Nairobi 2

01/02/08

The last couple of days have been focused around security training that we, the 4 interns, received from a quite eccentric couple living in Nairobi. One is a retired Major from the British armed forces who seems to have served almost everywhere on the planet in one capacity or another and who is almost a caricature of the old-style British army general, complete with loud clipped voice, dark gallows humour, showy intellectualism and ample eccentricities. I have my suspicions that he's been involved in all sorts of shady business with secret services and the like but there is no evidence for this other than a general coyness that could be for other reasons. The other, his partner, is a security expert who was in charge of security in Iraq for the FCO (which involved living in one of Saddam's palaces for a while) and has been involved in all manner of impressive high level security operations, who is now for some unknown reason working for our organisation. Between them they really know their stuff and it was an enlightening if unusual couple of days. At first their abrasive tendencies were, well, abrasive, however once we were in their home they seemed to relax and showed us some genuine warmth, a lot of humour and some real hospitality. It was certainly appreciated and we learned a lot in a short space of time: about security in general, first and second aid in trauma situations, the range and capability of certain weapons and how to avoid being in their way, unexploded remnants of war, how to behave in a hostage situation, and lots more. The overall feeling was that there is a lot more to know or think about than I had imagined and it would be great to be able to do more. However these couple of days were a whole lot better than nothing.

The first evening after the security training we had some drinks at their massive plush house in a UN-endorsed secure compound, surrounded by trees and amazing wildlife, but had to leave a little early as the person who was to drive us home needed to get back early to avoid being in danger as there had been incidents in the area where he lived. This was another reminder that beyond the western safe-haven there are real problems affecting a lot of people. Of course, we know this, but one of the slightly shocking things about these few days for me has been how easy it is to get used to the safe and affluent bubbles that NGO and UN workers create for themselves and to some extent forget where you are.

The second evening, last night, we went to a nearby bar that had been recommended to us and had some food and beers. There was a Kenyan salsa band playing and the clientele was mostly foreigners of some description along with some affluent Kenyans. After everyone had had a few drinks it seemed to take on the air of a school disco, with people dancing quite self-consciously and in many cases obviously on the pull. It was strange to think that a lot of these people were probably fairly senior UN or NGO staff, people who if they came to lecture on my Human Rights course I probably would have looked at with some degree of deference. Yet here they were, drunk, a little bit desperate, on the pull and dancing badly. It was a scene that was in part sad in its sixth-form naivety and disparity from normal Kenyan life, yet in part also humanising of people who it's easy to see as cogs in a dull bureaucratic machine but who obviously have the same basic needs and emotions as anyone else. It's easy to criticise, but ultimately I think it's hard to begrudge this kind of thing when people are a long way from home for sustained periods of time and typically working quite hard on often very difficult issues. It's not ideal for many reasons, but at least they're here and trying.

On a more serious note, the security situation in central Nairobi doesn't seem to have improved. News came through of more problems over the past two days, including the murder of another opposition politician, and we saw military aircraft fly past a few times, presumably on their way to either attend to or cause trouble. We also saw a couple of vans with furniture strapped to the top, full of people who it is safe to assume had been displaced by the violence. The new theory going around is that this trouble was inevitable whoever had won (I find this very hard to believe) and that a possible solution now is for both Kibaki and Odinga to step down and leave the way clear for a re-run of the election. We will see.