Hello again from the City Under the Sun!!
The days in Nairobi start early. They welcome you with warm skies, a clear breeze, and the faint spice of something sizzling in the distance.
There are always greetings and handshakes before my colleagues and I dive into a blur of chisels, wires, and bright yellow tape measures. And somewhere between visiting hospitals and coding projects, something else starts to take shape too: a shared sense of momentum. Of making and unmaking. Of figuring things out together, one busy afternoon at a time!
Building From the Ground Up
We spent our first few days learning to build with our hands at Kenyatta’s Center for Design, Innovation and Engineering. These workshop sessions were all about metalworking – cutting 16-gauge tubing with hacksaws, chiseling stubborn corners, and welding joints by hand. I think I learnt the true meaning of ‘labour of love’ that day! We then moved into woodworking, where we built footstools from scratch. We started with sketches, costed out materials, and began learning different joint techniques. Most of our work was done collaboratively with one member of Team MACAS sanding, another cutting, and another holding things steady.
There were sparks from welding, curls of wood shavings piling at our feet, and quiet wins like clean 45° angles and circuits that finally blinked like they were supposed to. Someone would inevitably start humming along to the jazz during tea break, and there’d be a round of laughter as we debated if something was actually level!
Listening, Watching, Learning
After getting our hands dirty in the studio, we began the next phase of our work – needs-finding in clinical settings.
Our first hospital visits were to Thika and Kiambu Level 5 hospitals, where we observed in the maternity, pediatric, and neonatal wards. I watched nurses adapt tools, saw how care is delivered with limited resources, and heard directly from staff about what works and what doesn’t.
I carried a notebook around everywhere, scribbling down observations, questions, and half-formed ideas. It was clear right away that so much ingenuity already exists within these spaces – small workarounds, creative uses of tools, and thoughtful ways people make do. I remember one nurse explaining how she uses surgical gloves as hangers to accommodate extra IV bags, and another showing us how she warms babies using blankets and layering because the warmer was down again.
A day later, we visited Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral & Research Hospital (KUTRRH), a Level 6 facility with specialized diagnostic units. In the breast cancer care unit, I observed a mammogram and ultrasound, spoke with staff and patients, and heard stories that were both deeply human and systemic.
There was something powerful about standing in a room full of advanced equipment one day and remembering a borrowed syringe-turned-suction-tool from the day before. The contrast was stark, and it made the big picture even clearer.
This isn’t just about devices. It’s about access, context, and care that fits the place it’s in. It reminded me why I care so much about this work. The people I met were problem-solvers, caregivers, and engineers in their own right. And I want to build things that keep their momentum going!
When we got back to the design studio, my team gathered around a wide table (still in scrubs and slightly sun-dazed) and started to unpack what we’d seen.
We each grabbed a stack of neon sticky notes and started writing. One note = one observation. The table quickly became a sea of yellows, pinks, blues, and greens.
“Dogma within diagnostics/procedures”
“No positive flow in O2 cylinder”
“Suction pressure adjusted by guesswork”
Some were messy. Some had drawings. Some had question marks or exclamation points. But they were all tiny windows into systems that were doing their best with what they had.
We stuck them all to the wall, color-coded by theme: equipment gaps, workflow issues, human factors, and improvisation. By the end, the blank wall was covered edge to edge. We stepped back and stared at it for a while. It felt like the beginning of an amazing design process.
Innovation in Every Corner
A few days later, we visited the jua kali sector – Kenya’s vibrant informal manufacturing industry. The name literally means “hot sun,” and it speaks to the intensity, resilience, and creativity of the people working there. As we walked through the maze of open-air stalls and compact workshops, the air filled with the rhythmic pounding of hammers, the hum of metal grinders, and the smell of welding fumes.
We saw artisans building dishes from scratch, fabricators repurposing scrap into new tools, and sellers customizing devices on the spot for buyers walking by. The engineering skills I witnessed were beyond what you’d expect from any textbook. There was community-driven innovation tucked into every corner of the market.
Later in the day, we also had the chance to step into Nairobi’s innovation ecosystem through visits to Villgro Africa, a startup incubator investing in local health solutions, and Moko, a company turning foam offcuts into upcycled mattresses. I really enjoyed learning about the business side of this field – from funding and product development to scaling and sustainability. It made me think differently, not just about how we build things, but how we get them into the hands of people who need them.
And after one particularly full day of walking around these different industries, we stopped at a quaint roadside cafe where I tried viazi karai: crispy turmeric-battered potatoes served with sweet ukwaju sauce and a cold soda. By now, we were further away from the heart of the city. There was a quiet breeze in the trees and the kind of content silence that comes with a day full of ideas and experiences.
Ready to Build
And now… we build.
I leave these two weeks feeling inspired, full of ideas, and honestly a little giddy to get started! After all the observing and learning, we’re shifting into the exciting space between problem and possibility. I’ve got sketches in my notebook, ideas in my head, and an amazing team that’s ready to make things happen.
This city – its energy, its creativity, its people – has already taught me so much. And we’re only just getting started. I can’t wait to see what we come up with!
Hadi wakati mwingine,
Saumya ☀️