The "local" broom

"If it's in East Africa you can get it in Nairobi". We have heard this phrase many times. It means that you can buy almost anything you want here in Nairobi. The city imports items from all over the world (and especially from China). You may pay a hefty price for it however. Therefore, we make choices for which items we are willing to spend a ridiculous amount of money -- $12 for a box of Corn Flakes, for example.

The custodians and gardeners on campus have made such a choice concerning brooms. The plastic brooms sold at Nakumatt are somewhat high-priced. Because of the dryness of the land and the roughness of the concrete, an imported broom will quickly look like this.

Therefore the Kenyans prefer to use the "local" broom. Each gardener carries a stick of bamboo to work. Bamboo is preferred because the termites will not eat bamboo. On the way to work the gardener will gather leaves from a tree that have the texture for the work to do that day. Sometimes it is cedar, sometimes acacia, sometimes dried sticks.This morning Sammy was sweeping the courtyard of the Elementary Library. Here are the brooms that Timothy, and William were using today.












When they heard I was taking photos everyone wanted to get in on the fun! On the left is Meshack trimming the upper campus hedge with clippers. On the right is James trimming our hedge with a "local" panga (like a machete).