The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2014 43 and world-class shopping, it offered all the excesses of being fortunate enough to be an affluent Nairobian. Few imagined that this would be ground zero for jihad in Kenya. As more news reached the international media, discussion of the devastating event took on an interesting twist. Besides calls for unity and love among Kenyans during this trying time, tweeters from the rest of the world also began expressing their surprise that there were any shopping malls in Kenya. Yet one would think that a city with four million residents, one of the largest stock exchanges in Africa and the headquarters of more than 100 major inter- national companies and organizations, would have at least one shopping mall. Indeed, the curiosity of this apparently “Western” environment seems to have contributed to the massive international news cov- erage. It struck home for some with familiar overtones of shootings in Aurora and Sandy Hook: senseless violence and young lives snatched away by gunfire. Westgate, however, was not a result of weak gun laws or introverted perpetrators who had slipped through the cracks of society. Our country was under attack. The Power of the Kenyan “Spirit” After four days of a horribly botched operation by the Kenyan army to neutralize the attackers came to an end, the effects on our collective psyche were tremendous. Suddenly no one felt safe anymore. Rich, poor, black, white: when jihad came knock- ing, everyone was a target. There was an enormous outpouring of love and support from Kenyans to all those who had been affected by the attack. People gave blood, food and clothing, anything that would take our minds off the news and counteract our feelings of powerlessness. Something called “the Kenyan Spirit” was seen in the acts of char- ity and giving. International journalists said that in all their years spent around the world, they had never been served tea and food by well-wishers at the scene of any event they were covering. Everyone acknowledged that this was not a normal occur- rence. Kenya is a country where the top 10 percent of the popula- tion earns 44 percent of the country’s income. The poverty rate is between 37 and 42 percent, and 40 percent of the working-age population is unemployed. Nowhere in the country are these inequalities more extreme than in the capital, where people from all over the country come in search of a better life. Two-thirds of Nairobians live in “informal settlements,” the shantytowns littered with miles and miles of tin shacks. These informal settlements occupy less than 5 percent of the total landmass. When you hear about Nairobi being one of the top property markets in the world, you probably won’t be told that a majority of these developments cater exclusively to high-income earners, leaving the poor with no chance of ever owning a home. Impres- sive high-rise apartments overlook slums with some of the lowest living standards in the world. Executives and professionals walk past beggars and street families on their way to work. For us, this is simply how it’s always been. Poverty is like a On Sept. 21, 2013, unidentified gunmen entered Westgate Mall in Nairobi. Firing randomly and taking hostages, the terrorists laid siege to the upscale shopping center for three days, leaving at least 67 dead and more than 175 wounded. Above, officers of the Kenyan Defense Forces during a rescue operation on that day. Jeff Angote/Nation Media/Gallo Images/Getty Images