The link of Nairobi’s dangling shoes to the war against crime

NAIROBI, Kenya, March 10 -For many young people in Kenya and particularly those in the informal settlements, a second chance, for undoing what was perhaps a slight miscalculation of judgment and getting back to the right path is not an easy task.

The society has for years ostracized and declared young men and women with a troubled past unwanted, while offering no chance for them to redeem themselves.

 It’s a way of life, a simple way of understanding and dealing with issues, that has now led youth across various slum neighborhoods in the Kenya’s capital Nairobi to undue the bad cards they were dealt in life.

What better way to prove this than to be pick a symbol, a common basic item that with no doubt, stand as testament of struggle, resourcefulness and sheer determination over time that nothing is impossible.

A shoe.

Shoes dangling on electricity power lines and telephone cables have long been shrouded in secrecy and suspicion across the world. In various societies, they are associated with sinister motives.

Across the United States and parts of Latin America they are sometimes associated with gangs and cartels marking their territories. It is also across many communities used to signify an informal memorial of where a gang member was killed.

Others believe it represents a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood while others in a juvenile outburst just do it for recreation.

Meanwhile, in some military practices, boots dangling on fences or power lines signify that a soldier is set to retire or be transferred to a different post.

-A second Chance-

John Omondi grew up in the neighborhood of Soweto within Kibra slums during a time when only the ‘strong and determined’ survived, so he says.

Then, his neighborhood was the hot bed of violence particularly pitting rival gangs that operated with utmost impunity. The gangs were fighting for the little resources available, in a corner of Nairobi that was long forgotten and feared.

“I can tell you for a fact, if you did not live in this neighborhood and happened to pass by here innocently, chances are that you would have been taken to a nearby forest, beaten up and robbed, that was the sad reality back then,” Omondi, a reformed gang member told Shahidi News.

It was a life many youth would become exposed to. One, he says, would get indoctrinated into the life from a young age and as a result hundreds became fully immersed in a life of crime, mugging at gunpoint, selling drugs and even grand theft auto.

Chances that they would one day have an option to turn their life around and chart a new course, he narrated, seemed like a pipe dream, until recently.

“We realized that most of our brothers and sisters were destroying their lives. So, we established that most of them were orphans while some were parents themselves of young families, with money being their primary motivation to engage in crime so that they can feed their families,” Omondi said.

“So, I started this car wash and told those involved in crime to abandon their past lives, come work at the car wash and earn an honest living as reformed and outstanding members of society.”

-The Dangling Shoes-

A walk or drive in Soweto remains memorable. A glare above, dangling on power lines, are tens of shoes that accentuates the blue skies.

It has become a landmark for residents here and though different interpretations have been put about the origins of the shoes, in Soweto, they simply signify change.

Tales of youth abandoning a life of crime and embracing the straight and narrow.

“Many that pass by here are often confused, though many automatically say they are fallen soldiers…this however is not the true story” Odhiambo says.

The Soweto carwash has become a haven for the often neglected and a beacon of hope for many who thought a second chance was nothing but a mirage.

Omondi has made it accessible to anyone willing to change their life by setting a few guidelines in order to keep them on the right course.

“When the youth come to me and say that they want to change their lives, I first ask what they did. Most are largely petty offenders,” he said.

“So, I ask them to come with a pair of their shoes, often their best. When make that commitment to change, I usually challenge them to fling them on to the power lines. This then signifies that their life in crime is behind them and from there they can start working at the car wash.”

It is a simple yet meaningful practice that has now changed the life of hundreds of youth who earn their daily bread washing vehicles at a location that was a decade ago an infamous drug den.

Billard Odhiambo, a resident, says just two years ago, he was not sure whether he would live to see his 20th birthday.

He is also a reformed gang member.

For him as it were for his friends, the options were limited, “live and die by the gun.”

His fortunes however changed for the better as he never found himself at the end of one.

He has his shoes dangling in the power lines in Soweto, to show “that I am no longer a criminal.”

“We are constantly asked how these people died and then asked why we continue to work and stay here yet it signifies crime and death. This is however a narrative we continue to educate outsiders and even people living here, while telling them that it represents youth being reformed and not fallen soldiers.”

More than 30 youth work at the Soweto car wash on a daily basis, with each getting an opportunity to earn their daily bread.

Each car they wash they earn as much as Sh200.

Disciplinary rules, agreed upon by every as a guiding principle they must all follow.

“And in case we find you engaging in crime we beat you up, we do it in a loving way that ensures you do not repeat that, this is our way of life,” Odhiambo says.

“I would rather make Sh200 a day and accept that is what I can make at the moment than cause pain and suffering to others by reliving that life of crime.”