Wednesday, July 20, 2011 (continued)
“We went to Kibera today – the largest slum in East Africa. We were struck by several things. One was the sheer physical scale – it was an entire city of improvised homes made out of sheet metal, mud, and trash that spanned for miles up and down hills like a labyrinth – alleys led to alleys led to more alleys. Streams and puddles of blue-gray toxic water often pooled at our shoes. Makeshift electrical lines were set up to illegally hack electricity off of the official power lines set up by the city that ran over the slum. These illegal lines were strung as a crude network into many of the shacks to feed the residents’ TVs and radios. These were electrical lines that can and have on a number of occasions fallen on houses, electrocuted people and set entire shacks ablaze. Some of these wires run along the ground and have electrocuted unsuspecting residents when pools of water formed around the live wires. And yet, what stood out most were the people – people who greeted us with huge smiles and asked us how we were. Women who worked tirelessly to clean the clothes of their family. People who dressed immaculately and ran their shops and stalls with the utmost dignity and integrity.” –Michael Russo
“After our wonderful visit to the Missionaries of Charity, we walked to Kibera, one of the largest and worst slums in the world. We walked for about 2 hours up and down steep, rocky paths and dirt streets and alleys, stepping over garbage and raw sewage. Despite the terrible living conditions, it is a fascinating community. People survive by being entrepreneurs and running tiny businesses out of small tin shacks and mud and wattle huts. They have hair salons, vegetable shops, coal sellers, corn grinders, butchers, and everything else you could imagine. Schools and small churches are scattered throughout the slum.
We were guided by local elders. The guide for our small group was George, a 33-year-old black belt in karate who was obviously an important and respected person in his area. (People in Kibera live with their tribes.) George took a shine to Lynne Donahoe. He proposed marriage within about an hour and invited her to spend a month with him in Kibera. He showed us his house and karate studio, which are small mud and wattle rooms down a narrow alley. He impressed us all by lifting a Flintstone-style stone barbell with about 250 pounds of weight. As one traveler said, he was ripped. We felt safe walking around Kibera, because no one was going to mess with George. Besides romancing Lynne, George also tried to convince Mark to invest in his karate studio. George was a great character.
Of course we attract attention wherever we go, but especially so in Kibera, because most Kenyans never go there, let alone foreigners. Despite the horrific living conditions, there is also an impressive sense of community in Kibera. George wants to raise his three children in Kibera where he grew up. Everywhere we went, adorable children would stare and wave and shout the only English they know: ‘How are YOU? How are YOU?’
There is talk of shutting down Kibera and moving people to better housing. With so much corruption, it is hard to say whether that will happen. With some estimates of about 400,000 people living there, it will certainly be controversial if the government tries to demolish people's homes and communities.
The trip to Kibera was tough but gave us amazing insight into the lives of its residents." -Ann Chervenak
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