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Nairobi Neighborhood's Residents Struggle to Make Living During COVID
Lockdown

Mohammed Yusuf

   NAIROBI - Kenyan authorities last week locked down the Nairobi
   neighborhood of Eastleigh because of a jump in confirmed coronavirus
   infections. As a result of the restriction of movement in and out of
   the area, aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, businesses in
   Eastleigh are struggling to get by.

   Mohamed Said, a food seller in the neighborhood, said business was
   poor, as few people were willing or able to shop at his store.

   Slack time in the morning

   "People are not coming to buy foodstuffs the way they used to before,"
   he said. "There is less movement of people around 4 in the evening.
   That's when you see a few people around.When I come to the shop early
   in the morning, you regret coming to the shop that early because there
   are no people."

   The lockdown is heightening frustration in the Somali-majority
   neighborhood in central Nairobi. Said's neighbor, Hussein Osman, also a
   food seller, said he might soon go out of business.

   "Since the lockdown began, our business has gone down, and the lockdown
   has brought us a lot of losses," he said. "We cannot afford to pay
   rent, and we are requesting the government to help whenever it can."

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