Can you imagine waking up one day to a new take on life? A new way of perceiving the World around you!
The terrifying nightmare shook me to my core last night. It was like anything out of the ordinary, the World had fallen into the apocalypse.
As I sat up to brush off the ever so real fright, the crumbled pages of the Martin Buber’s ‘I and Thou’ was tossed beside me. I had to divert my attention. I laid back tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position. I thought about Buber’s comprehensive view on human relations.
It made me question my mere existence and how I connect with other people. You see, the ability to connect with someone can be instantaneous if you can see the World through their perspective.
You could be sitting at the back of a cab and listen to the driver talk about his family. Your mind can paint a picture of what their life is like at home. Our lives are limited to the surroundings we are brought up in and what lies beyond that, what we have created for ourselves is just an illusion. In the back of my mind, I could not stop thinking about the nightmare. That’s when I decided, I had to see the World before it ends.
How many times has it occurred to you that one day you feel the Word is going to end? All those ever green landscapes, those breathtaking mountains or that never-ending sea, all is gone. You have to live every moment as if it is your last.
This new perspective on life makes one realize how significant it is to explore new places, especially to engage with people and gain their perspective. I have travelled before to France, Turkey and United Kingdom. However, I have something different in my mind.
This time, my aim is to go soul-searching at a place that I would never consider a first option. Examining the Globe in my study, my eyes were fixed on East Africa. I had to go there, I must. Upon contacting some local agencies, I came across the term “slum tourism”.
Apparently, Kenya, East Africa has been at peak with tourists visiting slum areas. I thought if I truly wished to connect with people and see the World beyond what I am used to see, this is what I had to do. Thus, it was the start of an unexpected yet inspiring journey.
Arriving at Kibera located in Kenya, felt nothing less than an over-populated squalid area with carefully placed homes that looked like they would topple any a moment. It was an eye-opener to see the reality we never get to observe; how life is for most of the people in this country.
This was the first real chance of finding beauty in poverty. The area was famous for their bead factory; the workers were the people living in the slum. They had respectable jobs and had mastered the art of handcrafting beads out clay to be sold off as souvenirs.
The vibrant communities with little shops that sold the souvenirs and schools crowded with children waving as we walked by enough to take my breath away. The slum was crowded with tourist loaded with equipment, trying to capture every little nook and cranny.
It felt unpleasant to the people living there; invading their privacy, peaking into their homes, making them feel like zoo animals. The human eye is the first lens a person looks through. The images you capture with your sight cannot comprehend the feeling of what it is like to live in the moment.
People come to these slum areas with the intension of donation. For me, it was to gain a new perspective in life. This place was so much more than poverty and what media portrays it to be. A strong community with the will to never give up.
Past all the pollution, there is hope in the hearts of the people. They strive to make their community more welcoming for people coming from all over the World. I do not know where the Globe will take me next, but I know for sure waking up today to view the World through the eyes of the people living in the slum was an experience of lifetime.
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