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.