Inequity

Last night we attended our church Christmas Banquet at the Windsor Golf and Country Club. The 18 hole golf course is the best in Kenya and was just voted “2009 Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year”. In fact many residents of Nairobi do not know that such place exists. The hotel is Victorian style with 5-star amenities and costs 6000 shillings per person per night ($100 each person). Culinary opportunities are available on the terrace, in the fine dining room, or at the poolside café. The pool and grounds are beautiful. It is absolute luxury!

Today we drove on a road very near the Windsor golf club and got a glimpse of the Mathare slum. This is home to over 600,000 people in an area no bigger than Bible Hill Nova Scotia. Families live in one room shacks with no electricity, no running water, no light, no ventilation, and no waste disposal. 6000 shillings would be a great monthly salary. With “complete unemployment” Mathare Valley has been called the worst and most dangerous of Nairobi’s slums. Tim plans to visit the slum in December.

In a 24 hour period we saw the best and the worst that Nairobi has to offer. The disparity between rich and poor is easy to see here; we are confronted with this incredible inequity on a daily basis.