world by people like you who give from their budgets out of pure love for their fellowmen.





To get where they are going people walk, ride in a Kombi (taxi van), in a three-wheeled taxi or on the back of a taxi motorcycle.





African people are very resourceful. They transport all kinds of items in wheelbarrows and on handmade carts. This man and woman pushed their load across the road directly in front of us.







Lining the streets are many entrepreneurial vendors selling their wares which include a variety of foods. Notice the setup of this man next to the tree. Behind him on the ground is a charcoal grill. He has stacked rocks to put his grilled corn at an easily accessible level for customers. Next to him are women selling meats.



The woman in the final photo is selling peanuts in a paper cone. These cones are popular and often seen being sold at intersections by hawkers.



Many Africans only eat one meal a day, which they typically prefer at night so they do not awaken overly hungry as they start their day.

In our Relief Society meeting on 24 October 2010 a young woman said, "When you are raised without many material goods, as are many across Africa, and you work hard you are grateful to have one pair of shoes because you know what it is like not to have shoes; you are grateful to have food because you know what it is like to be hungry."