A Scenic Tour of the Kibera Slum

My last “tourist attraction” in Nairobi is a visit to the Kibera Slum where 1.3 million people live in abject squalor; where dangerous live power lines drape between rusty tin shacks, where drinking water runs next to raw sewage and children suck contaminated water from leaky pipes and get sick from typhoid, cholera, dysentery, chronic diarrhoea and parasites, where there’s no proper sanitation and people live surrounded by mountains of rotting garbage. 

When I arrive with my guides Victor and David, suddenly two huge black men appear and I joke: “Are these guys my body guards?” and everyone laughs.

We pick our way through the colourful market stalls festooned with products that nobody can afford to buy, to narrow back streets lined with hundreds of minuscule derelict shacks, trudging through squelching mud and layers of filthy rubbish, jumping over puddles and rocks, along a railway line that runs right through Kibera amongst the teeming hoards, with trains running regularly to distant places as far away as Uganda.

I am impressed by how the gangs of boys are keeping a respectful distance from me; a conspicuous blonde white woman carrying a handbag containing money and a smart phone. The adults smile and say “Jambo” while the little kids cheekily call out “Muzungu” (amused by my stark white skin) and sing out the English phrase they have rehearsed: “Hello, how are yooooo?” I respond in a musical voice: “Very fine. How are yooooo?”

As we wander through appalling conditions unfit for human habitation, I ask my guides; “How does the government allow this?” And then right here in the middle of the largest urban slum in Africa, I receive an education about the unjust politics of Kenya.

It is well known that Kenyan politicians earn outrageously high salaries. Some make $50,000USD per month when you add up their exorbitant salaries and numerous allowances for entertainment and travel expenses, acquired from the taxes of hard-working Kenyans. 
Apparently politicians have better things to do than address the horrendous problems of the Kibera Slum. 


Granted there have been some government efforts to relocate a small number of families, to provide a few schools and a community centre but these projects barely make a dent in the scale of the overwhelming problems and human rights violations.

The four men are all members of the Orange DemocraticMovement working for social justice and human rights. One of the big guys who joined our Slum Tour is standing for the county election next year to represent the neglected people of Kibera. He is an admired community leader dedicated to improving conditions for families trying to survive in this 1000 square acre wasteland and he has fierce support.

Kibera has grown into an entrenched sub-standard outer suburb offering cheap housing to many thousands of rural families who moved to the city seeking work but failed to gain employment where nepotism and tribal connections often determine who gets the well-paid jobs.

It is also well documented that President Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s first black president, Jomo Kenyatta, after Independence from British rule in 1963, is fabulously wealthy, owning massive tracts of land and property and many Kenyans say that his silver spoon upbringing has made him oblivious to the suffering of the poor.

One example of doing it tough is my new friend David who has cared for his four young sisters since their parents died tragically years ago. They live in Kibera and often go without food. This devoted Big Brother sometimes resorts to casual labour carrying 50 kilo bags of cement up several storeys on building sites to make $3 a day. The girls wash laundry on Sunday to make a few shillings.

However David uses the public library to study for a degree in International Relations with an ambition to become a Diplomat. His sisters are studying hard at high school to become human rights activists and lawyers and the youngest girl wants to be a doctor. They are driven to escape the slum and make a better life. Hearing his determination and discipline, I have complete faith that this family of siblings will eventually succeed.

David asks me about poverty in the UK. I stop and consider: “Well I suppose the most extreme form of poverty is homelessness where people sleep on the street or in the underground train stations and beg for money from city workers …but then I suppose the homeless in London at least have access to clean public toilets and clean water and can buy food.” I realise that poverty is measured in units of desperation for basic survival needs and dignity.

There are positive, inspirational rays of hope that shine from the bleakness of Kibera; many ingenious people here are enterprising in the ways they devise to make a living; running stalls selling all kinds of goods and services. They are truly entrepreneurial, realising they must help themselves and invent clever ways to survive every day.

The guys take me to meet their friend Jack, a talented craftsman who runs the Victorious Craft Group. He makes exquisite jewellery from recycled materials such as cow bones, wood and brass and trains young people in his unique methods to produce necklaces, bracelets, earrings, bowls, salad spoons and other beautiful items. 

When we leave the Slum after three challenging hours of having my eyes opened to true urban poverty, I realise the big guys were in fact acting as my bodyguards. Without them walking on each side of me I could easily have been mugged. I guess I’m lucky to have escaped unscathed, while the human beings condemned to living in these unhealthy, degrading conditions are not so lucky.

If you are interested in volunteering in the clinic or schools at Kibera, contact David at Jungle World Safaris