Tuesday, July 08, 2008

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN? I'M NOT REALLY SURE.

My well worn boots.

I left Kenya in the wee hours of the night. I am now sitting in terminal 5 at Heathrow in what will be a 9 hour layover. If I weren't so tired and had not had such a painless entry through customs I may consider dragging myself to downtown London. With luck I'll pass through London again in a few months and actually see the city for a change. Four times in this airport in the last two years and this is my experience with London. Uggghhhh.

I feel a little heavy hearted going home after practically starting a new life in Nairobi. When I left New York in May I felt I had fallen in love with the city all over again, but now I am not so sure. New York has given me so much, but I think I may have outgrown it. I really liked the life that Kenya provide me. Another community of the like minded but with more of a sense of humanitarian journalism. The pace is slower, the assignments are richer and more along the lines of my idea of what a journalist should be doing.

I know there is community journalism to do in New York, but there are days I feel like I am only following the press releases. Is it too much to want more out of a life in journalism.

I've been to some shady places these last six weeks in Kenya and in myself. I think I've grown as both a photographer and a man. Prime lenses are the best, a good pair of boots are a real life saver, and ten year olds are really hip to what's going on in the world. Simplistic I know but if it works it works.

I am rambling and really tired, but the funny thing is that after seven weeks in Kenya, the sight of a Starbucks here at Heathrow has made my morning. I know there is good coffee in Kenya, but I still had not adjusted to slow service and slow internet.

Thanks to the gang at Kitisuru road who adopted gave me and gave me a home away from home and made me a brother, a friend, and and uncle. I really have been changed for the better by getting to know Brendan, Dan, Bertha, Francis, Alessandra, Vincenzo, Sylvia, Emily, Nik, Flea, Andrea, Moeni, Jane, Game, and Zuffa.

1 comment:

Chet Gordon • Photographer said...

Jambo! Keith, Good to see you're back. Now you are realizing the amazing "pull" of working in Africa. As you know I've gone through the exact same emotional highs & lows of working on the continent, and why for me, nowhere on the planet offers such richness and diversity to those of us who "see the good light" and are passionate in our hearts about our stories and craft. Nice post from LHR, btw. Boy, Do I know those 6-8+ hr. layovers in London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam & Brussels... I am really looking forward to seeing more of your work & hearing of your experiences in Kenya.

-Chet.