The Dust of Kibera

Dennis (right) and Richard (left)

When we got off the airplane in Nairobi, we were greeted by Dennis. Persistent, keen, but incredibly helpful Dennis. Dennis is a travel operator licensed and paid by the government to meet tourists at the airport and provide them with free information about travel highlights in Kenya. This program was started after the recent violence led to a severe drop in the number of foreigners traveling to the nation. Our guidebooks, as well as our families and friends had basically told us to be critical of people, suspicious even, and thus that is what we were. But Dennis helped us book a hotel and drove us there for a reasonable price. While in the taxi, we learned that he is a father of three children, aged seven, four, and one and a half, and that he lives with his family just outside the city. At the hotel, he told us he would come by in the morning, see how we were doing, and then help us book a safari. I was a bit annoyed by his persistence, and I doubted that he would actually show up in the morning. But he did. He was waiting for us when we finished breakfast at 10am.

So we went with him. He took us downtown to a travel office, where we met with a tour operator who showed us a beautiful 10-day safari itinerary for a reasonable price. We were originally going to do our safaris in Tanzania, but then there was Dennis. So Kenyan safari it was. Apparently this new government program works.

We went downstairs to get money for the safari from an ATM, and when I came upstairs I thought I heard a familiar voice. I quickly dismissed that as nonsense, but when the girl speaking turned around, I couldn’t believe who it was. It was Jessica Liauw, traveling with Rob Ciccarelli, and a guy called Ryan. I went to school with Jess and Rob in the Health Sciences program at McMaster University, and I took a few classes with Jess. What are the chances, what with all of the cities in the world and all the tour operators in Nairobi? I still can’t quite believe it. We may even be going on safari with them tomorrow (they hadn’t decided by the time I saw them last this afternoon).

After that, we went for a traditional Kenyan lunch with Dennis and his colleague Richard. We ate ugali (a doughy, starchy roll made simply from maize flour and hot water) with chicken stew and sukuma (a local green vegetable). During lunch, we chatted with Richard, whose family was hit hard by the recent violence in the Rift Valley region of Kenya.

In Kenya, there are two major political parties—the Party of National Unity (PNU) and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). The last president of Kenya, Kibaki, was a member of the PNU party. From what Richard said, the people were tired of his politics, which apparently favoured the rich and ignored the poor. Thus, the majority of Kenyans voted for the ODM, led by Raila Odinga. Odinga is a 62 year old, more socially oriented politician whose parliamentary constituency includes the Kibera slum outside Nairobi, the second largest slum in Africa after Soweto in South Africa. The inhabitants of the slum are said to number upwards of one million.

Thus, when the former President Kibaki secretly and quickly had himself sworn in as President (a marked departure from the normal political procedure), the people were sure he had stolen votes. The areas most outraged by this maneuvering were the Great Rift Valley (an ODM stronghold), as well as the coast and the Western province. In the midst of the violence, Richard’s family home as well as those of several of his brothers were burned to the ground. Since the region has a primarily subsistence economy, families simply cannot afford the 35-40,000 Kenyan Shillings (around 550 USD) to rebuild homes with steel roofs and concrete foundations. In addition, many of them are too afraid to return home in the first place. Thus, thousands of people in the Rift Valley region are living in internally displaced persons’ camps, depending on non-governmental organizations and relatives working in Nairobi to survive.

Richard said that perhaps after we have completed our travels through East Africa, he and I could partner up to create a non-governmental organization to bring relief to these people. I might just take him up on it.

After our delicious lunch (eaten with our hands, “like the locals” as Dennis said), we were given several options as to what to do in the afternoon. I asked if we could see Kibera. Richard said that we could, but that we would have to hire security to accompany us on our walk through the slum. We paid Richard the requisite 7000 shillings (100USD) for him (the guide), Dennis (the driver), and the “security” (two armed guards with AK-47s). Then we left for Kibera.

I don’t know what to tell you about Kibera. There are so many things I could say. But I want it to be relevant to you, and not just inane rambling about poverty and disease.

To my friends who are educators—I challenge you to be like the smartly dressed primary school teacher we saw in Kibera who daily faces the poverty of her children. Instill in your children the confidence they need to survive, but the compassion they need to live.

To my friends who are physicians or students of medicine—I challenge you to respect the humanity of every person you meet, no matter how poor or dirty or uneducated, as the MSF staff in Kibera do every day.

To my friends whose jobs are not much fun—I challenge you to find the blessing in what you do, be industrious, and seek to improve the lives of those around you, as the stove-makers and tool-makers of Kibera do every day. They find or purchase scraps of metal and make them into useful objects. Find passion and turn it into useful energy.

To those reading who are under the age of 10—be like the children of Kibera, who despite their poverty, keep a smile on their face, and call out “Muzungu [white person], how are you?” to the strangers wandering amongst their homes.

Kibera is poverty, but Kibera is not destitution. People survive, and they find direction, whether that be in setting up small coal shops or shelling and selling peanuts, making shoes, or teaching. Be like the people of Kibera—do not merely survive, but find direction.

-Josh

For the next 10 days, Kyle and I will be on Safari. When I get back, I will try to post some pictures, if I can find a decent connection.