Street Vendors

The streets of Nairobi are lined with vendors. This is Lucy and her daughter Marylyn, selling carved birds. Marylyn comes to work with her mom every day.


Merchants selling all sorts of products set up a little shop on the side of the road and sell to cars passing by. We have purchased a few items this way : flowers, fruit, vegetables, clay plant pots. I also have my eye on a beautiful wrought iron bed. These are not just a place to purchase an item – many of the goods are made right there on the roadside. It is quite remarkable to see several men building furniture in this “open air” factory.

Just a couple of minutes from campus there is a young woman named Miriam who has a produce stand. Every morning (except Sunday) she travels from her home to the downtown Hawkers Market. There, she barters with the hundreds of vendors and walks away with a cart load of fruits and vegetables. She hires someone to push her cart the 10 km to her stand. Then she unloads her items and prepares to sell for the day. My friend, Jane, and I make a couple of trips to see Miriam each week to purchase apples, oranges, broccoli, cilantro, lettuce, pomello, carrots, watermelon, mangoes.

Some vendors will even come into the middle of the street between the cars stuck in traffic. We have never purchased from one of the “middle of the street” vendors. They sell things like puppies, bandannas, metal art, raffia mobiles, phone cards, helicopters, kittens, and bunnies.