Unexpected ride home from a hike; En-route Mt. Kenya; A Nairobi bike store; Nairobi Central Business District; Nairobi estate; Mt. Logonot

5 Key reflections from living in Nairobi, Kenya for three months:

Trevor Wright
Sep 4, 2018 · 4 min read

Context: After studying globalization and development in the classroom for a few years I wanted to see the action myself. For three months, I lived in Nairobi, a city only 10% larger than Toronto geographically, but that is home to 1.3 million more people. The goal of experiencing as many sides of Kenya as I could guided my daily action. I worked in the most elite hospital in the region where I was exposed to a unique component of the East African health system and people from all over the non-Anglo world. I spent time with many of the diverse sub-groups of Nairobi. As someone who stays in touch with global issues, is curious about how the world functions, and is striving for an internationally relevant career, these are the most important eruditions of my time in Kenya:

  1. Your worldview is grossly incomplete until you live in the developing word. Anyone who has any intention of being a leader within a global organization, (i.e. most organizations today), must prioritize living in the developing world. If you want to succeed internationally, understanding the realities of the developing world mega-cities in the will be essential to your success because this is where the majority of your constituents will reside. While sensual experience is valuable, passing through developing cities and towns for tourism is not enough. The greatest value comes from experiencing what it is like to live in such a city.
  2. The average Kenyan is a hard-working intelligent person who every day pursues their dreams despite receiving the bad end of a social contract with the government, legal system, country elite, and global community.
  3. Living in a culture that you do not understand and that does not understand you is a strenuous endeavour. I have a new-found respect for my peers who moved to Canada during their youth.
  4. Rule of Law is the cardinal prerequisite to any meaningful attempt at development. Until fair and enforceable legal structures exist, the law is an arbitrary social device wielded by a few for personal benefit.
  5. To achieve both climate sustainability goals and human development goals, the rich world needs to move quickly to development cheap renewable energy. Consider the present growth rate of a country like Kenya: Its population has doubled in the last 25 years and will likely double in the next 25 again in the absence of serious intervention. Those born demand the same access to energy, education, health, consumables, and thus natural resources, that you and I demand. When considering all these new people, as a global community we are at a crossroads with three potential directions:

1) Pursue development using current market forces: develop human society; destroy natural climates/ecosystems; cope with the economic and social consequences of environmental degradation.

2) Systematically leave these new members of humanity in an underdeveloped state so they do not become significant resource consumers. Tolerate inequality and deploy mitigations against the negative social consequences of large underdeveloped populations.

3) Urgently work towards developing solar energy sources and storage so more humans can enjoy modern lifestyles while protecting ecosystems and minimizing the economic and social consequences of environmental degradation.

Thank you for reading this. Regardless of where you are in your career, I hope you seize any opportunity that emerges to live and work in the developing world. You will certaintly experience an above market return on your time investment and the world needs your talent and expertise

Aberdares National Park Ranger. Protects rhinos from poachers. Good Guy
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