On Shaky Ground

Habari,

As I enjoyed my last few minutes of divine sleep this morning, I was rudely awakened by the shaking of my bed and the rattling of the windows.  Now, anybody who knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person.  Interrupting my sleep in the last few minutes before the alarm sounds could be hazardous to your health.  But, this morning, at about 5 am, Mother Nature decided I needed assistance getting out of the bed. 

When the bed first started shaking, an earthquake was not the first thing that came to my mind.  As you all know, we are in the long rainy season.  The thunder and lightning here can be quite vicious, so I attributed the shaking to lightning hitting the building.  Now, the fact that I didn’t jump up and run for safety speaks volumes about how living in Kenya has shaped my outlook on things.  LOL. Some of you may remember I wrote about the security wall in my compound being blown up by a lightning strike last year, so this was not a farfetched notion.

After the first few seconds of shaking, my eyes opened slightly.  I started to wonder if this was going to be one of those real earthquakes. You know the ones that register at 8.0 something on the Richter scale.  I remember feeling quite annoyed just thinking I would have to get up and leave the apartment in my pajamas.  As I waited for the excitement to end, I wondered what I would do to ensure my safety.  I had absolutely zero confidence that the building I resided in would survive a ‘real’ earthquake.  The building codes of this fine city have been the topic of discussion all week.  SMH

Nairobi at Dawn

Just as I was about to disrupt a perfectly good sleep, everything came to a halt.  The tremor lasted about 10 to 15 seconds.  It seemed like a really long time.  I thought to myself, oh good now I can go back to sleep.  One of the reasons why I wasn’t too excited about this 4.9 earthquake is because I read, before I came, that Kenya was prone to minor tremors and earthquakes due to its proximity to the Rift Valley.

When I finally got up for the day, I started checking the apartment for signs that an earthquake occurred.  There were a few minor cracks in the walls, but some of them I had seen previously.  This earthquake and last week’s floods got me thinking about what I would do if there was a real disastrous event.  Well, I purposely didn’t bring anything fancy to Kenya.  Over the holidays I took home anything that had any real value after losing two pairs of shoes and a skirt to the mud.  Nothing fancy is really needed here.

 My friend Sookie (her real name is Colleen) asked if they had renter’s insurance here.  I had to laugh when I saw the question, because it wasn’t even a consideration to get any.  I’m sure it would be an ordeal trying to get your money if you had renter’s insurance and something did happen.  In a place where you have to go pick up the police if your house is robbed in order for them to investigate (and you better have a little something extra), I won’t hold my breath thinking that a bunch of insurance claims would be honored if my personal belongs were damaged.

Well folks, I’m going to close this out.  Join me next week when I will talk about ‘The Round About.’ It has to be done.  See you back here next week.

Asante Sana,

Della Rochelle

Copyright © 2012 by Della Rochelle Williams

The Rains are Here!

Habari,

I have always enjoyed a good storm.  I like the smell in the air right before the rain begins and I love watching the downpour as it saturates the landscape.  I even like the occasional rumble of thunder and strike of lightening, as long as no major damage is done, of course.  The key word here is occasional.  The heavy rain season has begun in Nairobi.  It rains just about every day and it’s the kind of downpour that gets your attention and makes you go to the window to make sure you weren’t imagining things.

Last weekend ended with a torrential downpour that forced my upstairs neighbors to abandon the penthouse.  The rain was so heavy that it woke me out of my sleep.  It sounded like there was a huge waterfall outside of my window.  I could also hear my neighbors up walking back and forth in their apartment.  The hysteria in their voices made me think there was a leak of some sort in the bedroom of the apartment.  Since it was 2 o’clock in the morning and quite chilly, I was reluctant to get out of my bed to investigate the possibility of leaks throughout my apartment.  I sent up a quick prayer (I know God has better things to do, but still) asking God to spare me the trauma of having my things ruined and having to move to another apartment.

After I said my prayer, I went back to sleep listening to the melody of the deluge going on outside my window.  I woke up in the morning to the sounds of my neighbors and the cleaning staff walking frantically around the penthouse.  As I made my way to the kitchen, the door bell rang.  When I opened the door, I was met by two members of the cleaning staff carrying buckets and mops.  The hallway and stairwell were drenched and covered with leaves from the numerous trees located on the property.  Water had also poured through the elevator rendering it useless.  I can’t tell you how pissed I’ve been about having to walk of five flights of stairs at the end of an exhausting day with my heavy work bags. SMH. 

Apparently the unleveled floor that I frequently tripped over when entering the apartment prevented the flood of water from entering my apartment.  The cleaning ladies were amazed that my apartment was spared.  They kept telling me how lucky I was that the apartment was dry.  It wasn’t until then that I started to look around the apartment in search of water damage.  All I found was a wet spot on the ceiling in the area between the living and the dining rooms.  I guess God was taking small request that night. J

The constant rain is starting to wear on my soul.  Master Pu has told me I can’t let that happen because there’s a lot more to come.  The rain itself isn’t the main problem.  It’s the conditions it creates in and around the city.  First of all, once it rains, you can forget about getting anywhere in traffic.  Last week I spent nearly three hours in traffic even after leaving the office early.  Once you understand the conditions of the roads around Nairobi, you can understand why things slow to a crawl.  You could lose your entire car in some of the pot holes here.  If you add water to the situation, things could be disastrous and often are.

The flooding and landslides that result from the heavy rains are inevitable, but surprisingly people manage through them.  Tragically there was a fatal landslide in the slums of Mathare after last week’s rains.  40 homes were destroyed and 8 people were killed.  I could spend fifty blogs talking about the dangers of these slums and still not tell the whole story.  As shocking as it is, it is unexplainably accepted. SMH. 

Considering the fact that we are at the beginning of the heavy rain season, I will have to learn to adjust.  I love watching rain storms from the comfort of my home.  Having to go out in the elements and experience them first hand is not something I look forward to.  I guess the rain boots, poncho and umbrella that were given to me by my Tyco friends will come in handy.  See you all here next week.

Trying to stay dry,

Della Rochelle

Copyright © 2012 by Della Rochelle Williams