I went to Damside for an hour in the morning and left early so that I could participate in the Kibera Feeding Program. This program is run in conjunction with N.V.S. and a Canadian organization called United for Parity. It’s crazy to think that the organization, which not only provides food to specified families in Kibera, but also supports a special needs school and a sewing school to help women develop a marketable skill, was begun by a college student. I can only hope that I will make 1/100th of the difference he has made while I am here.
Although Damside is in Kibera and educates children living in the slum, today’s tour took me much deeper into the shantytown. Most people live in 10 ft. x 10 ft. hovels made from clay and roofed and boarded with iron sheets. There is no electricity and no running water to be found. In one home that we visited to deliver foot, a man lived in such conditions with his 6 children. Garbage is everywhere, and rivers of sludge run between the haphazardly constructed blocks of home. Yet despite the abysmal conditions, people choose to live here. Some don’t have a choice – it is the only place where they can afford the rent, typically 200 - 500 shillings per month (approximately $3 – 7 USD). For some, often men living alone, housing is cheap and they do not feel that they need to live anywhere else. We met one woman who had been living in Kibera for the past 28 years. Another elderly man, living in Kibera for over 20 years, had broken his arm 8 months ago but, unable to afford a doctor, had let it “heal” naturally. “Heal” being in quotations because the arm, despite no longer paining its owner, was horribly disfigured and still clearly broken.
Despite all this, Kibera does have its own atmosphere. For one, streets are lined with people selling goods. We passed through a main road leading into the slum, and it was like a marketplace. Children still run around and play. Kibera also houses many different people under one roof, figuratively. Different tribes, people from different situations, the poor, displaced peoples, you name it, they can be found in Kibera. This tribal tension is one of the reasons why Kibera was a site of such extreme violence during the 2007 presidential elections.
Though living in Kibera is tough, people still possess the friendly, welcoming demeanor that I have found pervades the country. We were welcomed into homes, and people unabashedly told us their stories. Most of the children I work with are also very motivated and eager to learn, seeing education as a way to move forward. For those whose parents pay 20,000 Kenyan shillings a year for them to attend school, they also seem to want to make the most of it. While Kibera is not always the easiest place to be, the people are inspirational, and it really makes one appreciate how lucky they are to have the advantages that they do in life.
