Village Vs Nairobi: Where would you choose to live?

I have stayed in Nairobi city since my childhood and whenever I visit my home village, many villagers simply accost me to assist them come and live in the city.

Firstly, what is so fanatic about Nairobi that makes so many people want to come and leave here? Well, the obvious reasons come with basic things readily available in the town for those that can afford. There are good houses with nearly all the modern things that you may dream of; electricity, hot shower water, swimming pools, security alarm system and many others.

And indeed there are the other luxuries of the town that are readily available. Needless to say, there are job opportunities so long as you can compete well in the job market. It is in Nairobi that we possibly have the best competent personnel in the whole country. The schools in Nairobi are also good, good hospitals, entertainment sites, vocational centres, churches, good roads and the list is endless.

I want to emphasise that all these goodies in the city comes with a price and the price at times is very expensive.

Having said that, what is there in the village that may attract us there?

The village life is simply a cheap life. In the village you will be able to have a watchman, maid, bodyguard, shamba boy and all sorts of private workers at cheap price. The village has its own fun as well. In the village there is no traffic congestion that is a daily nightmare for the Nairobians. The village has minimal threat of security, cheap food, plenty of land, fresh air and of course cheaper comfort of life. It is true that chances of getting money in the village are slim, but given the same amount of money in the village as you have in Nairobi, life would be cheaper, enjoyable and comfortable.

Our Nairobi life is deterioration day in day out. The infrastructure is inadequate to cope with the ever increasing population of this city. The insecurity has become a scaring menace and the public facilities that we would otherwise enjoy in the city are depilated and abandoned with poor services.

Many Kenyans have come to the city to realise their dreams but end up living a worse life than what they have left in the villages. The slum life is a good example, where we don’t have toilets, running tap water, roads, hospitals, good housing and many others. The condition of living there is extremely wanting.

I want to conclude by saying that you should not be so convinced by Shakespear`s description of a good home as an “other Eden, demi-paradise”. The grass might be greener in the city, but it is not completely free of weeds and dangerous forests. Nairobi has its own challenges and some are very extreme.