Leaving Nairobi...

We have left our home base in Nairobi for good, and I’m sure our parents our glad. Throughout our travels we will see places where corruption runs rampant, every mizungu is a mark, and children are kidnapped to serve in a cultish army. Even among these places, Nairobi has a wicked reputation. We have been told time and again that we will be scammed in Nairobi – it’s just a question of time. Scammed if we're lucky. Robbed if we're not. Killed if we're stupid.

Scott Hillstrom said as a parting thought just before he left Kenya, that we shouldn’t get complacent on the streets of Nairobi. ‘On the street here, they don’t value human life. They will cut your throat for a few shillings.’

Not the most inspiring final thought.

The thing is, we didn’t feel unsafe in Nairobi, or no more fearful than we would have in downtown Chicago. By avoiding the bad parts, sticking together, not letting Becky out of our sight, I think we could have been safe for some time. So, were we complacent in the face of evil? Not really. We played it safe, and we played it smart.

That is not to say that Nairobi isn’t rough. We have been speaking with our cab drivers and almost all of them have been hijacked at gunpoint in the last year. Almost universally, they keep their gas tanks near empty so that would-be hijackers won’t be able to drive out to the middle of nowhere without filling up. We faced nothing more frightening than highly aggressive “women of the night.”

So we have left the lawless city of Nairobi for the warmer climes of Lake Victoria and the quiet (relatively so) city of Kisumu. Here we hope to see our first case of malaria – over a month filming a documentary on malaria, and zip!