alao.ch Helps Street Children Offer Online City Tours
Who could give a better insight into life on the streets of Kenya’s capital Nairobi than people who have lived on these streets? Former street children have organized themselves in the so-called Nai Nami project to offer tourists from all over the world city tours that show the harsh reality of street life.
Because of Corona, the tourists have not been there since March 2020, and the makers of Nai Nami had to rethink. With the help of alao, among other things, the city tours were digitized. Now anyone from anywhere in the world can virtually take part in the guided tours through the streets of Nairobi. Thanks to these online city tours, the former street children retain their most important source of income.
Storyteller guides tell stories from the street
The former street children who take part in the Nai Nami project call themselves storyteller guides (in German: storyteller guides). Because they don’t just have a lot to show when they guide tourists through the streets of Nairobi. The storyteller guides also have a lot to tell, because life on the street brings with it completely different stories than life in your own four walls.
Above all, it’s a tough life on the street. Only those who adapt can survive there, says Kissmart, one of the guides who ended up on the street when he was five. The law “survival of the fittest” prevails. In the Darwinian sense, one would say that only the most adapted individuals can survive. Above all, however, you have to take care of yourself on the street, i.e. fight for yourself, says Kissmart.
Check out the YouTube video here.
Tourists sometimes have to have strong nerves on the tours. For example, locations are shown where thieves are regularly lynched by an angry crowd. One of the former street children should have witnessed a friend being burned alive. He himself was saved at the last moment from this kind of vigilante justice by a woman.
Due to Corona, the city tour is now via video call
Since the business model of Nai Nami is 100 percent dependent on tourists and these have not been available since March 2020 due to the corona pandemic, the social entrepreneurs now have to go other ways so that the income does not fail completely. The solution is: online city tour via Zoom or Skype.
The comparison and ordering platform for mobile, internet and TV subscriptions alao supported Nai Nami in this digitization process. With combined forces, alao and Nai Nami have managed to take part in a virtual tour of the storytellers of Nai Nami all over the world from the living room via Zoom or Skype. Via video call you can experience a personal adventure live in Nairobi together with the former street children from the slums.
For around CHF 33 you can get a one-hour virtual live city tour through the streets of Nairobi. The only requirement: You have to be able to use Zoom or Skype on your computer, tablet or smartphone, which shouldn’t be a problem if you have a not-too-old operating system. The virtual tours are interactive, which means that as a participant you can also ask questions to the Nai Nami city guides or talk to them.
Nai Nami founded by Swiss social entrepreneur
Nai Nami was founded as a social enterprise by Zurich-based Gianmarco Marinello in March 2018 in Nairobi. Marinello was fascinated by the maturity and skills that street life brought with the former street children. The main reason why they are so suitable as city guides is that they know exactly how the city works. They would know every corner of the city and all of its secrets. So the company idea was found and Nai Nami, which means “Nairobi with me”, was founded.
Since 2019 Nai Nami has been run by the city guides themselves; they are now also the owners of the social enterprise. On Tripadvisor, the Nai Nami tour is # 1 of over 1000 tours in Nairobi; so popular is this tour with tourists.
Thanks to the paid city tours, the former street children who are now employed as tour guides have a regular income; the most important prerequisite for starting a new life outside the slum.
