After Rwanda, I made a stop over in Nairobi, Kenya to spend time with Kamal, the owner of Karen Huduma on his businesses. Kenyan Airways claims to be the Pride of Africa. Perhaps in light of it being part of Sky Team. Because of this, Kenya tries to hijack this claim to be the Pride of Africa. Well... I am not sure about that. African continent is a vast area with 1.2 billion people in 54 nations.
When I came to visit Nairobi last year, Professor Caleb Kim introduced him to me and I was drawn to the fact that he has been working with the youth from Kibera, the largest urban slum in Africa, to help them graduate from the slum for economic and social transformation. He has helped approximately 50 of them. I have met a few of them during my short stay. One of them was John Kennedy. He has been working with Kamal for the past 7 years. He has now moved out of Kibera and is living close to where Kamal is living with his wife and three children. He is working at a small garage located inside Kamal's house. He looked very happy.
I also briefly met Alexis who runs a small garage outside Kibera. Kamal said that Alexis is one of most successful young men he has helped out. He now owns a car and has been able to send one of his children to college.
Elias is taking care of Kamal's financial affairs, issuing all invoices and handling accounting. He is developing into Kamal's right hand man taking care of all administrative matters.
He lost $190 thousands when his bank, Imperial Bank, failed in 2015 and recovered only $10,000. So SfK made a $30K loan and he has been making payment as scheduled like a clock.
Kamal and I drove in and out of Kibera to eyewitness the number of people who live and work there. Most of the housing was tin shacks that cost the residents $10-20 a month. Technically, all the land belongs to the government. But the rich and the powerful people established these tin shacks and collect the rent from the tenants. It stretches over four valleys and is the largest slum in Nairobi and the largest urban slum in Africa. Its population is estimated to be a million. There are many shops and street vendors, called hawkers, all over Kibera because there is liquidity although the transaction amounts may be small.
Overall, the area looked quite disorderly with a lot of tin shacks and rubbish on the street. But there were some brick houses, which the government is hoping to replace the tin shacks, and a commercial building like the photo second below. But it was empty.
A slum develops near an affluent town so that poor people can meet the needs of domestic help. There are many slums in Nairobi and Kebera has become the largest in Nairobi because Kibera is not only close to Ngong Road where affluent people live but also close to the largest industrial park stretching even to the airport. In the morning and in the evening, you can easily see long lines of people walking to and from Kibera.
I stayed a night at his guest house and had dinner at his house. His wife, Margaret, cooked Chapatti and other dishes for the dinner.
They have two children, Barkat, 15, and Naina, 13 over their 17 year marriage. Through Kamal's prior two marriages, he has four more children ranging from 35 - 24. His two older sons seem to have adversary relationships with Kamal.
Kamal is now 60 years old, to turn to 61 in December. He accepted Jesus as his savior and Lord when he was 42 years old, almost 20 years ago. He was cut off from his Muslim family and his trucking and auto repair business failed. He worked at a garage in Kibera for several years. While he was working there, Kamal met Caleb Kim 15 years ago. Caleb gave him $200 and with this money has has built up his businesses. He now owns and runs four businesses: i.e. a tour company, a used car sales business, a car repair garage and a guest house.
They have lived in the area called Embul Bul, an immediate neighborhood of Karen, one of the most affluent neighbors in Nairobi. In Embul Bul, the poverty was apparent. Kamal and Margart lived at the current house for 14 years, but Kamal has lived in the neighborhood for 24 years.He said he felt very comfortable living in the neighborhood. Perhaps because of their own background of poverty and difficulty, their desire and heart to serve others in need was apparent and inspirational. Margaret reaches out to the poor neighbors to meet their inevitable needs.
I spent only one night, but there was construction going one throughout the night, disturbing my sleep. There was a new railway construction going on as part of Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) financed with a borrowed fund from China. The next morning, Kamal and i walked around the construction site and I was told that they do not allow people to take the photos. Oh well... It is not really enforceable.
Kamal and I had a brief get together with Wanjau with Navigators. He asked for some information about SfK MBA BCT and he has never followed up. But I am glad that we had a get together. It was good to be reconnected. I hope he will follow through this time around on a couple of issues we discussed about.
While we were visiting his office inside African International University, he suggested a surprise visit with Caleb Kim's house. We knew that he was in California teaching at Fuller Seminary, but he said his wife Manok would be home. We had a brief encounter at her doorway.
Pastor Samuel Ndunda, a pastor whom I met last year through Caleb Kim's introduction last year. He wanted to see me while I was in Nairobi, but he never responded to my e-mail. We were supposed to meet up at The Hub Karen, one of four popular shopping malls in Nairobi.
I shadowed Kamal as he was visiting some of his business partners. One was touring vehicle remodeling business. An Indian-looking owner said he has been operating the business for 35 years.
Another business we visited was an auto part supplier. The owner was a Kenya-born Iranian. He was in the auto repair business, but now owns the building in the industrial park and the auto parts and bodies he imports from Japan looked quite valuable. I was told that Japan cuts 5,000 used vehicles everyday. Any usable ones are exported to various countries, like Kenya.
Unlike Kigali, Nairobi has never attracted my heart, but it is an important hub for Africa in several aspects. I happened to find this bill board.
I could not feel good to be in Nairobi and I could not wait for my return home from Nairobi after a month-long journey. - Jeffrey
When I came to visit Nairobi last year, Professor Caleb Kim introduced him to me and I was drawn to the fact that he has been working with the youth from Kibera, the largest urban slum in Africa, to help them graduate from the slum for economic and social transformation. He has helped approximately 50 of them. I have met a few of them during my short stay. One of them was John Kennedy. He has been working with Kamal for the past 7 years. He has now moved out of Kibera and is living close to where Kamal is living with his wife and three children. He is working at a small garage located inside Kamal's house. He looked very happy.
I also briefly met Alexis who runs a small garage outside Kibera. Kamal said that Alexis is one of most successful young men he has helped out. He now owns a car and has been able to send one of his children to college.
Elias is taking care of Kamal's financial affairs, issuing all invoices and handling accounting. He is developing into Kamal's right hand man taking care of all administrative matters.
He lost $190 thousands when his bank, Imperial Bank, failed in 2015 and recovered only $10,000. So SfK made a $30K loan and he has been making payment as scheduled like a clock.
Kamal and I drove in and out of Kibera to eyewitness the number of people who live and work there. Most of the housing was tin shacks that cost the residents $10-20 a month. Technically, all the land belongs to the government. But the rich and the powerful people established these tin shacks and collect the rent from the tenants. It stretches over four valleys and is the largest slum in Nairobi and the largest urban slum in Africa. Its population is estimated to be a million. There are many shops and street vendors, called hawkers, all over Kibera because there is liquidity although the transaction amounts may be small.
Overall, the area looked quite disorderly with a lot of tin shacks and rubbish on the street. But there were some brick houses, which the government is hoping to replace the tin shacks, and a commercial building like the photo second below. But it was empty.
A slum develops near an affluent town so that poor people can meet the needs of domestic help. There are many slums in Nairobi and Kebera has become the largest in Nairobi because Kibera is not only close to Ngong Road where affluent people live but also close to the largest industrial park stretching even to the airport. In the morning and in the evening, you can easily see long lines of people walking to and from Kibera.
I stayed a night at his guest house and had dinner at his house. His wife, Margaret, cooked Chapatti and other dishes for the dinner.
They have two children, Barkat, 15, and Naina, 13 over their 17 year marriage. Through Kamal's prior two marriages, he has four more children ranging from 35 - 24. His two older sons seem to have adversary relationships with Kamal.
Kamal is now 60 years old, to turn to 61 in December. He accepted Jesus as his savior and Lord when he was 42 years old, almost 20 years ago. He was cut off from his Muslim family and his trucking and auto repair business failed. He worked at a garage in Kibera for several years. While he was working there, Kamal met Caleb Kim 15 years ago. Caleb gave him $200 and with this money has has built up his businesses. He now owns and runs four businesses: i.e. a tour company, a used car sales business, a car repair garage and a guest house.
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| With some of his 12-25 cars he trades |
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| His guest house next to his house |
I spent only one night, but there was construction going one throughout the night, disturbing my sleep. There was a new railway construction going on as part of Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) financed with a borrowed fund from China. The next morning, Kamal and i walked around the construction site and I was told that they do not allow people to take the photos. Oh well... It is not really enforceable.
Kamal and I had a brief get together with Wanjau with Navigators. He asked for some information about SfK MBA BCT and he has never followed up. But I am glad that we had a get together. It was good to be reconnected. I hope he will follow through this time around on a couple of issues we discussed about.
While we were visiting his office inside African International University, he suggested a surprise visit with Caleb Kim's house. We knew that he was in California teaching at Fuller Seminary, but he said his wife Manok would be home. We had a brief encounter at her doorway.
Pastor Samuel Ndunda, a pastor whom I met last year through Caleb Kim's introduction last year. He wanted to see me while I was in Nairobi, but he never responded to my e-mail. We were supposed to meet up at The Hub Karen, one of four popular shopping malls in Nairobi.
I shadowed Kamal as he was visiting some of his business partners. One was touring vehicle remodeling business. An Indian-looking owner said he has been operating the business for 35 years.
Another business we visited was an auto part supplier. The owner was a Kenya-born Iranian. He was in the auto repair business, but now owns the building in the industrial park and the auto parts and bodies he imports from Japan looked quite valuable. I was told that Japan cuts 5,000 used vehicles everyday. Any usable ones are exported to various countries, like Kenya.
Unlike Kigali, Nairobi has never attracted my heart, but it is an important hub for Africa in several aspects. I happened to find this bill board.
I could not feel good to be in Nairobi and I could not wait for my return home from Nairobi after a month-long journey. - Jeffrey
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