The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print
operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a
leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
Most people especially the 'rural folk' think life in towns and cities especially Nairobi is like paradise on earth.
They know little about how life in the city could be a nightmare.
Most people in rural areas think everything in Nairobi is decent. From housing, food, road transport, sanitation etc. In fact, the name city scares them so much to an extent of thinking that everything is in the highest standard.
This is augmented by the fact that many people can do everything to appear smart and moneyed when travelling to their rural areas.
Some even go to an extent of borrowing clothes, phones etc when visiting their rural homes, creating an impression of affluence. you could faint if find out what kind of jobs such folks do.
But just for your knowledge, some houses, especially in the outskirts of Nairobi city, are worse than those in rural areas.
Take for instance houses in Kibera slums, Mukuru slums, Korogocho, Dandora, Mathare, Kosovo. just to mention but a few.
The situation becomes worse when it rains; I came face to face with this reality one day when I visited my cousin living in Mukuru kwa Njenga slum, a few kilometres from the city.
Unfortunately, it rained heavily that night and the house turned into a small lake. I had a difficult time moving around the house.
Contrary to the beliefs of many rural folks, there are houses in slums which are built using mud, sheets, timber, parts of boxes, cartons, containers etc.
Some people even sleep in forests, bushes, shrubs, verandas corridors cartridges, inside bridges, abandoned or unfinished houses, buses etc because they can not afford to pay rent.
Others do odd jobs to make ends meet. Such jobs include but not limited to working in a mortuary, in construction sites, or other manual jobs as carrying other peoples luggage.
Some engage in small businesses, cleaning toilets or collecting garbage, security guards, just to name a few.
The list of such crude jobs is endless but many people who do them are not recognized to be doing them when they visit their rural homes. They struggle to appear smart and refuse to disclose the kind of job they do.
Others borrow clothes and phones when going home to entice relatives and friends.
So next time you flash, ask for money, or you visit someone in Nairobi city and he/she switches off the phone, you probably know why.
