four years and is doing great work. But first, a little background information about Kibera. . . Technically the slum doesn’t exist, even though population estimates range from 550,000 to 1.2 million inhabitants. It covers just about a square mile and is marked on maps as the Kibera Forest. The population density is estimated at 1250 people per acre, or put another way, 37 square feet per person. On average three people live in a typical home that is a 10 x 10 foot mud-walled house with a corrugated metal roof and a cloth door.
In the 1920s the British government allowed Nubian soldiers from Sudan to live in the forest outside of Nairobi. These soldiers had helped fight during World War I and the government wanted to reward them. However, they were never given title deeds to the land. That meant they were squatters with no legal rights. Since these settlements are illegal, landlords are not obligated to provide any infrastructure or services. There are no roads through Kibera, no running water, no trash collection, and inadequate housing.
Most people living there don’t have access to electricity, clean water, toilets and sewage disposal. There is one toilet for every 500 – 1000 people. Because of the lack of toilet facilities (plus there is a charge to use them) most people use “flying toilets”. Flying toilets are human feces wrapped in plastic and tossed on the ground.
Vikki works at Christ the King parish in conjunction with the Guadalupe Fathers. Her first project was a community library built on the church grounds for anyone to use. She designed this marvelous mural on the stairway showing Kenyan history, Nairobi landmarks and even their own church. The library contains mostly books and resources about Kenya and Africa. They have copies of all textbooks from the primary level to university. Students often cannot afford their own textbooks, so this is a service that they are able to provide. They cannot check out materials from the library, but can use them at the library. Vikki is serving as the superintendent of the eight schools in Christ the King parish.
We visited a primary school and John Paul Secondary School. We briefly toured a primary school and met a couple of the teachers. Four hundred and sixty students attend this parochial school with only 15 teachers. That averages out to 30 students per teacher! Can you imagine trying to teach 30 young active children how to read? Since John and I will be teaching at secondary schools, we wanted to observe a classroom in session. John went to a junior math class and I was in the sophomore math class. In each classroom we counted 48 desks. I think that there were several desks that had more than one student sitting in it. Both classes were graphing equations. Students were sharing textbooks, pencils, rulers and erasers. There was a constant shuffling as they shared supplies.
Other educational projects we visited were a Poly Tech school that offered classes in hairstyling, tailoring, pattern making, embroidery and computers. Across the street was the Don Bosco Center training young men and one girl carpentry and masonry.
We have a lot of admiration for the many, many people who work in Kibera to make life better for those who find they must live there because of their economic situation.
We were advised that we could take photos on the church grounds and at the schools, but we shouldn’t take pictures anywhere else. Click here to see some photos we took on our trip.
Pictures are worth a thousand words, but a video says even more. Here is a link to some film footage from Amnesty International.
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