Jamusons Tea Room Photo

Photographer’s Note

Another slice of daily life in non-tourist Kenya: We used to walk past this building every day on our way to and from town or the Peace Corps training area. I never actually did look inside this one, but if it's like similar places I did see, then it has a few tables and chairs, will serve tea (the Kenyans don't drink much coffee, though in Nairobi they are starting to do so), maybe eggs or ugali (like polenta, but even more tasteless), not much else.

The rest of the building is rooms where people live - one-room shacks with a concrete or dirt floor, with an outhouse nearby.

The church in the background is a more recent construction, much better done than Jamusons. There is a large Catholic presence (including a bishop) in Kitui, but I believe this church is for one of the Protestant denominations.

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Critiques | Translate

lancehannah (1307) 2007-12-27 12:25

Jambo Bwana,
As I also have been working in Kenya,this picture looks very familiar to me,one shop with two or three kind of business, inside tea and outside someone is selling grains or what so ever.A common deal in almost all Africa as you can see in this Picture.Good example and nice caught!
Regards,Lance

[2]

feather (49868) 2007-12-28 7:36

What this lacks in quality is more than made up for in the TE education value. A daily life image to show us how it is, not spruced up for tourists.
Kath

Davids (1034) 2008-01-16 4:30

Daniel,

I love photo's like this, I can't help thinking how much respect the people deserve when starting this sort of business. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I find this very beautiful.
The photo misses sharpness.
What is difficult in situations like this is the contrast in the darker area. You have to force your camera to get this right, the lighter area's will need some post processing afterwards, although I must admit I do not like these technical tricks.
Thanks for the good note, it was a pleasure to look at the photo,
David