Kibera

Background info

So I started writing this post over a month ago and continued for at least ten times. But now I deleted everything. The thing was becoming a boring disgrace. Which is a great pity, since it was my favorite topic up to that point of our trip. The visit of the largest slum on the African continent! And I was just over-doing it. Too many details for the history, filled with doubts if I get everything right. So now the short and dirty version.

Firstly, numbers: according to different sources cited in Wikipedia, the slum has between 170.000 and 2.000.000 inhabitants. Mind-boggling, isn't it? Well, more realistically it's probably something between 300.000 and 800.000. But read the Wiki article, I'll leave the judgement to you. And all numbers there are anyways over 10 years old, so who really knows?

Next, history: of course the thing started again with colonialism – how could it be otherwise? First it was a home to colored (forced) railroad workers that weren't allowed to settle within Nairobi's city limits, then the area was awarded to the Nuban soldiers fighting in the King's African Rifles regiment (KAR), whose descendants still claim ownership today and lastly after Kenyan independence in 1963 it was declared public property. But the descendants of the KAR still rent out part of the area. Then the influx of people from the countryside lead to a sharp increase in population and seemingly nobody was responsible for the build-up of infrastructure. That's more or less where we are now. But for more info, again, read Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibera

Wale Wale

So how did we get to visit the place? We didn't just take a cab, drive inside and walk around. That might be a bad idea as an obvious outsider. It's a maze – you have no idea where to go, what's safe to do, what's stupid or offensive.

Sven luckily had a connection to the local NGO Wale Wale that operates in Kibera and offers the following activities for teenagers:

They are providing a safe, healthy environment for all kinds of cultural activities and a tuition program for academic success. The cultural activities are dancing, crafting, painting and acting. In fact, upon arrival we were greeted with a short dance show.

Furthermore the space includes a small library and the kids can go there to do their homework which often is not possible in the dark 5 sqm shacks they call their family homes.

Family circumstances and living arrangements are often the reason why kids miss classes and as a result drop out of school early. Once dropped out, it's difficult to get back in, as public support for school fees depends on academic success. Here Wale Wale comes in and helps funding these fees.

The Tour

After visiting the NGO's premises, they gave us a long guided tour through Kibera. For safety reasons, they took pictures with our phones, so we didn't have to carry any valuables. I'll just post some pics from the tour with comments.

Sven trying to remember some kids' names.

Play time near Kibera river. Yeah this isn't exactly spring water.

Free plot waiting for new residents.

Farming is also an option if you can afford the rent.

Our guides having fun :)

Through a web of small alleys – no coming out without a guide.

Small square with shop. Oh you can pay everywhere with mobile pay there!

Bold youth vs ancient wisdom – who'll win?

Visit to a shack, where a woman is living with her two boys.

Now to my two cents on the visit. I had A LOT of wrong preconceptions before it. I expected a place where people mainly hung around inactive, lazing the day away. Then I imagined everything having an awful stench and being super-trashy given that so many people are living in a very small place without infrastructure. But nothing is further from the truth! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the main road, but damn is Kibera busy! There are loads of small shops for every imaginable trade, everybody is running around. And people absolutely like to keep their space as clean as possible, since they have so little of it. Then there is the issue of the trashing of the river. That's unfortunately difficult to avoid, since there is no public services organizing orderly trash removal. At least since a few years the number of public bathrooms has been growing to over 100 (check again the inhabitants in comparison to that number!), but the residents have to pay a monthly or one-time fee in order to use them. It's absolutely incredible to me that the place does not stink and I bow to the residents for keeping it so clean under these circumstances!

At our return at Wale Wale's headquarters we got a quick improv theatre performance showing the difference between African and European mums – very funny :D

I really love Wale Wale's work and think it's super important. I am usually very reluctant with donations, because you never know where the money ends up. But having visited the situation on the ground, I am confident this is a worthy cause that merits support. So if anybody is interested in joining me, just contact them on their website: https://walewalekenya.com/contact-us/

Furthermore I'd like to thank our guides, two of them are young photographers based in Kibera:

• Don Wilson: https://www.instagram.com/donwilsonofficial/
• Mary Achieng: https://www.instagram.com/otienomaryachi/