Popular media personality Shiksha Arora went on the Mic Cheque Podcast last week and had a two-hour sit-down conversation with the group. Among the topics they discussed, the one that made the most buzz on the internet was when they asked her about apartments in parts of Nairobi that are only rented out to Indians. I think the young lady tried her best to express the reasoning behind such ‘profiling’ among members of her community, but the angry netizens did not even bother to listen.
The truth is, most people want to live in good neighbourhoods and beautiful complexes, but when one is told that these areas are specifically designated for a certain type of people, it makes our blood boil.
People do not wish to be treated like third-class citizens in their own country. We should be able to get what we want as long as we can afford to buy it. The problem is a double edged sword works both for you and against you; therefore, as much as the law is there to protect you as a tenant, it is also there to protect the other person.
When I first heard of such apartment complexes existing in certain neighbourhoods in Nairobi, I was not as surprised as the people in Nairobi. Growing up in Mombasa, we have always had community based areas, neighbourhoods or estates. It was just easier for people to have neighbours who were similar to them.
Even growing up in Bamburi in the 90s, there was an estate called Palastina that got its name from the large number of Palestinian immigrants who settled there. There were also other communal areas such as Memon and Bohora estates, most of which were built and financed by the community.
Communal living has been a thing since the caveman era. There are benefits to living together, especially when it comes to matters of security. Of course, as we evolved and our ideologies expounded, we broke off into our own little communities spearheaded by beliefs or race.
In an idealistic world, we would have the freedom to live anywhere and do anything, but that could be scary to some people. Which is why they choose to live in proximity to familiarity and comfort.
I grew up in such a multicultural era that some of these things became second nature to me. As a student at the Aga Khan School in Mombasa, most of my classmates came from diverse backgrounds. I also learnt from a young age that most of them lived in community spaces.
The Ismailis had their own complexes where it was easy for them to rent, the Bohoras always lived together or in gated communities and the Memons had multiple estates and mosques spread around Mombasa. The community inspired infrastructure did not stop only at houses, it spread to schools, hospitals and, of course, places of worship and recreation.
While Nairobians are mad about vegetarian Hindus not accepting to rent out homes to anyone else outside their community, we residents of Mombasa accept that if we want our kids to go to any of the schools built by the Hindu believers, we can not bring meat to these schools.
We do not have to march on the streets to have the freedom to pack our children meat lunches because we also have the freedom not to send our kids to these schools. These communities built their own infrastructure and set the rules; if the rules displease you, then you are free to go elsewhere.
I do not belong to any of these communities; in fact, I believe my community is merely an illusion of extended family and relatives, but I have a deep respect for some of these people. How many ethnic groups will build estates and complexes just so that their poor are well housed?
These communities take care of their own; they provide their underprivileged with housing and scholarships. How many communities can claim the same? Instead of being quick to judge, we would rather choose the understanding route and try to believe that people have good intentions even if it’s not clear to us.
