Slums

Photo of Kibera slum taken long before the current unrest in 2004 during Erica's first Short Term Mission trip to Kenya.

Late yesterday afternoon, at about 3:30 pm, protest rallies began to form in Uhuru Park in downtown Nairobi. The protesters were met by riot police who sent volleys of tear gas into the crowds. One of our neighbours closed his business, which is located in the city centre, as a gang of looters attempted to break into his dealership by throwing bricks at the showroom windows. The worst violence took place in the city slums: Juja road leading to Mathare Valley and Eastleigh was blockaded by burning tires and angry groups of youth, and at least two people were killed in the police response to rioting in Kibera slum. This leads us to offer an answer to a very good question raised Mr. Hayward's social studies students in New Brunswick concerning "slums".

A slum is an impoverished urban area where people of multi ethnic backgrounds gather to live in overpopulated substandard housing and squalor. The United Nations estimate that over one billion people in the world live in slums. In Kenya, hundreds of thousands of people come to find work in the capital city of Nairobi from the rural villages and towns of the other provinces. For most people, a slum is their only option for an affordable place to stay. In Kibera, Africa's largest slum, people crowd into into makeshift houses often made from mud and sticks with tin roofs, mud floors and without running water or toilets. Sewage runs down the little alley ways that run between kilometers of shacks. Whereas there are many slums in Nairobi, areas like Eastleigh are considered "ghettos" as they are impoverished areas that are distinguished by ethnicity and religion (Eastleigh, for instance, is largely made up Somalis and other Cushitic Muslim groups).

The prevalence of unrest within slum areas is probably the result of several factors. The mix of impoverished people from diverse tribal and political backgrounds is certainly one contributor to the problems. People feeling anger and frustration over injustice and political upheaval, often look for someone to blame. Sadly, generational mistrust and tribalism can spark people to take out their rage over the political situation against people of tribes they perceive as causing the trouble.

A second factor may be the the sheer size of the slums -- pack enough frustrated people into a small area and something is bound to blow! Well before this current situation, Kenya has seen countless examples of "mob violence' or "mob justice" being acted out in slums. Someone is accused of a petty crime and the crowd acts swiftly to exact punishment (often leading to the beating and death of the accused person). In Kenyan slums, the police are often preceived as a threat. This distrust alone may at times contribute to the size of the mobs fighting with police.

Slums are also places where people are fighting to survive. People living in slums are good people who for the most part struggle to find work and get ahead, most dream of getting out of the slum or at least providing for their children so that they will have a better future. Of course there are people who have contracted terrible diseases, suffer from addictions, and many who have just lost hope. And yet, we know many people living in slums with the will and faith that they are not meant to stay there. This desire to live against the odds, causes people to react against what they perceive as as an attack against their future. I have heard people say that for an election to be rigged is throwing their country back into a past they want no part of. For these people, they are driven by a deep fear that if they do not cry out that they will lose the future they have toiled for -- not only for themselves but for their children.

I am sure there are many other reasons behind the violence between police and protesters and amongst the neighbours within the slums of Kenya. Sadly, human life is not always valued within communities of great poverty. Children and women living within slums are all to often the victims of greed and violence both from predators living within and outside of the slums. You can be praying for the churches, organizations, and schools that are trying to make a difference in the lives of some many vulnerable people. Thanks again for asking such a great question!!

Oh, and to the last question: No, Emma's loose tooth has not fallen out yet but we do think there is a tooth fairy in Africa!