Sergey Maximishin . Land of the Scorching Sun by Sergey Maximishin More than 200 ‘Jua Kali’ enterprises (in Kenya Jua Kali is the official name of  artisans who work in the open air. The word in Swahili means ‘scorching sun’) are concentrated in the Gikomba - one of industrial areas of Nairobi. In an area of one square kilometre, more than four thousand people process scrap metal to produce and sell recycled metal hardware. From the raw materials: empty oil barrels, waste ends of building armature, water pipes and paint containers come ‘new’ products; everything from pots and pans to life-sized statues of African animals.  Even the tools for manufacturing the recycled goods are made from reclaimed materials. Workers as a rule are people from western Kenya, they work 12 hours a day with no social-security; holidays, sick-pay or pensions.  Their average salary is 100 dollars a month. Only 20 percent of their production is consumed in Kenya, the rest is exported to the countries of Eastern Africa.  The animal statues are sold as ‘high art’ in Europe. MARCH 2012 BACK ISSUE Back to current issue