tedx kibera

I think today counts as an adventure.  It started out like any other slow Saturday: quiet morning with coffee, reading a book, the power going out.  But I was determined to find something to do besides sitting at home wishing the power would come back on.

First stop was the Christmas Craft market at the German Embassy.  While it seems the rest of Nairobi has a security company wanding you and leafing through you bag whenever more than 5 people gather together, the German embassy appeared perfectly happy to permit entry to anyone willing to pay the $1 craft fair entry fee.  Okay…  Anyways, I didn’t have much money, but what I did have I was delighted to spend on an authentic bratwurst and german baked goods.

Then I heard from a new friend who said she was planning on venturing down to Kibera (one of the most famous and largest slums in the world) to go to a Tedx (one of the most famous types of conferences in the world).  Interesting!  Without knowing much of the details, I jumped at the possibility of going.  Why not?  So four of us hopped in a cab and headed off.

We had a print out of the event with the venue’s name on it and not much else.  Since addresses appear to be optional in most of Nairobi, they are non-existent in a place like Kibera.  While the exact size of Kibera is unknown, I think most people would agree that it is massive: finding our destination would be like finding a needle in a haystack.  Luckily, we had a very patient cab driver and a couple of Swahili speakers in the car and managed to drive around for about an hour till we managed to spiral in on the meeting hall in question.  At this point we found ourselves deep in the heart of Kibera.

After driving in circles, we were about an hour late for a 2 hour event, but thanks for Kenyan time, nothing had started.  The venue happened to be located on the second story of a community building that served as a public toilet and biodigester, among other small businesses – all located at the crossroads of a couple of mudding dirt lanes.  We were warmly greeted by the event organizers, who were still busily setting up chairs and the sound system, as well as struggling with a little gas-powered generator belching fumes into meeting hall (their power was out too).  Since there were no other attendees in sight, we decided to just go for a walk for a while and see what we found when we came back.  Since I work in a slum now almost every day, walking around Kibera in broad daylight felt fairly comfortable.

After a nice stroll through the mud, between goats, chickens, children, we got back just in time for the event to start (now an hour and a half after scheduled).  Of the maybe 20 participants in the small hall, we were the only outsiders (i.e. white people).  One of the two speakers had to cancel due to illness, so the organizers opted to try and show an official Ted talk on a projector to make up for it.  However, the generator did not seem to be cooperating and would drop the video or the audio or both periodically till the organizers gave up on the idea. Finally, it was time to hear the real live speaker share what he had to say.

I will pause to say that at this point my expectations were not very high… as they say, this is Africa (yes, they really do say TIA) and I really had no idea what to expect.  I was just there for the experience, whatever that may bring.

The theme was Youth and Entrepreneurship.  Our speaker told us the story of his first small business in primary school reselling chapatis he got at the corner store to all his friends at school, marking them up slightly so he could turn the profit into what any eight year old desires: endless candy.  Later, to fund his way through university, he managed to start a copy business on campus without any capital by simply negotiating a series of trades – but then got kicked out of school because his business was competing with the school’s official copy business.  He’s now 25 and has grown a huge business providing financial training and advice to individuals and companies all over Kenya.  His main points were that (a) anyone could do what he had done without capital as long as they (b) use their strengths and resources wisely.  Even if you have no capital, if you live in Kibera, if you do not have all the qualifications they say your need, you CAN succeed as long as you work hard and are really motivated.  The audience then proceeded to ask really thought-provoking questions about the definition of success and discuss how slum dwellers can often get into a rut considering themselves powerless to create change.  I was completely blown away on the quality of the talk and the wisdom of the message, as well as the discussion with the (albeit small) audience.

In this one-room, open-air meeting hall without power, with motorbikes honking and roosters crowing outside, deep in the heart of one of the largest slums in the world, I got to experience my first Tedx event.