The Real Deal

No BS. No filter. No holding back.

As you walk through the streets of Eastleigh, you can capture the pictures (well over a 1000 from today), you can capture the sounds on video (a mixture of languages, stares, trash, people, food, etc), but you absolutely can not capture the collision of smells. Burning wood charcoal drifts through your nostrils followed by rotting food in the garbage. The sweet aroma of coffee is paired with burning plastic, roasting maize and multiple different body odors. Thick exhaust is a constant layer to it all.

Darren, Emily and I went with Jakton, Anthony, Martin and Willy to capture as many images as we possibly could during the morning. Armed with Darrens amazing still camera and my high definition video camera, we marched out of the Eastleigh center with confidence and anticipation - a list of shots in our minds we wanted to aquire. Things went as planned until we reached the first 'base', apparently one of the tougher ones to go to. A base is simply a place, a location, that kids gather as to as home ground. There is a leader and a hierarchy to follow. Everyone inhales glue. Eyes are glazed. Boys of a variety of ages stumble around as their eyes focus, loose focus and focus again. The smells of bodies that have not showered in weeks if not months fill the air thicker than the exhaust from the streets. The story is too long to post now, but we were greeted by a man causing problems, a man who makes money off of the street kids (whether prostituting them, selling the glue, etc). Surrounded by concrete buildings with my camera secretly rolling, Anthony and Jakton talked with the boys at the base and the man causing problems (dressed well, claiming to be working with the government). Before long, we were surrounded by around 100 inquisitive street boys and girls. Our cameras stood out like sore thumbs (they are being told that we are making hundreds of dollars off of taking their pictures by the agitators) and things were obviously not going well with Jakton and Anthony (both big guys and both very well known on the streets). We were directed out and told to keep walking, being followed by a group of boys that knew Anthony.

We moved on to another base where we gave bread and milk to a rowdy line of boys and more conflict arose between another female glue seller and Jakton. He approached it very well, very calmly and it was easy to see how she was simply trying to protect the continuation of her clientele. 11-3 was a solid adrenaline rush. The glazed eyes of boys hooked on glue, hungry, fighting for scraps, searching through mud for bits of metal is still too much to soak in. We captured both amazing pictures and footage. Arriving back at the Eastleigh center, Jakton announced that even that morning stroll had worn him out. He did have to stop a fight after all...

We had Ethiopian food for lunch... amazing. The little restaurant next to the center was simply perfect. It has been many years since I've had it, but all the flavors came rushing back to my palette.

I'll stop there and let someone else pick up on the rest of the afternoon. We didn't leave Eastleigh until 8pm. I dare you to Google 'nairobi after dark'. :) We have now experienced it. Shopping for bed frames at dusk led to probably some of the most amazing shots from the top of the bus... But you'll have to wait to see those. ;)

Being a small group of 3, the team didn't hold back on where we went or what took place. There was no watering down, no holding back, no slowing down and no lack of excitement. This was street gangs, slums and the life of street kids experienced with a wide angle lens. The Real Deal.