


I was in Kenya for a week, but only belatedly realized near the end of my stay there that I hadn't gotten any photos of Nairobi. So I hastily grabbed a few on Friday afternoon. I realized, too, that my camera battery was going to need a charger, so I undertook to try to find one on the economy. There are electronics stores all over the place there. I went from one shop to another, producing my camera and saying, "I need a charger for this camera battery." Eventually I wandered into a sort of mall or bazaar and was led down to a customer service booth in the bowels of the place. The man wordlessly took my camera, photographed it, and uploaded the picture to a terminal at his desk. A few moments later, seeing something flash on his screen, he led me out of the building and to a shop about three blocks away where they had the exact model I needed.
Saturday, my last full day in the city, I wanted to go to services at the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation - Kenya's only mainstream synagogue. As it happened, there were reports of lions, escaped from the Nairobi National Park, wandering the city, and I almost used that as an excuse to stay home - but Proverbs 22:13 set me straight! So I walked to the shul (not too far from the hotel) but I couldn't get in, because services had already started and you have to arrange ahead of time for them to let you in. And I made it back without being eaten by lions.
My time in Nairobi was much too short, and I left promising myself I'd come back to visit the city properly as soon as I could. But Nairobi hadn't been my main reason for visiting Kenya. I'd gone there to visit the Jewish community of Ol Kalou / Kasuku, and I did that.