Singer Nichole Scherzinger speaks on her Nairobi experience
Nichole Scherzinger has worn many hats over the years, from a dancer, singer to TV presenter, to become a household name as the lead singer in the female group Pussycat Dolls.
The 37 year old recently opened up in an interview with the Daily Mail talking about her experience when she visited Nairobi last November.
She talks about how one night she was too traumatized by what she had seen on her tour of the slums that she was unable to sleep alone in her hotel room.
“This trip was unlike any other for me. One night I was so traumatized by what I’d seen that I couldn’t sleep. I asked one of the girls from Unicef, who I’d just met that day, to come and stay in my room with me,” she says.
CHILDREN’S CHARITY
“I thought, ‘If I’m frightened here, in this warm, safe hotel, then how must these kids feel out on the street?'” she further recounts.
Her journey to Nairobi was part of a children’s charity initiative by UNICEF that saw her befriending street children in the slums of Dagoretti.
She is honest enough to admit having initial feelings of trepidation and horror on arrival in Dagoretti, western Nairobi.
“They dropped me off outside a slum and I was, like, ‘Wait, I have to get out of the van? And go into that?'” she recalls.
Following the split of the female group, Nichole has in recent years released solo albums as well as returning to what she calls her ‘first love’, musical theatre, winning rave reviews and an Olivier Award nomination for her West End turn as Grizabella in Cats.