Kenyan & Tanzanian Surburbs
Kenyan & Tanzanian Surburbs
- Thread starter Mekatilili
- Start date
Reginald12
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 9, 2012
- 264
- 145
I would very cautiously agree with the parts I did not cut out of this post. Settlement patterns in Kenya and Tanzania are different. Dar es Salaam with the exception of NHC blocks in various areas, and places like Mikocheni and Msasani, Masaki and now Mbezi beach and kigamboni does not have what the Kenya would typically call an 'estate' - uniform architecture for an entire residential area eg South B, C, Buruburu. If you visit Tandale in TZ which is a 'low' class area, you will find Luxurious homes side by side with their poorer counterparts. That is why it is easy to single out Kibera as a sore thumb in Nairobi because all the shacks are stacked together, separate from other more decent housing blocks. I guess that is why the request to put up pictures of 'surburbs' ended up being a comparison of CBDs in both cities.
Is it too hard to appreciate what is beautiful about each other without bringing up the garbage dumps and tents? We borrow from one another to make better products and to raise our standards. The recently refurbished Kenyan Parliament is said to have 'borrowed' the style of the Tz and German Parliaments. Abuja in Nigeria is said to have 'borrowed' Dodoma's city plan.
Let whoever has nice pictures share them so we can reduce the eyesores that exist. A slum/shanty/garbage dump thread would also be useful to help us release some stress!
kshaka
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 3, 2011
- 366
- 118
I agree with Reginald12, always a voice of reason on the TZ side of these debates. Why is it that some of you find it a problem whenever a Kenyan has something nice to say about Kenya, as if it's not allowed to be positive about our own country...we don't have a problem when a Tanzanian says something positive about Tanzania...
P.S. For those who think that Kenyans have a problem with TZ, check out this thread;
East African Federation (EAC) - Travel - Nairaland
It's a thread started by Kenyans on a Nigerian forum praising and showcasing East African countries, including TZ. I'm sure, having been on this forum for a while that you could NEVER find a Tanzanian doing the same for Kenya.
Most of us Kenyans joined this forum in good faith but we start getting harsh after confronting the relentless barrage of negativity and malicious hatred directed our way by SOME Tanzanians. My turning point came when quite a prominent member expressed a wish to see Kenyans massacred.
P.S. For those who think that Kenyans have a problem with TZ, check out this thread;
East African Federation (EAC) - Travel - Nairaland
It's a thread started by Kenyans on a Nigerian forum praising and showcasing East African countries, including TZ. I'm sure, having been on this forum for a while that you could NEVER find a Tanzanian doing the same for Kenya.
Most of us Kenyans joined this forum in good faith but we start getting harsh after confronting the relentless barrage of negativity and malicious hatred directed our way by SOME Tanzanians. My turning point came when quite a prominent member expressed a wish to see Kenyans massacred.
Last edited by a moderator:
Kabaridi
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 15, 2011
- 2,022
- 534
just to be on square terms reginald, does TZ ever borrow a leaf from anywhere?
Reginald12
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 9, 2012
- 264
- 145
No country is an island. A lot , all the time. The ongoing DART(Rapid Bus Transit) is a good example. I stand to be corrected but this was borrowed from Brazil or some Latin American country. When you see something good somewhere, you find ways of doing the same at home.
Mekatili,
It will be stupidity to focus on the few privileged citizens in Kenya and Tanzania. We should extend our arguements on issues that affects the majority, like this article below reminding us about :
[h=1]Nigeria's hollow dream[/h]The rich brag about their spas and SUVs, but real economic development has to benefit everyone
On my last trip to Lagos, I drove past a new supermarket in an upper-middle-class part of the city. It was a huge concrete thing with sliding electronic gates, CCTV cameras and the sleek live wires that have replaced barbed wire in all fashionable districts. I remarked to my cousin, who was driving, that the building hadn't been there a year ago.
"You have to see inside then," she said, swinging her car around. Hidden inside this building, which looked like a small military base, was an exact replica of Tesco, she explained to me. There were wide aisles, Dairylea and the greatest joy of all, trolleys. Despite my cousin's best efforts, I could not muster any enthusiasm for what was in essence an incredibly exclusive grocery store, and after I insisted on going home to my dinner, she gave up, saying with disappointment: "And I thought you were interested in development."
For the sake of this thing called development, the UK has created an entire government agency, the UN has employed countless people, and billions of dollars have been pumped into the African continent. But what exactly does development look like when it has happened? Surely not this gated shop with its parking lot filled with buffed SUVs. Yet, increasingly, friends and family in Nigeria will confidently point to such places as proof that the country is advancing.
There is no doubt that the rich have become richer since I left Lagos seven years ago. When I first moved to the UK, I would convert everything mentally into naira – which, at about 200 naira to the pound, made even lip gloss seem prohibitively expensive.
Now, when I go back, I convert everything to pounds, and wonder if everyone has gone mad. How does one spend £30 on a burger, and a very dry burger at that? How could the cheapest tickets to see the musical FELA! be priced at more than £100 and how, for goodness sake, did the show then sell out? This is the new Lagos my family and friends are keen to show me. It is a Lagos of spas and shopping centres and franchises. Everything is foreign-made and imported, right down to the scented candles and the ketchup on the menus.
I often tease my relatives, who are proudly living this Nigerian dream, about the hollowness of their situation. Only in Nigeria do the Mercedes-driving, Gucci-wearing, champagne-drinking inhabitants of a mansion still have to worry about running water. Money, I point out when their bragging becomes unbearable, can do only so much to cushion the effects of living in a third-world country.
One day, the Nigerian upper-middle classes will have to act on the realisation that there are some things you cannot import. Lasting development that will put knowledge into the minds of our youth, and bring roads to my father's village and electricity to our homes, is more than a shipping container away. Economic advancement for a few will never be a substitute for development.
Towards the end of my trip, I found myself in one of the global franchise hotels that are springing up all over the country. The hotel restaurant was French-themed and, to my untrained eye, it looked reasonably authentic. The chefs in their tall hats, the racks of wine, the dark wood furnishings – all continental enough for me but, when I put my spoon to my mouth, the lights flickered and died.
"Nepa," someone said – cursing the National Electric Power Authority, which has never managed to create a steady energy supply.
"Nigeria," another added.
Source: Nigeria's hollow dream | Chibundu Onuzo | Comment is free | The Guardian
Dar_Millionaire
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 6, 2008
- 227
- 86
So you really think people don't understand what was written?
That's where you get it wrong again.
The first question to ask is what is the point of the comparison?
Kabaridi
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 15, 2011
- 2,022
- 534
No I think you do understand but why dont you guys do as the thread asks?! Nobody has said there are no contrasts. You should be proud of what you have anything whether it is a mansion or a shack made of rusty iron sheets.
Kijakazi
JF-Expert Member
- Jun 26, 2007
- 7,093
- 10,469
Oh God! still a long way to go! Your post answers the question I have asking my self for a long time about the so called Kenyan elite, why are they so out touch with what is really going in their own country, last time I was there their Government had asked foreign countries for food assistance because their people were starving, surprisingly at the same time there was a project funded by the Kenyan Government to go and feed lions and cheetahs in the Parks because they were starving, and they (Serikali ya Kenya) were airlifting life animals cows and etc from other parts of to the parks for the wild animals to eat so that they wouldnt starve, what was even more shocking most Kenyans were OK with It! I never understood the moral character of that society (Kenyan), but again now reading your post may be I can say thats who you are, the Kenyan elite!
kshaka
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 3, 2011
- 366
- 118
So in your opinion, any thread about kenya here on this forum MUST be about its problems? (leaving aside the nonsense about transporting cows for now)
Reginald12
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 9, 2012
- 264
- 145
I really do not see what's wrong with this thread and with the original request for urban/cityscapes. Not everyone has had the opportunity to visit the better sections of Nairobi or Dar es Salaam or other towns for that matter. We have poverty and other ills all over the world, not just in East Africa but that can't stop us from appreciating, dreaming or even hating the advances of a few amongst us. In fact it should fuel our thirst to make our countries better if we go along with the Nigerian writer's article quoted a few posts above.
It would be understandable is the lament was about posting in this particular forum, seeing as it is there is another section for mainly Tanzanian photos with tons of beautiful pictures and none of the vitriol on this thread. I don't like something, I don't read it! But well, JF is a place where we dare to talk openly...whatever the talk!
Kabaridi
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 15, 2011
- 2,022
- 534
POINT TO PONDER,
Is Poverty idiosyncratic/man made or a common feature?! around the globe
However much you deny these things, they will always be there. Therefore guys like you need to know and that there is also poverty worldwide question will arise what scale. You still have not given what attributed the initial disgression from the threads topic by people who have issues with their lives.
Is Poverty idiosyncratic/man made or a common feature?! around the globe
However much you deny these things, they will always be there. Therefore guys like you need to know and that there is also poverty worldwide question will arise what scale. You still have not given what attributed the initial disgression from the threads topic by people who have issues with their lives.
Mekatilili
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 16, 2011
- 1,613
- 1,383
- Thread starter
- #493
So where was I?
Reginald12
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 9, 2012
- 264
- 145
Great job boss. Keep them coming.So where was I?
Contrast and compare with this picture of an area in Nairobi
The Deep Sea slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph: Bill Gozansky/Alamy Slum surveys giving 'invisible' inhabitants a say in urban planning | Global development | guardian.co.uk
So where was I?
Compare and contrast
The Deep Sea slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph: Bill Gozansky/Alamy
Mekatilili
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 16, 2011
- 1,613
- 1,383
- Thread starter
- #497
Porojo as usual, the aim of the thread is clear. You have been given a chance to showcase your beautiful Tanzania but you are still focussed on Kenya? The stats alone will shock you! hahah!
Mekatilili
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 16, 2011
- 1,613
- 1,383
- Thread starter
- #498
I love them
Mekatilili
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 16, 2011
- 1,613
- 1,383
- Thread starter
- #499
Favorite view of the City! Great Job! Continue making the country better!
Mekatilili
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 16, 2011
- 1,613
- 1,383
- Thread starter
- #500
The point of this thread is very clear! There are dozens of threads on this forum that have been started by certain posters that were meant to deride each other and argue all day long.
A brilliant idea came to mind!!!
Why not share pictures of our respective countries and instead of deriding each other we should focus on sharing what we believe makes our respective countries tick. This thread was never meant to be competitive but rather a platform to share instead of squabbling.
I must say there are a few respectable Tanzanian posters that have focused on sharing and we have learnt a lot from each other.
It is obvious that there are those that suffer from a dire case of inferiority complex and have resorted to the same old spiteful ways. If you want to debate slums there are 1001 threads on this forum dedicated to Kibera.
On this thread you have the opportunity to share pictures of your beloved countries but it appears all some of you think about is Kenya.
I urge all the sensible posters to focus on the goal of the thread and simply ignore the insecure twerps.
Cheers!