Terror in Nairobi: raising our heads and carrying on in peace

I’m sitting in Artcaffe, in a large mall in Nairobi.

The mall is usually full of shoppers, people eating lunch or passing time with a coffee as they watch kids play on the rides in the square. Today it’s completely empty.

It’s two days since the terrorist attack at DusitD2 in Riverside, and Nairobi mourns the loss of its brothers and sisters.

The silence at the mall feels sinister. For a moment my heart aches. Should I have come here? Should I have stayed at home? I feel a moment of fear, but stamp it down and walk through the intense security checks. Fear is our greatest enemy and a terrorist secret weapon. Kenya is strong. We will prosper.

Dangerous Africa

Five minutes after the bombing on Tuesday I was inundated with messages from my friends and family, across the globe.

“Come home”

“Why are you living in that dangerous country?”

“Come to England where it’s safe.”

I try to protest. “It’s fine”, I say “We live in the suburbs, a long way from the city’

My protestations are cast aside. ‘It’s Africa, it’s dangerous, you need to come home”.

It was the same when we live in South Africa.

In South Africa I was constantly told that I needed to leave: “The level of crime was too high”

That I was being selfish: “If I couldn’t think about my safety then I should at least think about the safety of my children.”

I wonder if there is an expat in the whole of Africa that hasn’t had a similar conversation?

Crime is a global issue

But ‘newsflash’ there is crime in the western world too.

Americans are afraid to send their kids to school.

Terrorist attacks happen on the streets of England, France, Greece and Spain with over 100 attacks in the UK alone in 2017.

Europe and America might not have the poverty to the same extent as Africa but that means that the crime is more insidious.

I lose count of how many childhood heroes have been outed as paedophiles. How many books there are about stolen or abused children. In the western world the extent of policing drives the crime underground. It’s this secretiveness that scares me. Right now it scares me more than the thought of walking into my local mall with tight security and metal detectors at every door.

You can’t run away from crime. It could grab you as you visit the shops, or cross a bridge. It could also be happening right now, in your home, in your kids’ school, in a club, in your office.

Crime is crime wherever you live

There’s no point telling me that ‘Africa’ is an unsafe place to live. Yes, it can be, especially for those who live below the poverty line and don’t have access to security and four strong walls to sleep under at night. This is no different to estates in the UK where drugs are rife and lives are ruined on a daily basis.

Yes, there is terrorism in Africa. As there is in every major city in the Western world.

There is child abuse, rape, murder, abuse, on every single continent and in every single country in the world too.

The power of terrorism is in the fear it creates

The fact is that crime is all around us, wherever we live. Terrorism strikes fear into us all because it is intentionally public. The results of a terrorist attack affect large numbers of people. The attacks will be plastered all over the news and social media. It is the aggressiveness of it, which is heightened by exposure in the media, which doesn’t allow us to turn a blind eye.

The whole point of terrorism is that it’s invasive. It gets into the hearts and minds of people. It increases our anxiety. It makes walking out the door a difficult decision. It makes us fearful to go about chores or eat a meal in a restaurant. But when we decide to stay inside ‘just in case’ our businesses suffer. When our businesses suffer so too does our economy, and so too do our people. When the terrorists stole the lives of 40 people on Tuesday 15th January, 2019, they changed forever the world for hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. When we succumb to the fear that terrorism incites in us, we let them change, for the worse, the lives of millions.

Only we can choose whether to let fear guide our lives or not. The moment we stay inside. They have won. The moment we change what we do because of them then they are taking our lives away from us.

Choosing our response to crime

It is how we choose to deal with crime that matters.

My heart and soul goes out in sympathy to the victims of Dusit D2 and their families. My eternal thanks to those brave people who fought back. Who fought to save people. I cannot comprehend the anger, and upset that you are feeling now. I pray for you and your lost ones.

Allowing ourselves time to mourn

Our response to crime doesn’t mean adopting a stiff upper lip and pretending nothing happened. It’s natural and normal for feel rage and fear and grief even if you weren’t directly involved.

Educating ourselves and our children to make a better world

Our response should be to take the time that we need to deal it and then raise our heads and fight back. What matters the steps we take to protect ourselves and our families. The kind of people we raise our children to be. We can’t fix the world we are in now, but we can work towards a better world for future generations.

We need to educate our children and teach them about a fairer world. Where power comes through love and fairness, not amassing lands and wealth.

It’s the little things that make a difference

I hope the next time I visit Artcaffe, its full of its usual buzz and vitality. I hope that the hearts and bodies of those involved in the Dusit D2 tragedy heal with the grace of god. And I hope that if you are reading this and are unsure of how you can make a difference in the war again crime that you realise that just by walking outside and enjoying the day, you are already fighting back.

Africa the great and glorious

As for my well meaning countrymen in the west. Before you tell me to leave this continent that I love because you got a whole load of stereotypes and misconceptions mixed up with the truth. Why don’t you take a moment to learn more about our bright, beautiful, generous, colourful and often incredibly safe and kind continent by reading this

amani na upendo

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