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This story was originally published on February 2, 2016.
Growing up in Kenya, photographer Guillaume Bonn saw firsthand the staggering gap between the country's rich and poor. While the rich often live in estates featuring manicured lawns, lush swimming pools, and perfectly trimmed hedges, more than 45% of people live below the poverty line, and many struggle to afford enough food.
Armed with his camera, Bonn says he began photographing this world as a teenager, capturing and documenting what other people pass every day yet prefer not to see.
"Unlike in the West, where you have to look for it, here in Kenya, you live with inequality around you all the time," Bonn tells Refinery29. "I think you have people who have this ability to block reality to protect themselves from it, and you have others who simply cannot see it because they are so disconnected from it or because they don’t have enough perspective to actually see."
And nowhere is that disconnect more evident than between the lifestyles of wealthy families and the lifestyles of the cooks, drivers, and other household staff who keep things moving behind the scenes, Bonn found. The top 10% of households in the country control a staggering 40% of the wealth; the poorest 10% control less than 1% of it.
Bonn says his project, Silent Lives, focuses on those divisions but avoids drawing broad conclusions.
"I did no want to make this body of work about rich versus poor or white versus Black," Bonn says. "The initial drive behind this was to bring in the foreground people who spend their entire lives in the background managing other people’s lives — and in the process, find out about their lives, dreams, and hopes."
And there is more to the situation than meets the eye. For example, Bonn says that although his subjects worked in the homes of Kenya's rich families, many of them also employed people to help with chores in their own homes. Wealth didn't necessarily translate into happiness, either.
"The men and women I photographed for Silent Lives are often more happy than the people who employ them who have far more. So what does that say about the [consumerist] society we have built for ourselves? We always need more, thinking that it will make us happier, but it does the opposite," Bonn says.
Ahead, portraits of the domestic workers who serve some of Kenya's wealthiest families, with their stories as told by Bonn himself.
Caption: A woman serves tea on the veranda of an old colonial house owned by a French family who has been living in Kenya for three decades. The house is situated in Muthaiga, a residential area in Nairobi.
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Margaret is 50 years old and has been working as a housemaid for the same family for over two decades. Originally from Bondo in the western part of Kenya, Margaret had one daughter who died. She is no longer married.
For a large number of Kenyans, employment as a domestic worker by white, Indian, or Black expatriates and Kenyan residents underlines the seismic disparities between the rich and the poor. While a sizable part of the population survives on less then $1 a day, others reside in stately homes and colonial estates.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Kavina (left) is a 50-year-old grandmother who works as a maid. She came to Kenya as a refugee from Uganda; her entire family was killed while Idi Amin was in power in the 1970s. Florence, also a maid, is 47 years old and comes from Kakamega. She is planning to get married in church so that her daughter may be allowed to have a religious marriage. Florence's husband works in a hotel in Nairobi.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
David, 40, left his village in northwest Kenya to seek work as an askari or watchman in the capital of Nairobi. He left because his plot of land where he grows vegetables was too small to feed his six children.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
A maid works on the veranda of an old colonial house, which is owned by Black Kenyans and rented by white Kenyans. The house is situated five hours away from Nairobi.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
A nanny sits by the pool of the Muthaiga Country Club in Nairobi, while her young "master" she is looking after relaxes on a sun bed. The club still has a men-only bar policy.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
An electric bell used to call waiting staff in the kitchen sits on the table at a lunch party in Nairobi. This practice was banned in 1963 when Kenya became independent, but is still in use in some households around the country.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Julius says he is around 30 years old but he is not certain. He comes from Malindi and is married with three children. He works as a chef in a private house on Manda Island.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
The owner of the house is an English woman who has lived in Kenya for 15 years; she is a designer and has a shop in a very chic mall in Nairobi. Lydia, who is a 32-year-old single mother, takes care of everything in the house.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Michael is 36 years old and was born in Malindi. He is married with two children and said he works as a houseboy in a private house in Shela near Lamu, a wealthy coastal town.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Jared (left) is a 40-year-old boat driver. He is married with four children: two boys and two girls. Amos is 30 years old and is not married, but has been with the same girlfriend for many years. He is a professional tour guide. Jared and Amos work together for a private estate on the shores of Lake Naivasha. The property belongs to one family that rents it out to VIP guests when they are not there.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Salim is 42 years old, married, and has three children. He works as a cook and housekeeper for a family in their vacation home on the island of Lamu.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
A no-speeding sign in a residential area of Nairobi shows a woman pushing a baby carriage.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Two maids are preparing a room for a guest who is coming to spend the weekend at a wealthy estate.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Kiranto is a Maasai and comes from Enkutoto area. He said he works as a cook and a houseboy between Nairobi and the island of Lamu. He is not married. He is photographed sitting on his bed in the servants' quarters provided by his employer.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Elizabeth is 18 years old and is from an area called Ulu. She works as a cook and also as a maid. She is a single mother of a 2-year-old girl called Musenya, which means "surprise." She comes from a family of six sisters and three brothers.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
The window of a Nairobi shop advertises uniforms for maids and security guards.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
A maid cleans in an old colonial house set on a farm an hour's drive from Nakuru, a Rift Valley market town. The house is owned by Black Kenyans and rented to white Kenyans.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
A man brings some refreshments on a tray. He also carries an old-fashioned bell so that his employer is able to call him if needed.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Evelyn is 32 years old and a single mother of three children. She has been a nanny and a housemaid for an expatriate family for more than 10 years. She has cared for this little boy since he was a few weeks old. She lives on the property in the room provided by her employer and she is part of the family. As a thank you gift, she was given some money to buy a plot of land back in Nyanza province where she is originally from. The next day, she was gone without a word, making the family wonder if they actually knew who she really was.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
A maid prepares a picnic lunch for her employers and their friends, who have a farm at Lake Naivasha.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
A gardener on weekend duty cleans the swimming pool while his employer's guest sunbathes. The property is 45 minutes outside of Nairobi.
Photo: Guillaume Bonn/INSTITUTE.Clik here to view.
Ads from people seeking employment fill a bulletin board in a Nairobi shopping mall.
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