NEWS


LIVING IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENT

Your Holiness Papal, Government Representatives, Dignitaries from different states and members of the community, residents from different parts of our country gathered here today……GOOD MORNING.

In the beginning, God created the world and saw it was beautiful and therefore gave man to be the steward. In my understanding, man was being asked to take care of the world and be responsible because God created us in His image and likenesses; but because of our human weaknesses, man failed to live according to this call and instead chose his own desires. This has affected the true love of God to us and instead, we have classified ourselves into classes of the rich, middle and the poor.

Your Holiness, Papal, allow me to share with you the experiences of one living in an informal settlement in the urban city of our country Kenya, because I’m proud of living in an informal settlement and I call it my home and my hope. It is thus our hope and dream that the anticipated slum upgrading will NOT continue to be politicised and will thus combine security of tenure with shelter and service provision, therefore our hope that the much talked about slum upgrading, will be beneficial to us all. According to the UN Habitat, residents of Nairobi’s informal settlement constitute 55% of the city’s total population yet we are crowded on 5% of the total land area in the city, these statistics have their historical roots in the failure of the state to provide for low-cost housing for the poor leading to absentee landlords taking advantage of the poor in the settlements thus building temporary structures which are not conducive for human settlement and charging high rates for the same. As a result, thousands of residents have encroached on unoccupied land, including that set aside for road reserves, railway lines, forests and public utilities, where they have put up semi-permanent structures.

The people in the informal settlements live together as a family and this is evident during different celebrations for example birth of a child, marriages/weddings and also in death. We see communities practicing their fundamental cultures and others sharing and participating in the same as one unit, the love for one another can be strongly felt during these occasions, with the people living in unity and solidarity and one cannot differentiate the people with colour, tribe or their living standard, again this is clearly demonstrated when one is faced with fire outbreaks, death, sickness and lack of food.

Well, the common resident of any informal settlement survives on less than a dollar a day (we refer to this as the slum budget), BUT, we are able to access fresh agricultural products from markets coming from the rural areas and, one can get their stomach filled with a hot cup of tea and donut at only Kshs. 20/=.

Our informal settlement residents are the majority of labourers in big companies at the industrial areas which always happen to be adjacent to these slum dwellings, where they offer their skills and quality services to these companies and thus generate revenue to the government through the different taxes but are payed minial amounts of money as compensation since these industries do not suffer from lack of labourers as there is constant rural-urban migration. If you happen to take a walk in any settlement the amount of resilience of the people can shock you since the people are so enterprenual and this can be seen with the huge number of small-scale businesses that are being run by men, women, and youth earning their living.

Your Holiness, We cannot ignore the efforts of the government in trying to provide security, but still much needs to be done in the informal settlements, as this is a huge challenge, as there are not enough police force or police posts in the community to ensure law and order and some few police men/women here with us are also very corrupt taking bribes for cases that should be taken for prosecution or acting as judge and jury or even ignoring crime.

We are happy with the governents free primary education in our country, but, for us in the informal settlement, it’s a challenge because we do not have enough public schools to accommodate the high population in slums. The many privately owned schools in the settlements charge high prices and many of us cannot afford this in as much as we would wish for our children to enjoy quality education.

The many settlements in the country suffer from lack of government service provision and this includes health and sanitation, which has been taken up by private entities and/or NGOs or indivuduals. These privately owned clinics do not have enough trained personnel worse still many are run by quacks.

Your Holiness, Water is a fundamental right for all human beings and access to quality water is a responsibility of any government to her citizens. People living in informal settlement have no access to this fundamental right, whenever we receive water, its rationed, of poor quality and not safe to drink, this was very clear when many people suffered from Cholera early in the year. This is clearly due to poor governement structures with regards to slums and poor policies in place with regards to the same. These settlements are also home to various Non-Governmental Organization’s both real and fake formed by individuals who do not have good will of serving the people but enriching themselves as individuals and those who genuinely have the best interest of the community at heart, its quite unfortunate that the majority are made up of selfish individuals.

Papal, political machination is the order of the day in our settlements; our leaders take advantage of the poverty striken youths and tribal composition in the informal settlements and use this negatively as a campaign strategy to enter into politics and government. Fortunatley, the people are now more aware of this strategy and now embrace and accept their different ethnic backgrounds. The Catholic Church prides itself in being in the forefront of the churches concerned with the well being of the community in the settlements by not only handling matters of faith but also creating awareness and human development.

Your Holiness Papal, It’s my humble request to you, to arge my government to provide services and assistance where necessary, to all the people in the infomal settlements and to ask that they work to improve on the challenges mentioned herein and many others but more specifically to address the issues of security of tenure, economic entrepreneurship, health, education and security thus improve the living standards of the people living in the informal settlements and in conclusion, Let me take this opportunity to thank the Government of Kenya and the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops for giving me this opportunity to share with you this brief information on the life and experience of us who live in informal settlements. It has been a pleasure and honour not only to me but to all informal settlement residents. And I dedicate this honour to them. God bless you and bless our country Kenya
JOHN PAUL SECONDARY
Demand for access to secondary education is growing radically because it is viewed as the entry to social and economic growth in the community.
Since its inception the school has continued to face the challenge of taking in more students, which requires hiring more teaching and support staff, use of more didactic materials, laboratory equipment and the feeding program.
With the increment of students each year, we also need more space to add one more stream in order to cater well for the students. Your support will be highly appreciated.

DAY-TO-DAY LIFE IN KIBERA

According to the 2009 Kenya Population and housing census, the total population living in kibera slum can be most likely estimated between 220,000 and 250,000 people with 9 villages, Kianda, Soweto, Gatwekera, Kisumu Ndogo, Lindi, Laini Saba, Shilanga, Makina and Mashimoni.
Kibera has piped water, from the municipal council and the World Bank. Residents collect water at Ksh 3 or 5 per 20 litres.

 One latrine is shared by up to 30 houses. Once full, young boys are employed to empty – they take the contents to the river. UN-Habitat and other NGO organizations have build toilets which residents pay Ksh 5 every visit. 

ANNUAL LAINI SABA PRIMARY AND NURSARY SCHOOL FUN DAY

The Main purpose of having the fun day is for the kids to entertain themselves by acting, singing, telling jokes, reciting poems and a fashion show for both boys and girls. This also enables teachers to aid the growth of talents discovered during the occasion.
TEACHING THE FEEDING PROGRAM KIDS UNDERSTAND CONSERVATION THROUGH RECYCLING  
The environment in kibera is very poor and the residents dispose of waste materials in drainage systems that almost stagnant because there is no a designated area of disposing of waste.
The rationing of water makes the situation worsen and the little piped water they get passes through open sewers and drainages. Most residents don’t treat their drinking water, which increase the spread of water borne diseases and malaria.
Valeria, a Guadalupe lay missionary, came up with an idea of empowering the children to give back something to the community by conserving the environment.
She showed them how to recycle used bottles of drinking water as planting pots. With the help of Marlene and Rocio they showed the kids how to plant green peas using cotton wool and water in the used drinking bottles.   
The department had a feeding program for kids who are HIV positive and one diabetic.
Any help given to support the feeding program will be highly appreciated. Thanks.

DEDICATION OF OUR CHURCH
In January 2007 the construction of a permanent church started, and with the effort of our community through annual fundraisers, assistance of Guadalupe Fathers and missionaries of St. Patrick, the vision has come true and our magnificent Church was officially opened on 29th January 2012 by Cardinal John Njue.
The Catholic Women Association together with church leaders received the Cardinal at Ngumo bus stop. The ceremonial parade then commenced through Soweto sub-parish to the main parish, where the Sunday School Children and the choir welcomed the cardinal. 
After the procession the parish priest gave a brief history of the church and he welcomed the cardinal.
The cardinal blessed the baptismal font and with water from it, he sprinkled the people, then the walls of the church, the chapel and finally, the altar. In his homily the cardinal explained the meaning of the dedication of a church.
He accentuated the importance of couples accepting and respecting one another and requested the children to respect their elders as is expected of them. Giving an example of him-self the cardinal urged parents to educate and monitor the education of their children since it is the pillar of any development.
After his homily, he proceeded with the anointing of the candidates who received the sacrament of confirmation. With oil he anointed the altar table and the walls of the church followed by burning incense on the altar table.
The representatives of those who had been involved in the construction of our church handed over the key to the Cardinal who handed it over to the parish priest amid jubilation from the parishioners.

After the mass the congregation headed out of the church to open the church memorial stone.


We would like to thank our supporters and well-wishers for your continued help. May God, bless you all.