Ghetto Mirror issue 20

Ghetto MirrorReal life stories from slums

FREEDo not buy

August 2015 Issue

Lindi-PesaISSUE 20 Ghetto Mirror [email protected]

Gender & Sexual violence

Living | Lindi Business Network launches Kibera’s first ever community currency

............Referals

Rescue centrePsychosocial support services

Link to legal assistanceMedical assistance

SHOFCO Gender develOpment department

Call: - 0703 445 737 - KIBera - 0720 852 920 - matHare

Fourth commu-nity currency in the nation after

Bangla-Pesa, Gatina-Pesa and Kangemi-Pesa but the first of

its kind in Kibera

By Vincent Baraza

Kibera’s Lindi village is set to have its own currency known as Lindi Pesa that is meant to help locals conduct daily busi-ness transactions amongst themselves.

Although it’s not a government recog-nized currency, one of Lindi Pesa’s main goals is to boost small scale businesses and help young entrepreneurs by creating an easier and cheaper platform for exchange of goods and services.

Ann Wamboi, Lindi Pesa’s program co-ordinator, says the currency is going to help small scale businesses sell excess stock and

continues on page 3

Education The challenges of in-formal schoolsin slums

PG 6

EnvironmentIs Kamkunji grounds slowly becoming a dumpsite?

PG 7

TALKING POINT We welcome letters on topical issues on the stories we publish and comments on [email protected]. You can also drop them in our offices at Gatwekera near PAG church.

A publication of Shining Hope For Communities

Editor Liz Mahiri

Illustrations Oscar Chitiavi

ContributorsJohnston Mutua, Michael Ogutu, Namayi Kefa, Sylvester Oluoch, Vincent Baraza, Erick Ouma,

Dorothy Orinah, Eunice Otieno, Kevin Ochieng’, Felix Omondi, Ammbrose Pascal & Brian Okinda

Technical AssistanceAlbanous Gituru & Lily Bullitt

E-mail:[email protected]

Quote of the Month

Joel Brown

Girls and Women forced to sell their bodies to survive

Water ATM

Ghetto Mirror | 2 ISSUE:20 AUGUST 2015

Kibera is notoriously known as the largest slum in Afri-ca, home to more than one million people. Whether or not this al-most slogan is true, the fact is that Kibera is a humungous slum with too many people living in a deplorable conditions, largely ig-nored by the Kenyan government and hustling to survive. One of the ways residents are forced to survive is through prostitution.

In informal settlements, girls as young as nine years old are forced to start selling sex for food or money. Often times, you will find that their parents know about this and either encourage it or look the other way. Others see it as beneficial because they can earn enough to survive. However, a lot of young girls and women may earn as little as Ksh.20 or a plate of chips from the street food vendors.

16-year-old Charity (not her real name) got into the business after her parents died and she went to live with her aunt. Achieng’ says, “ I was forced to leave school and was treated as a house help at my aunt’s house where my uncle often molested me.” This abu-sive environment made her run away and become a prostitute to survive. When asked whether she has or would consider other op-tions, Achieng’ said. “Leaving this business is not as easy as some people think it is because it has become our way of surviving.”

Besides the disgrace and possible danger that these girls and women face while selling their bodies, they face a huge risk of con-tracting HIV/AIDS and getting pregnant. A prostitute may have as many as five to ten partners in a day, sometimes without condoms, and with no access to other forms of contraceptives. In fact, a lot of girls and women that work in this industry most likely do not have access to information about sexual and reproductive health.

Despite the prevalence of prostitution in slums, people are re-luctant to talk about it and the issue is still treated as a taboo top-ic.It’s time people let go of the stigma about this topic and start talking about it, that way, solutions to this problem may be found.

Cats are equally loved or hatedin Nairobi. However, in Kibera, there’s been a lot of controversy over some of the behavior that cats exhibit that have left people perplexed and/or fearful of these ‘domesticat-ed’ animals.

One such incident caused drama at Karanja road in Kibera when a cat jumped over some-one’s head and over a matatu. The cat’s actions caused a stir with witnesses and bystanders arguing over whether this was normal or not.

A lot of people who live in Kibera come from rural ar-eas where people generally treat cats as domestic animals that help to keep snakes and rats away. However, many of these people that have now moved to Kibera are starting to think differently about cats in the slum.

That many of the cats in the slum do not eat rats or food that has been left out increases

people’s doubt about the nature of these cats. Roselyn Anyan-go, a Kibera resident adds that, “Instead, they can even remove hot food from the fire and eat all of it then cover your sufuria the same way you had covered it.”

Anyango says that she has witnessed a lot of strange behavior from cats in the slums from the time she lived in Kariobangi to when she moved

to Kibera. She thinks that Kib-era cats are worse than those of other slums as they seem to be more advanced in unnatural behavior. “I am tired of these cats…if there can another place where these cats could be dumped, I would find peace because instead of talking with my children, I am always talking and quarreling with the cats,” said Anyango.

Another more conten-

tious behavior from slum cats is the sound they produce, that at times, sounds like a baby cry-ing. Winnie Achieng’, another Kibera resident says, “Since I gave birth, there’s been a cat that imitates my baby. When the baby cries, the cat meou-ws in the same way the baby cries, when the baby is silent, the cat is also silent.” A lot of people in the slum say that they have heard cats meowing in the same way a baby would cry. Some people believe that it is a bad omen when a cat imi-tates a baby like this, and that something bad may happen to the baby.

Such behavior, some res-idents believe, is quite unnatu-ral and unnerving for cats. This has led to a widely held belief that many of the cats in the slum are not real and that they may be jinnis.

Fear over cats’ behavior in Kibera

Do it now. Sometimes ‘later’ becomes ‘never.’

Eunice Otieno

one on oneBuju

By Andy Wanga

Who is Buju?Buju is my nickname that comes from the name Bujumbura. My real name is Austin Ogote.I was born onMay 23, 1988. I am a young talentedartist, comedian and an M.C of events and shows. I usually do stand up comedy on the show “Jalango with the Mon-ey” that airs every Sunday from 8:00p.m. on K.T.N, sometimes I’m the master of ceremony for the show when Jalango is not around.I also do stand-up comedy on “Kenya Corner.”

Share with us your upbring-ing.I was born in Kibera and raised by a single mother. I went to Langata Primary School, finished my Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and joined Flori High School where I did my Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination.

What inspired you to get into comedy? I tried out singing dancing and act-ing but faced challenges like lack of studio money, no dance group was willing to take me in and eventually I gave up on this fields.There were auditions for“Kenya

Corner Comedy” at Carnivore,I went and auditioned and luckily I got in. I started doing stand-up comedy at Kenya Corner and after a while, Jalango invited me to his Show.

Auditions for stand up comedy take place when and where?Auditions for “Jalango with the Money” usually take place at the K.T.N building.Auditions for “Kenya Corner” are held at Carnivore grounds on Tues-days and Thursdays at 2:00pm. Any artist who believes in theirtal-ent can come for the auditions.

Which is your biggest shows you have ever performed?I have performed on various shows but my biggest show was when I performed for Safaricom’s C.E.O, Bob Collymore along with Chur-chill. Another big show was performing for the governor of Kiambu County, William Kabogo.

Which show do you rely on more financialy,“jalango with the money”” or “kenya cor-ner”?Eh that’s a hard question to answer but I’ll just say that it’s“Jalango with the Money” because at that show, I have different roles as I am an M.C and a stand-up comedian. But on “Kenya Corner,”I am only a

stand-up comedian.

Words of advice to slum youth?First,I want to say that they should say NO to drugs. Secondly, anyone that has a talent should strive hard to put the talent into good use.All young people should keep themselves busy so as to avoid get-ting caught up in drugs and crime. There are a number of activities that young people can participate in where they can discover or nurture their hobbies and talents. Youth should try their luck because they never know what is ahead of them. I can conclude by also saying that in anything they do they should put God first.

Last words you would like to share? Ihave a big youth group that nur-tures the talents of different artists. The youth group is located along LainiSaba in Mashimoni.This youth group was started on 2006 and through this group, many artists have been able to make use of their talents.Smart Joker,Mammito, Nick D, Geoffrey Oyoo, etc. The youth group is called Group Youth Foun-dation (GYF).I encourage all those people whowant to nurture their talents to try out GYF.

His fans usually see him on Television on K.T.N

hosting the show “Jalango with the Money.” He also

features in“Kenya Corner”. Ghetto Mirror reporter, Andy Wanga, caught up

with him to share some of his life story.

Ghetto Mirror | 3ISSUE: 20 AUGUST 2015

from page 1

render services to custom-ers as well as increase sales.

“Small business owners de-pend on each other for purchasing goods and services to meet their dai-ly needs and during hard economic times, businesses still have goods and services to offer,” Wamboi said. “But they lack cash to do so, that is why we are introducing Lindi Pesa that will act as a medium of exchange among Lindi people,” she added.

The currency system was invent-ed in the U.S.A. as a pilot program and upon its success, it was introduced in South Africa with the aim of promot-ing business and entrepreneurial en-deavors within certain communities.

It first premiered in Kenya as ‘Bangla Pesa’ in 2010 when it was rolled out in three villages in Mom-basa, Shauri Yako, Mazi Mmoja, and Kisumu Ndogo. The initiative has since gained ground slowly but surely. Wamboi confirms that the initiative is still functioning.

The Lindi Pesa currency works on a member and voucher system in which vouchers represent a cer-tain amount of money and only registered members are allowed to access and utilize the currency. The lowest Lindi Pesa amount is

my as it becomes more inclusive of the greater economic community.

“Although the vouchers are supposed to be traded among small business members, it is also open to those with big businesses since we all need each other to grow. The young entrepreneurs look-up to the big ones for motivation, everyone should be part of this,” Wamboi said.

So far, the program that was launched on 8th August has already attracted more than 100 members and the number will most likely increase as there are those who have not yet qual-ified for membership as well as those who still do not know about the system.

Wamboi also points out how the benefits of this new currency could have a huge impact on the econo-

Ksh. 5 and the highest is Ksh. 200. These vouchers should help

to ease the strain of daily business costs while making it easier for busi-ness owners to save their nation-al currency in order to grow their stock and expand their business-es. The initiative will also give out loans to help members with capital and other business related expenses.

To become a member, one has to fill out a simple application form that asks for personal details, the na-ture of their business, how long it has run, the margin of profit and their de-pendents who can help with account-ability. Additionally, one must pay Ksh.100 as a one-time registration fee.

After one has been ful-ly registered as a member, they will receive a Lindi-Pesa vouch-er worth Ksh. 200 to start trad-ing when it is officially launched.

As the initiative is still in its early stages, the focus is currently on raising awareness in order to in-form and attract as many people and businesses as possible. The initia-tive has already been met with posi-tive responses in Lindi with a lot of people eagerly awaiting its launch.

However, there are some who doubt whether the system will be al-lowed in Nairobi since the govern-ment intervened in Mombasa by try-ing to ban the Bangla-Pesa currency. However, the program’s coordinator have their hopes high that it will work.

“If the people of Lindi un-derstand the benefits of this thing, they will all come on board as this will help us uplift one anoth-er by boosting the businesses of those involved.” Wamboi said.

Lindi launches Kibera’s first community currency

Dagorreti North Constituency Member of Parliament Hon. John Simba Arati holding a 50 shilling voucher during the launch of Gatina-Pesa in Dagorreti constituency.

Photo | Google images


Pic Speak A full page of pictures storiesfrom slum areas.

A Lindi resident cutting the ribbon during the launch of Lindi-Pesa on August 8th at DC grounds in Kibera.

Photo | Google

Lindi residents holding hand bags branded Lin-di-Pesa. The currency, which the first of its kind in Kibera, will be launched in Lindi village.

Photo: Google Images

Education is the key to success, reads a wall at a public primary school in Soweto slum in Kayole.

Photo | Google

National Youth Service (NYS) youth cleaning up on the streets of Kibera. This is one of the services they offer in Kibera and other slums.

Photo | Google

This artist creatively pleas to youth and drug addicts to stop using drugs as it is not safe for anyone.

Photo | Joseph Kinyua

Being cautious, this man looks at the high crates of buns he has stacked, perhaps to make sure he delivers them in good quality.

Photo: Joseph Kinyua

A Mathare resident lies on the ground after consuming too much alcohol.The government is cracking down on illicit alcohol across the nation in efforts to reduce, if not halt consumption of illicit alcohol as tons of people lost their lives or their eyesight.


This cart is apparently not just for transporting water, vegetables and household items but can also ferry people from one point to another. However, it is not clear whether the two were taking turns in pulling the cart or the passenger had paid.


Ghetto Mirror | 5ISSUE:20 AUGUST 2015

By Felix Omondi

Mathare slum, which is known as the national brewery of chang’aa

has not been left behind in the current-ly raging war against illicit alcohol.

The area chiefs and the po-lice have carried out raids on many occasions in the area in efforts to curb this problem.

But their efforts have seemed futile because as soon as the po-lice officers leave, business as usual resumes as breweries re-open and production continues.

Hundreds of liters of chang’aa and kangara have been seized and poured and many have been ar-rested. Drums used to prepare these illicit brews have been seized by the police and taken away in

a bid to help fight this menace.Bars and drinking joints have

been raided and property of un-known value destroyed. To date most of spaces and structures that were known for drinking remain closed as the war on illicit brews rages on.

Despite the Chiefs’ and Po-lices’ claim that this crackdown is for the benefit of residents, the res-idents have raised concern about the approach this war is taking.

To residents, the war seems to have changed course from fight-ing illicit brews in the area to fo-cusing on the locals themselves.

The residents were particu-larly angered by a police operation carried out on July 28 in the area.

On this day the General Ser-vice Unit of the police (GSU) con-ducted a community wide raid that began in the wee hours of the morning and lasted till mid-day.

Many residents who were

on their way to work were am-bushed and forced to carry drums of chang’aa to police vehicles.

Those who refused faced the full force of the law. Some were thoroughly beaten, others forced to do silly things such as frog jumps and press ups. They were humili-ated in front of friends and family.

The raid moved from local brewing dens to the locals’ homes. Some houses were broken into as the search for hidden alcohol went on.

Those who were found in oth-er places like hotels were chased away or thoroughly beaten up.

This left the residents with many questions as to why they were being treated as second class citizens.

The disputed raid seems to have been carried out as a way to teach the residents a lesson after Police aborted a raid on 19 July after resi-dents stoned and chased them away.

Many residents are in sup-

port of the war on illicit alcohol but raise concern on the impact this raid will have on their area.

Another controversial is-sue on the raids has to do with the economic impact that this huge industry has on Mathare.

Some residents pose the import-ant question of what will happen to all the people who work in the industry.

Others carry the view that oth-er jobs related to this industry such as prostitution will be on the rise as many of the bar maids who work in the lo-cal bars will have nowhere to go to.

The rate of insecurity is also expected to rise drastically as some of the young men who worked in this sector will now resort to crime as a way of supporting themselves.

Moreover, with the decreas-ing job opportunities from the Na-tional Youth Services (NYS), they will have nowhere else to channel their energy into productive work.

Also, if this war on illicit alcohol continues to take this approach, the lo-cals are most likely to develop a hos-tile attitude towards the police service.

This hostility between the locals and the police will cre-ate fear and mistrust which will be a heavy blow on efforts to make Mathare a safe environment.

This war illicit alcohol should not only focus on production but should also consider the consumers.

Many of the local drunkards will have an extremely hard time try-ing to sober up as no rehabilitation centers have been set up in or near the area to try and help them out.

For an effective outcome, the war on illicit alcohol should take all these issues into consideration.

It should be fought on both fronts, from the locals’ side to the police side, in an inclusive, com-prehensive and intelligent way that can finally ensure victory.

The war on illicit brew intensifies

Youth serving the community while making a livingBy Kevin Ochieng’

Majengo, a Swahili word mean-ing buildings, is one of the biggest slums in Nairobi county and home to more than half a million people according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data of 2010.

Over the year, the slum has been associated with all sorts of negative things from prostitution to drugs and crime. But a group of youth have come together to form a group that will help rebrand the slum’s tarnished name through income generating activities.

The group now known as the Millennium Youth Group (MYG) was founded in 2000 by 17 youth with the aim of encouraging and pro-viding young people to participate in activities that are beneficial to them-selves and the community as a whole.

Since 2000, the group’s mem-

bers have grown to 26 and MYG has moved from being a mere self-help group to a government-regis-tered association that is well-known for the impact it has had in its area.

The group’s main activ-ity revolves around sanitation which includes clean-ups con-ducted on Wednesdays and Sat-urdays of every week. They also supply clean water to residents.

A member who only identi-fied himself as Charger says,” We have employed seven people who deliver water to residents.” “But when the demand for the commod-ity rises they recruit more people to help on supply,” Charger added.

Apart from sanitation and wa-ter services, the group also promotes sexual health through the provision of free condoms to Majengo residents as most of them are engaging in sexual activities without access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services.

The group decided to start

this service as Majengo slum is known as one of the most thriving locations in Nairobi’s sex industry.

Mary Sanyu Osire, a self-pro-claimed ambassador for social and behavior change communication in Africa working for Hifadhi Af-rica (an SRH organization), ex-plains the reality of this situation.

According to Mary’s blog, marysanyuosire.blogspot.com, one can easily spot a female sex work-er in Majengo by the way a girl or woman sits on a small, wooden stool outside their house to symbolize that they are at work. When a client ap-proaches her, she follows him into her house carrying the stool on hand.

To help with curbing the danger-ous diseases that are caused by unsafe sex, MYG also distributes condoms to Majengo residents. Ali Ramadhan, a MYG member says that they strategi-cally put up condoms at toilet facilities in various locations where people can easily access them. Ramadhan posits

that the sex industry is so large that “there are no rape cases around this area as there are women available for sex and for as little as Ksh.20-100.”

Non-Profit Organizations like United States Agency for In-ternational Development (USAID) and Gesellschaft für Internatio-nale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) a Ger-man corporation for internation-al development, have stepped up campaigns where commercial sex workers are taught and given aware-ness on how to protect themselves.

Sex workers can also un-dergo medical checkups ev-ery Tuesday for two hours.

While MYG members are hap-py about the progress they have made, they still encounter a number of issues that make their work challenging.

The lack of a proper sewage sys-tem means that the sewers will often block or burst. The County Sanita-tion Department that is mandated to deal with this issue often do not han-

dle this problem, forcing the MYG clean-up crew to unblock sewers themselves without the proper equip-ment and at the risk of their health.

MYG’s biggest challenge is that most members take advan-tage and use some of their facilities like toilets or bathrooms for free.

Alcoholism in the area also causes a few problems because drunkards tend to smear human waste on toilet walls making it hard-er for the cleaners do their work.

Their biggest worry howev-er, is caused by an elected politi-cian who, they claim, wants to take over their facilities. The politician is also said to have grabbed a piece of land where a toilet stood, and re-placed it with a different structure.

Despite these challenges, Ra-madhan and Charger are optimistic about the fruition of MYG’s long-term goals to venture into hous-ing projects and a biogas plant as a way of increasing their income.

Slum youth celebrate International Youth Day

By Silvester Olouch

On August 12, youth from slums celebrated International Youth Day in style at the GoDown Art Center located in South B Estate.

The event was organized in collaboration with Nairobits, an NGO that offers Information Com-munication Technology (ICT) class-es to slum youth at highly discount-ed fees in an effort to improve their ability to contribute to their so-cio-economic well-being through creativity and innovation using ICT.

Nairobits works through slum Community Based Organizations in Nairobi and other slums in East Africa and other places to offer ICT knowl-edge to otherwise vulnerable youth.

In Nairobi Nairobits has part-nered with CBOs like Youth Initia-tive Kenya (YIKE) in Kariobangi, SHOFCO in Kibera, Koch Hope in Korogocho, Maji Mazuri in Mathare and Mukuru Center in Mukuru kwa Ruben to offer their courses.

The International Youth Day event invited a guest panel that includ-ed the Assistant Chief who rebuked the ill motives taken by young high school students in immorality and drug abuse.

The chief pointed to a re-cent national-news-making inci-dent in which high school students were found with drugs and cop-ulating on a public service bus.

In advising the youth on these is-sues -of drugs and sex-he used a phrase that U.S. president Barack Obama on his visit to Kenya stated; that the youth are the eyes of future generation.

Another guest panelist, Mau-rice challenged slum youth to use the internet in innovative ways to solve slum problems and some of the issues they face as slum youth.

He also encouraged them to read youth-related articles such as The Afri-can Youth Chatter and the section of the constitution that focuses on the youth.

He believes that such read-ing materials are good for youth as it can guide them appropri-ately on how to help themselves.

Vincent Amayo, who was rep-resenting Kibra MP, Kenneth Okoth,

spoke about money issues and told the youth not to complain about not get-ting access to the Kenya Youth Fund.

He also encouraged the youth to pursue these funding opportunities that are offered by the national government by forming and registering groups.

To access these funds, he said, “The group must have a bank account which must be reg-istered under the group’s name.”

In addition, he advised youth about the bursary fund that helps with financial aid for school fees.

Many other guests also spoke and emphasized on the importance of the youth to be more innovative and entrepreneurial in helping themselves.

Many repeated the advice that rather than waiting to be handed jobs, youth should start small busi-nesses by saving money and get-ting help from family and friends.

Many of the youth that attend-ed the event said that they gained a lot of knowledge from the pan-elists’ remarks. “This was a great opportunity, I feel really inspired and changed”, said Fellah Awaga, a first course student with Nairobits.

Topical stories ondaily happeningsin our society.Society


By Felix Omondi

It’s a cold morning and a group of more than 30 mentee’s are making their way to the Ghet-

to Foundation premises in Mathare. They are the 2015 mentees who

are enrolled in the Saunders Social Entrepreneurship (SSE) program.

The SSE program began in 2005 with a mission to up-lift the lives of Kenyan youth and their communities through sus-tainable social entrepreneurship.

Currently, the program is op-erating in Kibera and Mathare slums. The Mathare offices also ac-cept residents from other slums, as far as Dandora and Lakisama.

The program works with stu-dents from the University of Brit-ish Columbia (UBC) in Canada and Strathmore School of Business in Kenya who act as facilitators.

In 2009, the program entered into a partnership the Ghetto Foundation so as to reach more people in the slums.

The program entails a five week course that includes ten workshops with lessons, activities, presenta-tions and exercises. Throughout a full course, participants learn how to prepare business plans, source for funds and manage the day-to-day

It also helped me learn how to set realistic

goals, plan how to attain these goals and the ac-

tions to put in place to make sure I reach these goals.

Stephen Anaya

running of a business by studying income statements and cash flow.

In its ten years of existence, a total of 450 Ken-yan entrepreneurs have gone through the program. Also, a total of 80 un-dergraduate and MBA students from the University of British Colombia have participat-ed in the program.

This year’s program has the highest number of mentees with ap-proximately 120 Kenyan entrepre-neurs signed up for the program.

Pastor Josh-ua, a mentee in the program is thankful for the opportunity as entrepreneurship and self-employ-ment seem to be the government’s poli-cy for dealing with high unemployment rates among youth in the country. To him, there is no better place for youths

in slum areas like these to learn how to start and manage a business.

Pastor Joshua also challenges the government to come up and support busi-ness ideas that are developed through these programs by offering grants and loans that will en-able these ideas to

b e -come reality.

1 9 - y e a r- o l d Juliet (last name) from Mathare who is also cur-rently a mentee in the program has many praises for it.

“This pro-gram is great, it has expanded my knowledge on busi-ness and as well as helped me de-velop my business idea just by hearing from other people’s experiences and ideas,” said Juliet.

Stephen An-aya, a graduate of this program also

praised the initiative saying, “The

program taught me that in order to achieve my dreams of becoming a social entrepreneur, I must be am-bitious, hardworking and realistic,”

“It also helped me learn how to set realistic goals, plan how to attain these goals and the ac-tions to put in place to make sure I reach these goals,” he added.

Behind all the great praises of-fered by the participants are the fa-cilitators who put a lot of time and effort to impart their business knowl-edge to the mentees. One such facil-itator is Brooke Allen, a professor of graphic design at Emily Carr Uni-versity of Art and Design, Canada.

Brooke says that she was mo-tivated to volunteer for the program based on her belief that everyone has the right to receive an education no matter where in the world they live or their status in society.

“I was motivated to come to Nairobi, Kenya because as an educa-tor, I believe everyone should have access to education. Education creates opportunity and I wanted to be part of that and contribute,” Brooke said.

Despite the huge successes of the SSE program, they continue to ex-perience some challenges. One of the greatest challenges is the high num-ber of drop-outs among the mentees.

At the Kibera site, they had

an initial dropout rate of 29% after first week and another 60% dropped out by graduation. However, the Mathare site’s initial dropout rate was 5% after first week and anoth-er 62% dropped out by graduation.

In dealing with the high rates of drop outs, the program has im-plemented a stricter application system to ensure that they get se-rious and committed participants.

By Collince Ouma

Kibera is quite a reli-gious community with a large number of Chris-

tians and Muslims alike. You can tell based on the number of churches and mosques that dot the congested slum.

On weekends, the church-es are used as worshiping places but during weekdays, these same spaces are used as classrooms.

These churches that become schools also host a lot of differ-ent activities whenever the space is free such as watching football matches and holding meetings.

The effect is that there is no permanence of the school environ-ment as things like chairs and desks get rearranged, lost, or taken away.

A lot of these schools literally have to be reorganized every day to function as learning environments.

While this situation is not ideal, Kibera does not have enough schools, let alone enough spaces/structures to house the schools that exist.

A majority of these schools within Kibera are informal, meaning that not only are they not recognized by the government, they also lack proper resources including the phys-ical structure itself, teachers, books, blackboards, chalk, desks, chairs, etc.

In fact, there are only four for-mal primary schools in Kibera namely, Olympic, Kibera, Toi Market primary schools and Raila Education Centre with none of them found in the slum but in the outskirts of Kibera slums.

As Kibera’s population is huge, with school-aged children making up a huge percentage of residents, most of these schools, whether they are formal or informal, are overcapacity and overwhelmed due to lack of resources and space.

Over crowded

For instance, Olympic Pri-mary School has about 3500 stu-dents and although it is a public/formal and government recognized school, it is having a hard time han-dling this number of students with-out enough resources and space.

One of its biggest chal-lenges is its lunch program; the school consumes 10 bags of maize and 2 bags of beans daily.

The three other formal schools are experiencing similar challenges but informal schools suffer from more than just over-capacity and lack of resources.

To begin with, that informal schools are not recognized by the

government is a fact that threat-ens the existence of the schools.

The informality of a school means that it can be shut down at any time, causing all educa-tional progress for the students to come to a sudden halt, which has its own set of dire consequences.

Informal schools also generally experience the problems of overca-pacity and lack of resources on a larg-er scale and on a more extreme level.

What’s more, most of these schools can be demolished or evict-ed without notice or compensation simply because of the informal status.

One such school, St. Juliet Edu-cational Center, sits beside the railway line and is facing this challenge as the government and Kenya Railway Au-thority want to demolish it to create space for railway constructions and to avoid consequences of train accidents.

Parts of the school have already been demolished be-cause of this development.

The school has 600 stu-dents, most of whom are or-phans meaning that they can’t de-pend on school fees to survive.

The school is funded by sponsors and well-wishers including Carolina for Kibera and the government which provides some kind of aid once a year.

Despite these funding op-tions, the school is constantly suffer-ing from lack of money. Mr. Jared

Omusula, the head teacher says that although there is no set amount of school fees, students are sometimes required to bring Ksh. 200 to pay for the cooks, electricity and water.

Due to the recent demolition of parts of the school, the eldest 86 students attend class in the upstairs section that is now extremely dilap-idated, with no walls and no roof.

These students who are about to take the National Kenya Certificate Pri-mary Education (KCPE) exams, have to endure both scorching sun and freez-ing rain as they attend their lessons.

Mr. Omusula the head teach-er of this school says that he is at a loss over what to do because of the risk of further demoli-tions if the school tries to rebuild.

Lack space

“There is no space to con-struct other classrooms because the railway company wants their land,” Mr. Omusula added.

Helen Atieno, a school manag-er in one of the informal schools that was started in 2003 when a church’s pastor agreed to let the space func-tion as a school during weekdays. But as time moved the church’s management decided to charge Ksh.

3000 for used space per month.“They don’t want to know

whether the pupils exist or not, they want money at the end of the

month,” said Mrs. Helen. The school has 200 students

and goes up to class 4. Ms. Atie-no says that she can’t guarantee that the school will expand its levels of classes because of the uncertainty of securing enough money and space.

A student from another in-formal school in Kibera’s com-plained that the quality of edu-cation they get is extremely low.

The student, who request-ed to remain anonymous, said that although they pay less money, they do not get quality education.

“In a week, a teacher may come to class only twice a week and still expect us to perform well in exams,” said one of the students.

These students believe that the teachers are not certified, and probably only have secondary school education, like themselves.

Atieno believes that this prob-lem can be solved if the government funded public schools or allocated spaces and structures for schools.

She also thinks that the issue of access to affordable and quali-ty education is probably more im-portant than the National Youth Service (NYS) initiative and re-quires less effort and management.

Challenges of learning in informal schools

Social entrepreneurship course helps youth be more self-reliable

450The total number of youth who have gone through the Social Enterpre-neurship Course

that has existed for 10 years.

A once mobile clinic offers free treatments

Kamkunji grounds become a garbagedump site

Health

Environment

Ghetto Mirror | 7ISSUE: 20 AUGUST 2015

Garbage piles at Kamkunji grounds threaten vitality of town center

‘Rich Man’s Disease’ crops up in slums

By Bill Clinton

Slum residents may be at a high risk of contaminating what is popularly known as ‘rich man’s’ diseases due to the kind of lifestyles some of them lead.

This is after several health cam-paigns (held in July) that offered free diabetes and hypertension tests dis-covered that quite a substantial number

of slum residents have these diseases.Dr. Joram, a medical expert

on these diseases at African Med-ical Research Foundation (AM-REF) hospital in Laini Saba said that these diseases are rapidly in-creasing not just in wealthy areas, but in all types of places, including slums because of the way lifestyle changes have occurred over time.

World wide statistics show that there are over 387 million cases of diabetes. Only half of the people diagnosed receive treatment. Out of this half, only half are happy with the outcome of the treatment.

He explained that these diseas-es are more prevalent because of the types of food that we eat these days.

“Times have changes and we now have lifestyles that contribute more to these types of diseases,” said Dr. Joram.

He also said that foods with a lot of fat, salt and sugar, in ad-dition to alcohol, are the major contributors of these diseases.

“As much as the body needs these materials for its normal metabol-ic processes, the amount that we take nowadays is unhealthy,” he added.

Except for a very few abnor-mal cases of infants born with these diseases, almost no one is born with lifestyle-influenced diseases. There-fore, people should be unexceptional-ly keen on the kinds of food they eat.

In doing so, Dr. Joram empha-sized that parents should also be care-ful about the kinds of food they feed their children as younger people are easily attracted to these types of food.

He also advised that peo-ple should embrace the use of cholesterol-free cooking oil.

Talking to one of the patients at the waiting bench, Lillian from Laini Saba, Kibera said that she was found to have contacted the disease [Hypertension] due to improper stress management skills. She also says she has been a victim for two years.

Lilian, a patient at the hospital and a resident of Laini Saba Village in Kibera, said that she was diagnosed with hypertension two years ago.

Although she was diagnosed at the free mobile clinic that AMREF of-fers for slum dwellers, one of the prob-lems she cited about this issue is lack of awareness or lack of participation by Kiberans at these free health services.

Lilian said, “Many residents do not attend to regular tests and medi-cal check-ups even though these ser-vices are offered for free by AMREF.”

A good way to help determine whether one may be at risk of getting or having these diseases is checking for some of the common and notice-able symptoms associated with them.

Dr. Joram said that one can check for diabetes if they experi-enced uncontrolled dispensing of short-calls, while hypertension can be signified by irregular heartbeats at random occasions. People should also check for signs of obesity if they are constantly gaining weight from eat-ing fatty, salty and/or sugary foods.

Dr. Joram warned that these diseases, if not well managed, can cause serious health complica-tions such as stroke, kidney fail-ure and the deadly heart attack.

He advises that one of the eas-iest ways of protecting yourself or lessening the impact of the diseases on your health is through exercise.

“Most people neglect exercising but it is very essential in fighting obe-sity in that it helps get rid of excess fats from the body. This is the cheap-est way to fight a lot of other health problems as well including diabetes and hypertension,” said Dr. Joram.

These diseases are very deadly and that’s why AMREF in partnership with the ministry of health are out to rally campaigns against these disas-trous diseases and in the process, pro-vide free testing to the willing slum residents. STAND OUT, GET TEST-ED and help improve the health of your society and future generations.

By Andy Wanga

Kibera residents have recently been com-plaining about the

large piles of garbage that sit by the train tracks at Kamkunji grounds.

This is because a Kamkunji ground is a popular and busy space that serves as a town center where people gather to conduct business and politics.

Other than being a huge eye soar, the garbage also stinks, obstructs

one of the main pathways in Kib-era and creates a serious health risk.

While this garbage pile is the collection point for the National Youth Service initiative that cleans up the slum, it is clear that NYS workers and non-NYS residents as well as business-es all dump their garbage at this spot.

Mercy Adhiambo, who is popularly known as “mama sa-maki”, sells fish along the rail-way tracks in Kamkunji grounds.

She says that her business has suffered since the garbage’s appear-

ance. Adhiambo explains, “I have lost a lot of customers because of the bad smell that comes from the gar-bage.” She says that the garbage is a big impediment for her business be-cause she can’t take it anywhere else.

Despite this recent development, Kamkunji grounds remains a perfect location for businesses like mama samaki’s which pop up at rush hour selling ready-to-cook food, among many other goods and services.

This is due to the thousands of people must pass by Kamkunji on

their way home from work, or peo-ple generally frequent the grounds for the public events like, open church services, mobile clinics, political rallies, music and other entertain-ment concerts that take place there.

John Omondi, a clothes sell-er who sets up shop at Kamkunji is worried about the effects that the garbage might have on his health, especially since he is there from morning to evening on a daily basis.

Omondi says, “I might get sick and maybe not even know it till much later!” He also thinks that NYS should collect the garbage on a daily basis.

Food vendors, like mama sa-maki, who sell vegetables fish, fruits and snacks close to or next to the railway line in Kamkunji grounds say that they’ve been struggling as pedestrians and potential cus-tomers are now skeptical of the cleanliness of the food and snacks.

Despite all this activity, of-tentimes, the garbage at Kam-kunji grounds sits there for a week or more before NYS trans-ports it to Dandora dumping site.

This is a huge health risk fac-tor, as the garbage is exposed with dogs, cats and other animals freely digging through the piles and pos-sibly spreading dangerous germs and other infectious diseases.

Moreover, it is unclear whether or not it is safe to inhale the vapors and smells that emit from this pile of possibly toxic or harmful waste.

Given all these health risks and negative effects the garbage pile is having on Kamkunji ground’s vi-tality, NYS and the County Gov-ernment should come up with a dif-ferent location to pile the garbage.

It is clear that most residents not just those who conduct business-es and other activities at Kamkun-ji, want a solution to this problem.

Kevin, a Kibera resident voiced his opinion on a possible solution saying, “residents and NYS who have turned Kamkunji grounds into a dumping site must be stopped and if anyone is caught throwing garbage there, people should take the responsibility of ensuring law and order into their own hands, in-stead of waiting for the police.”

NYS workers have retorted by saying that this although this is their responsibility, they still have to take instructions from top managers and do not have much of say on where garbage should go and how long it can take the piles to be cleared.

They also defend the proj-ect by pointing to some of its suc-cesses such us the high reduction in dumping garbage anywhere and everywhere which has contributed to making Kibera cleaner overall.

The NYS team believes that every individual in Kibera should be responsible for a cleaner envi-ronment by not littering, recycling and keeping their spaces clean.

A heap of trash in Soweto West village in Kibera. The same is seen in Kamkunji grounds where garbage collected from other villages are collected and left for some time.

Photo | Google Images

Ghetto Mirror | 8 ISSUE:20AUGUST2015

The Ghetto Mirror is a monthly publication published and distributed for free by Shining Hope for Communities as part of its programs aimed at empowering the youth through developing their media skills and also to bring attention to the issues affecting the residents of the informal settlements. All the work that goes into production of this newspaper is done by youths from the slums. Correspondence should be addressed to [email protected]. You can also visit our facebook page www.facebook.com/ghettomirror for constant news updates, photos, and videos. News and advertising 0722 550 024

GhettoMirror

SHAMAS Rugby FoundationRugby club created forneedy kidsSports

By Vincent Baraza

August’s SHAMAS Rugby Foundation tournament went down at the KCA University grounds along Thi-ka Super Highway as planned despite the month’s incessant cold weather.

The tournament that is meant to not only introduce the sport to slum children but also to bring togeth-er teams from Kibera, Korogocho, Mukuru, Mathare and Eastland not to compete but to build team work and enhance the spirit of sportsmanship.

As rugby continues to gain popularity among Kenyans, SHAMAS Rugby Foundation is dedicating its effort to assure that Kids for poor backgrounds can also be part of this game through its monthly rugby tournaments.

This initiative is a major source of inspiration and encour-agement for poor children who have a passion for the game but have no opportunity to nurture the skill.

Held weekly in Kibera, Mathare, Eastland, Korogocho and Mukuru, the rugby sport clinics bring together over 200 children be trained by rugby coaches, most of whom are current rugby players.

According to SHAMAS Rug-by Foundation official website, they have been able to introduce rugby to more than 2000 children from informal settlements around Nai-

robi in a span of two years now.The idea to start a sort Rugby

academy for slum kids was first sug-gested by the Kenya Rugby Union but it died off after the union faced a lot of challenges such as lack of fa-cilities, funds and poor fan turn-out.

However the idea was to be revived when Azim Deen, one of the current sponsors, decided to support it with his desire to nurture talent and offer life skills for chil-dren living in informal settlements.

Besides nurturing rugby tal-ent, the initiative also focuses a lot of effort and energy in producing responsible individuals in society.

William Ferguson, head of oper-ations at SHAMAS says, “It is not the game we focus on, it is the kids, we are try to make them appreciate them-selves and not focus so much on their background, they need to realize that they are above the ‘slum-kids’ label.”

“We are instilling team work and respect for each other because growing up in such an environ-ment can make a kid rough and hard to socialize with his/her peers due to discipline” added William.

Despite the cold weather, the kids could not have been convinced to take a break from the game to keep warm in the provided rooms.

But what is even more pop-ular is the yearly tour, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that takes the

players outside the country to En-gland where they stay for 10 days and play a number of games while bonding with players from well of countries and different cultures.

In addition to the fun and games, the initiative is also working on an educational sponsorship element that provides scholarships to aca-demically high-performing students.

“We have had some success-ful talks with a Kenyan bank on how they can sponsor some of children through primary school. We want to give opportunities to talented boys and girls to go to a quality high school without paying school fees” said Eduardo De Paoli, head of projects.

Through the initiative, sev-eral players have won scholar-ships and entries into good govern-ment, rugby-playing high schools.

Two kids, Maxwell Omon-di and Victor Regena have both received sponsorships to at-tend Upper Hill High School.

The organization is also appeal-ing to sponsors to come on board to help make these slum-children’s dreams of making it in the game come true.

“Funds have been a challenge with the growing number of children who are joining the initiative daily. It is our hope that other organizations will see the importance of this initiative and walk with us, because this is not for us, it’s for the children” said De Paoli.

Photo | Shamas Rugby Foundation website

Foundation started a rugby academy for needy slum children to help develop the game in informal settlements

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Ghetto Mirror issue 20