The land was leased to refugee Nubian soldiers after WW2, but has always remained crown land. Different ethnic groups gradually moved in; people who had some work but could not afford the rent demanded by the owners of traditional apartments.
Des, Tabby and I had a morning to kill in Nairobi (waiting for news of our work permits - no we do not have them yet) so we took a paid tour of Kibera. For about $30 each we were taken on a guided three hour walk around the poorest part of Nairobi. Phillip was the tour leader, and Charles was the 'muscle'.
Ironically, we met our tour guides outside the trendy Java House coffee shop in a nearby shopping centre. After a short 'briefing' we were off on foot. Unfortunately for us, it had rained quite a bit over the past 24 hours so the ground was very muddy.
Our walk took us through Toi Market, the second largest market in Nairobi. You can buy anything here, prices marked on the goods and no bargaining expected. It is a labyrinth of makeshift stalls and service providers. We didn't hang around as Kibera was waiting.
The word 'slum' is easy to define geographically, but it evokes images that are not always correct. A slum is a residential area where the occupants/landlords do not own the land and are dwelling illegally. This is true in Kibera. We were told that the water was the only utility obtained legally. The land and electricity is illegally procured. The Mombasa-Nairobi railway line also bisects Kibera.
However, a slum is not a place where people sit around doing nothing and bemoaning their poverty. In fact, the amount of enterprise in Kibera is astounding. There are many factories producing good quality merchandise, with employees working in basic but clean premises. We visited a 'bone factory' where animal bones were obtained from the abattoirs and turned into jewellery. The level of workmanship was high but I would not like to continually breathe in the bone dust that permeates the air.
We also dropped in to the 'power women's cooperative'. A group of 15 women support HIV positive women, teach them new skills and produce handicrafts for sale. We were very impressed with their dedication and selfless effort.
Phillip has a project where he is collecting plastic, chipping it and selling to recyclers. He also distributes plastic bags to members of his neighbourhood so that their refuse can be collected, sorted and also recycled.
Not once did we feel threatened within the slum, even when one guy commented on how much he would like a Nikon camera like mine! Many residents went on with their daily business, some wanted to shake hands and say hello. There were no beggars. The children, so cute and comparatively well-dressed, smile shyly and keep their distance - there are not too many muzungus in Kibera.
We learned that 70% of the children complete primary school, and a much lower percent go on to high school. Schools are private, mostly funded by churches and NGO's (even though Phillip calls NGO's Not Good Organisers). The government makes speeches about helping slum dwellers but basically ignores their existence.
Apartment buildings have been built near Kibera, and the government has moved people out of the slum and into the low-cost apartments. It has not been successful. The 'lucky' tenants are removed from their community (Kibera is divided into tribal districts) and they are removed from their workplace. Some travel back to the slum to work each day.
Others sub-let their apartment and move back to Kibera where they can live behind their workplace and keep an eye on it. Locals don't want to be moved out, they want the area upgraded. The crowded nature of the slum makes this virtually impossible.
Phillip calls Kibera the 'chocolate city', I think because it is composed of many hectares of rusting corrugated iron structures. The houses are simple sheds about 3x4 metres in size. There is a living room and a bedroom, often housing up to 10 people. The rooms are divided by curtains. Cooking seems to be done outside, or food obtained from a street seller.
There are makeshift drains and litter everywhere. On this particular morning the paths were thick, brown mud. Walking around was difficult, especially on steep pathways that wend their way around businesses and houses. As in most parts of Kenya, plastic bags are prolific - mingled with the mud and even hanging from the few trees that have survived defoliation.
Most houses have no running water, toilet or electricity. Many that do have electricity have tapped into power poles illegally. We were shown one school which was being 'renovated' after an electrical fire had destroyed the classrooms.
At night there is virtually no lighting (except for three huge light towers that were put in by a NGO). Phillip says that it is very noisy until about 1 am - the locals like their reggae music, and they like it loud. Houses are very close together, at least 90% of the slum would not be accessible by car. Much of the area is quite steep land - perhaps this is why the government has never tried to develop it.
Phillip was very proud of his chocolate city and was keen to highlight the positive side of Kibera. He is too familiar with the negative publicity that pervades newspapers and political-speak. So to some degree we were kept away from the blemishes, and I'm sure there are many. Crime is a problem in some areas of Kibera, although there were not the steel doors and bars that exist in the wealthier suburbs. Unemployment and lack of skills is also prevalent. I have read that up to 50% of the 15-21 year old girls are pregnant. Many resort to abortion which leads to a higher mortality rate for young girls.
Undeniably, Kibera is a necessity in Nairobi, and I never thought I would say that about a slum. It provides so much more than the word 'slum' suggests. There is a strong sense of community, work opportunities, support services and, perhaps most of all, a home for the less affluent members of Kenya's growing urban population.
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