Tracy's Journey

Yesterday, we visited Kibera Slums which is the largest slum in Africa, and I have even heard in the world but not sure of that fact.  It is on land owned by the government and covers about 1.5 acres of land with over a million people living there.  Rich suburbs surround them. As we pulled up to a hill where the road ended you could see all the tin shelters built almost on top of each other. We were able to take pictures from the hill but then were told to put our cameras away as we proceeded down into the slum. We were lucky enough to meet Joseph who runs Shape the Child Foundation and he was so nice. He provided a ride for us and spent a couple of hours taking us around and explaining the organization to us.  http://www.shapethechildfoundation.org/

They first started out providing medical care and then soon realized that only about 10% of children were attending school. So now they have a primary school with 11 teachers and about 450 students.  They also have started a Women’s Project where they are teaching young women how to make handicraft type of items. They currently are working on beaded work; purses, bracelets, & necklaces. We were able to meet several classes who all seemed very eager to learn and glad to be there. The organization is really focusing on the children to instill values and education hoping that in time they will be the ones to change life in Kibera. It is amazing work that they are doing but it seems like such an overwhelming task. But they believe that the people they reach and change the mindset of; then these people will go out and reach other people.  As we started to get ready to walk to the other side of the slums, we had three male escorts getting ready and they were trying to decide if they should carry our bags or if we should. Then it was decided we would carry our own bag, but they said we should walk quickly with no stopping. Then they said if we say walk fast, then walk very fast. Needless to say, it is not safe for white people to be walking around in the slums especially in particular areas. But to ease everyone’s mind, we didn’t have any problems. As we walked thru, we got the full impact of the conditions people live in amongst so much filth, dust & dirt, garbage everywhere, and a strong stench in some areas. At times, we were walking thru wet places, which I wondered if it was water from bins or sewage. As were walking, the children would holler out “How are you, How are you” and since we weren’t allowed to stop all we could do was holler back “Hello”. It is really hard to be in the midst of such poverty and see how so many people’s basic necessities aren’t even met. I just keep thanking God that there are people helping and trying to change things.