Vigilante Justice System

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When we were in Nairobi this past week we were driving into the city and were stuck in traffic as it was a Tuesday morning when everyone was going to work. We had just met the university group that arrived the night before and were taking them to the giraffe center. Everyone was in a great mood and very excited to have finally arrived in Kenya. We were stopped in traffic when an incident happened beside me that will forever remain in my mind.
To the left of the vehicle I saw a group of men pushing, yelling, punching another man in the center of the circle. Within seconds he was down on the ground being kicked and beaten. Another man picked up a cement slab and was trying to aim it at him without hitting any of the others that were punching him. They wanted to kill him. At that point our vehicle started driving. As we were driving away, I saw one man stop the man with the cement slab from putting it down on the victims head. It was happening so fast, we couldn't believe that such a thing was happening in broad daylight, beside a traffic jam and no one was doing anything to help the man.
We came to learn that the man had stolen something and in a country where everyone is struggling so much it is the biggest insult to steal from someone. I do not know if that man survived that day or not. I can only imagine that he wasn't thinking with his head and instead his stomach. He was likely hungry and wanted food, even though he knew the consequence if he were to get caught. They have a vigilant justice system. The police are corrupt in many ways, one of them being that they take bribes from a criminal or someone else so that that person doesn't have to go to jail or deal with the consequence of their actions. On top of that, the police could have arrived at the scene and killed the man themselves. Kenyans don't feel that the justice system works in their favour. The rule is that if you steal from someone, you face being stoned to death. It is hard for us to understand, but being in a different country with different customs, I'm learning so much about their way of life.

Today was a great day. We went on a safari! We saw so many animals, elephants, lions, hippos, hyenas, antelope, monkeys, wildebeasts, buffalo, and birds or all kinds. We were extremely lucky to see all of these animals. It's a wonderful thing to see them outside of a zoo!

Thank you for reading and sending me comments and emails.
Hope everone is doing well.

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Comments

[Daniel]

Mon chère amie!!! Ça a été une grande aventure. Take care! I miss you so much! Do you have photos of the safari? Kisses, Daniel Tsukimoto