documentary travel

Returning to Eastlands

It’s where I was born and called home for more than 25 years. These are the streets that shaped me, where I played shake, hid and sought and watched apartments grow in what were once open fields. When I was born, my parents were living in Buru Buru Phase 2. From there, they moved to Umoja 1 before settling in Doonholm in July 1979. They have lived there ever since. #OnetouchLive_Eastlando was a walk down memory lane for me. 

Onetouch was out to change the common narratives about Eastlands by showcasing stories about people who earn a living here.

We started on Rabai Road, shooting portraits of mechanics who can fix any engine part and beat any twisted metallic panel back to shape. At NCCK, my dad had a mechanic known as Ngonyoku whom he trusted with our Datsun 120Ys – all three of them. Today, a mall sits in the same place and the mechanics have been pushed to the roadside where they repair engines and do body works as cars whizz by.

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Anne Wanjiru runs a motor vehicle spares shop with her husband.

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Kevin Ouma, Henry Wamai, Kelvin Shani, Paul Obuna and Okwi Okoh.

Before the Umoja Catholic Church planted Doonholm Catholic Church, my family worshipped at either Blessed Sacrament in Buru Buru 3 or Jericho Catholic Church. Next to the church in Jericho was a dust bowl of a soccer pitch. It produced Kenyan greats like Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee, Bernard ‘Zico’ Otieno, John ‘Shoto’ Lukoye and Onetouch’s very own Paul ‘Maldini’ Obuna. It was a great joy to see Toyoyo Stadium covered in artificial grass!

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OnetouchLive_Eastlando_Mwangi-Kirubi-12We found several teams practicing during the day and thanks to the floodlights, practice goes on until 11pm!

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A boy holds a beetle in Nairobi's Jericho Estate.

We used to tie a string to one leg of a beetle like this and spin it until it flew around, tethered to our fingers by the string. It wasn’t animal cruelty back then; it was a social networking opportunity.

Inside Jericho Market in the 80s and 90s was a stall run by a man known as Mwangi who had a Toyota Stout. He was our preferred source of fruits and vegetables for many years. When visiting the market earlier this week, we walked through the back side of the market where we found carpenters and tailors doing what they do best.

James Muchira, 20, builds coffins at Jericho Market.

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Just as a chef checks for saltiness in his food and a car is taken on a test drive, James checks the integrity of his coffins before making them available for sale.

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Kevin Ouma shares some of the images shot with the carpenters. Onetouch will print the images and present them to their owners free of charge once image selection and printing is done.

Dick Awoche builds a cabinet for a church at his workshop.

Nicholas Mutahi.

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Muriuki.

Simon Muli is a tailor with 10 years’ experience.

We left Jericho and headed to Umoja, an estate that was home for a couple of months before we moved to Doonholm in the late 70s.

In the 80s and early 90s, we visited family and friends in Umoja regularly. An older cousin had a stall in Umoja One Market where she knit sweaters, shawls, scarves and table cloths for clients. Today, the main market is full of salons and outside the market, what were once green spaces have been replaced with workspaces for metal smiths.

Fredrick Omondi.

Kamau Mwendwa inside his stall outside Umoja One Market. Kamau has been a locksmith for 10 years.

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The coolest guy we met was Gerald Wachira Warui. He’s been a locksmith at Umoja One Market, cutting keys, repairing locks and fixing padlocks for 35 years!

Gerald has seen Umoja One transform from a beautiful middle class estate to the concrete high rise residential area it is today. He has mentored several other locksmiths and shares knowledge about his craft with anyone who asks.

Hats off to you too Lion!

  1. aika

    July 1, 2016 at 9:19 am

    I just love this post Mwarv! Love it! And that last shot of Gerald must be printed, I hope it’s one of the ones you’ll select.

    1. mwarv

      July 1, 2016 at 10:12 am

      Yes it will definitely be printed. Large!

  2. Anthony Kigondu

    July 1, 2016 at 9:39 am

    Great portraits! Once again a most enjoyable post to read.

    1. mwarv

      July 1, 2016 at 10:12 am

      Asante sana.

  3. Kabura

    July 1, 2016 at 11:11 am

    Sentimental and authentic my fellow Eastlander!

  4. SIMON MWANGI

    July 1, 2016 at 11:24 am

    well documented. amazing clicks

  5. Peter Cacah

    July 1, 2016 at 11:28 am

    Mwarv I always admire your style of shooting! Incredible pics and fantastic choice of subjects.

  6. Jimmy Gitonga

    July 1, 2016 at 12:25 pm

    Mazee, these pictures are “awesome” 😀

    Once you give the large prints to the subjects, are these pictures available as Stock imagery? We need them!

  7. Mwari wa Kim

    July 1, 2016 at 7:42 pm

    Good job Mwarv

  8. Ngumo Kahiga

    July 1, 2016 at 10:24 pm

    Totally inspiring. I need to retrace my childhood this way

  9. Eva Ndunge

    July 2, 2016 at 3:03 am

    Amazing <3…………. This is such a lovely way of showing what the eastlands home areas look like now. They were definitely better then with the play spaces, but oh well….. 🙂
    Loved it <3

  10. daniel mwangi

    July 2, 2016 at 5:48 am

    Gooooood job.You guys took me down memory lane. Am a product of Buru Buru one in the 70’s and I also watched it transform. Back then we had a massive playground which stretched from outer ring estate, Uhuru estate, Harambee, Jeri, Umo and Doni. Sugar cane eating and playing football was the order of the day. Rivalry within the estate (Buru Buru courts) and then from estate to estate. And we watched the green disappear, to be replaced by concrete. God bless Eastlands!

  11. Naomi

    July 2, 2016 at 8:04 pm

    Hats off to YOU, Mwarv and OTL!

    Down memory lane for me too! Best memory for me; being sent for the best ‘chips’ at market. Worst one; salon day, with a ‘hot comb’, vaseline and a stove. OOOOUCH! Till today!

    Good job guys!

  12. Alfred Otieno

    May 4, 2017 at 4:17 pm

    Awesome Photos Mwarv!

    Just like you, I share lots of good and not so good memories of yester years growing up I Umoh, Doni and Greenie!. Loads of family still reside in Eastlands. But some of my fave memories was passing by ‘Marko’ in my early teens to buy ‘Njiva’ za Kobole ama ukipenda ‘Ngovo’.

    Gerald is a Landmark in Umoh! He used to sell Reggae Cassettes back in the day, but with the Digital age, I bet no one needs them tapes anymore! It was in 1993 that he sold me my very first ‘Origi’ reggae cassettes by Don Carlos and Yellow Man. These days we just download them online and move on!

    Good work…

  13. Godfrey

    May 13, 2017 at 12:34 pm

    Thats really impressive i love the stori…i share the same from umoja to doonholm….cheers thats really grit

  14. Ivan Mugambi

    July 20, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    amazing work

    1. mwarv

      July 20, 2017 at 2:31 pm

      Thanks Ivan.

Comments are closed.