A Day in Kibera

Speaking of working in dangerous and difficult places...

I spent a portion of the day on Tuesday in Kibera in Nairobi. Kibera is perhaps the most famous slum in the world - over 1100 acres in the middle of Nairobi. It is nearly impossible to get an accurate account of how many people live there - unoffically 1million, though census reports say closer to 200,000 (difficult to get a census report in there).

We were in Nairobi on Tuesday meeting with the director of Afria Inland Mission who wanted to ask for help from Bethany Kids to set up a medical clinic on the Ngong road. I went with Dr. Stewart to the meeting to talk about details, whether or not it was feasible, and how it might work. The most interesting part was that the clinic would be serving the Kibera slum.

I have included a few photos from our time inside Kibera. I also have some video as well. I have seen poverty in Africa but I can honestly say Kibera was like nothing I have ever seen before. Houses are built on top of rubbish and mud and are made of tree trunks, odd lumber, and corrugated tin roofs. When the rains come, the makeshaft houses can be swept away in rivers of mud. Sewage runs along the streets outside of the markets and houses in open trenches. We had to be escorted through the slum as it would be far too dangerous for us to be inside Kibera unescorted. Crime, gangs, and extreme poverty are the reality in Kibera.

Tiny shops sell everything from illiegal videos to clothing to meat. As I showed you from my last visit, it is not like going to the grocery store to buy food. However, Kibera was something else entirely.

The needs inside Kibera are tremendous and I am posting about it because it was such a different experience, far beyond anything I had imagined I would experience in Kenya - since most of my time was in the mountains in Kijabe. There is a lot of interest in Kibera internationally as such a recognizable slum. The United Nations operates from within Kibera to try to help provide adequate sanitation. The government is also building affordable housing nearby with the hope of eventually clearing Kibera entirely. It has existed, however, since after the second World War when British soldiers where given vast amounts of land nearby and their servants began squatting at Kibera. Speaking of the land given to the British, there are huge houses literally two or three blocks away from Kibera and is perhaps the most glaring example of the difference between extreme poverty and incredible wealth that I have ever seen.

I will share more about this experience when I get back, but for now, here are a few photos from inside the Kibera slum in Nairobi and one looking down at the tin roofs from above.