Friday, January 11, 2008

One face of need in Nairobi



To_jamhuri_best_for_web  Walking out of Kibera and into Jamhuri Park, feels like entering an oasis. There are green paddocks and tall eucalyptus trees. At the top of a gentle hill, there is a small sports stadium. This pocket of greenery on the border between Kibera and the Ngong forest is now home to at least 2,000 women and children who have left Kibera, because they have lost their homes or are looking for safety.



Two-hundred and fifty thousand people have been forced to leave their homes to escape the violence in Kenya, according to offical estimates. A country that has been increasingly integrated over the past 30 years seems to be retreating to ethnic regionalism.



The major slum settlements are likewise becoming increasingly segregated along tribal lines. Most of the slums here have dominant tribal groups. As members of minority tribes flee or are run out of their homes, they are moving to slums where their tribe is dominant, or where opposing tribes hold less sway.



As men and boys continue to be pressed into guarding homes and businesses through the nights, many women and young children are trying to find somewhere safe to sleep. The Kenya Red Cross, St. John's Ambulance and Nairobi Women's Hospital are all offering what support they can to people in Jamhuri.



When I visited the park a couple of days ago, there were women and children lined up to get help from St. John's Ambulance. The medics there said they were not giving out anti-retroviral drugs or providing anything other than basic first aid and disposal diapers for young children. More serious cases and people who need HIV treatment are being refered to Kenyatta National Hospital.



Playing_2_for_webThere were some young American volunteers on the ground, playing with the children. All the kids seemed to have running noses. Chest infections are very common in Kibera, thanks to poor nutrition, poor sanitation and air pollution from burning garbage. Surely the stress of conflict and displacement has only weakened already compromised immune systems.



At Jamhuri, boys and men had started a pick-up game of football. More men were sleeping on the grass. Likely, they had been up all night, guarding the footpaths in Kibera or watching out for trouble in Jamhuri Park.



Other than ongoing insecurity in Kibera, lack of food and lost livelihoods, one of the greatest problems in the slum is lack of access to clean water. That means no water for drinking or bathing.



I talked Monica, a woman who has chosen to stay in Kibera to safeguard the few houses she has built in the slum. She says they are her only source of income and she wants to make sure they are not burnt down. Although she has sent her daughter out of the area, she and her son are spending their nights in Jamhuri. She has hired one of her male tenants to guard the houses at night.



Here's what she had to say about life in Jamhuri.



How is it where you are staying right now?



Sleeping is a problem. We are fearing being beaten there. It is a problem to get water even here. We can't even bathe in this kind of environment. They are being forced to drink the dam water.



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How are you managing without water?



The available water is salty and it is not good for drinking. If you shower, you see the skin changing. I think it could be the dam water, which is not good for drinking.



Right now I am going back to my place to shower in Kibera but there has been an incident a while ago where two young men were attacked. I decided to send my son to try to get me a bed, so at least we can get somewhere to sleep.



Why did you stay?



Because I was fearing for my properties. Here they are getting little help. I have no children here. He is taken to his grandfather.



My daughter is supposed to be joining fourth form this year, which is the final year in her high school. She was supposed to return back on the second. And right now, I don't know what to do because I am in a state of confusion.



The biggest probelm right now is the school fees, that our children should continue to go to school. As you can see, most of our property has been burnt down. We have no clothes. We have no food. We have no means of income. Right now, we are kind of in a confused state.



For us women, we really push for our daughters to get education. If our daughters don't get education, they get can really suffer.



What have you heard about violence against women over the past week?



It's only one incident that I heard of. One woman who we are staying with was abducted by youths. She was not raped but they pushed her and dragged her to the sewer, where she was forced to drink overnight. They stabbed her and left her the following day. She managed to get to the hospital and now we are staying with her.





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