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Did you know that Eastleigh was home to Airforce bombers?

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 Eastleigh. Photo: Courtesy

The hawker menace has seen shops close in Eastleigh estate the whole of last week as a protest to dwindling clientele.

Eastleigh, which is no longer an estate per se, but a sprawling concrete jungle, has 20,000 hawkers who make roads impassable and business impossible for operators in the Sh100 billion retail industry.

This has turned the one-time middle-class area into a 24-hour economic hub, courtesy of not just the shopping malls, but also miraa traders and 24/7 matatu transport.

‘Little Mogadishu,’ as Eastleigh is nicknamed owing to the largely Somali population, is one area in Nairobi where residents never sleep.

The 1984 Ethiopian famine saw an influx of Ethiopians into the area, hence the countless hotels specialising in Ethiopian cuisine. The political crisis in Eritrea saw another influx of Eritreans flood Eastleigh, such that nywele ngumu Kenyans appear to be in the minority.

The do-or-die work ethic of the outsiders saw Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans invest in shopping malls that made Garissa Lodge the shopping Mecca of traders from all over Kenya, as others pumped in their money in minibuses and restaurants.

There is so much money circulating in Eastleigh that has led to a spike in rent and cost of taxis, to ‘wipe off the excess liquidity.’

There are few Arabs and Asians - to them Eastleigh was initially a middle-class estate with a few white collar Africans enjoying paved roads, streetlights and square houses modelled in Indian architecture. The houses emphasised communal living in large centre courtyards with washrooms, tap and laundry sections in one corner.

These houses were bought off, giving way to highrise residential houses, shopping malls and hotels.

Did you know that Eastleigh got its name from the nearby Eastleigh Airbase?

It was called the Royal Air Force (RAF), Eastleigh, after it opened shop on August 1, 1940. It was so named because it was modelled after RAF Eastleigh situated in Southampton, England.

RAF, Eastleigh, was established during World War II, principally for air transport logistics.

Other RAF bases were in Thika, Kisumu and Mombasa, but were later closed due to economic pressure. After the war, RAF Eastleigh served as an airport for military and commercial flights.

But did you also know that military bombers from Eastleigh Airbase were extensively used during air raids, smoking out Mau Mau insurgents in forests during the war for independence?

The raids took place for three years after Sir Evelyn Baring declared a State of Emergency in Kenya. Funny, though, how military choppers dropped The Standard newspaper at the gate of Senior Chief Njiiri’s home every day!

The bombers were returned to the Middle East and the UK. A year after independence, the RAF, Eastleigh became Kenya Air Force, Eastleigh in 1964, with Captain Ian Stockwell as first Air Force Commander.

A year later on February 18, 1965, the first homespun air force pilots graduated: James Mukirae, David Kanagi, Fredrick Omondi, Hannington Apudo and Dedan Gichuru — later the first indigenous Kenya Air Force commander on April 17, 1973 aged 30!

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