Ghetto MirrorISSUE 22 Ghetto Mirror ghettomirror@shininghopeforcommunities.org

Real life stories from slums

FREEDo not buyOctober 2015

Residents turn to energy saving bulbs as Kenya Power switches

to tokens

By Brian Okinda

Electronic shops in slums are making huge profits from the sale of energy saving bulbs.

This comes after Kenya Power& Lighting Company (KPLC) launched a slum electrification initiative that provides subsidized electricity in in-formal settlements across Nairobi. The initiative that was launched in August of this year is also meant to reduce frequent fire outbreaks caused by illegal

continue on page 4

Pilot Initiative promoting women’s

empowermentBy Collince Otung’

On Sep. 12, 160 students graduated from a two-month Show of Force (SOF) course.

Show of Force is a behavior and attitude change program in Kibera that seeks to empower women by educating both genders in several age groups on the need for women’s empowerment

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Relief for students in slums as teachers end strike Brief

Teachers endstrike

SHOFCO FC downs two Eastlands teams to lift County trophy.

>>> Pg 8

Weather man warns of heavy rains but are we ready yet?

>>> Pg 7

Johana Justin Jinich Clinic

Teachers end month-long strike

to continue les-sons after court orders them to

wait for a ruling to be issued after 90

days

Story page 5

Teachers wanted the TSC to abide to the court ruling that ap-proved a payrise of between 50 - 60%.

The government refused to abide to court ruling saying that the payrise was unaffordable

The teacher’s union agreed to a court order of a suspen-sion of the strike for 90 days

Cervical Cancer Screening & Prevention HIV Comprehensive Care CentreGBV Response Centre

Maternal and Child Healthcare Primary CarePreventive Care and Im-munisations

Working hours: Weekdays

7AM - 6.30 PM Weekends 7AM - 4PM

Ghetto Mirror | 2 ISSUE 22OCTOBER 2015

TALKING POINT We welcome letters on topical issues on the stories we publish and comments on ghettomirror@shininghopeforcommunities.org. You can also drop them in our offices at Gatwikira near PAG Church.

Are we ready for the long rains?Slum residents should be more

responsible about garbage

A publication of Shining Hope For Communities

Editor

Liz Mahiri

Illustrations Dennis Mwanzia

Contributors

Kevin Ochieng’, Jared Kefa, Dorothy Orinah, Felix Otieno, Brian Okinda, Winnie Atieno, Silvester Oluoch,

Bill Clinton, Collince Otung’, & Eunice Otieno.

Technical Assiatance Albanous Gituru & Shilpa Guha

E-mail: ghettomirror@shininghopeforcommunities.org

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your

enemies.

Quote of the month

Nelson Mandela

It is said that the leaders of tomorrow are the youth of today and the leaders of today are the youth of yesterday. In informal settlements, residents strongly believe that the youth will bring the much needed

changes required to transform slums. However, as many youth have abandoned the work of cleaning up their slums due to NYS’s suspension, the evidently dirty state of most slums now indicates that change is still a long way to come.

In a conversation with a few Kibera residents, it was dis-heartening to hear one Joseph Mutua pointing out the increasing-ly undeniable truth that Kibera is quickly turning into a big dump site.

Most slum residents claimed that the responsibility was not theirs de-spite the fact that they throw their household waste carelessly, ignoring the health hazards they are exposing themselves to. What’s more, a lot ofres-idents do not appreciate the good work of organized groups which carry out clean-up projects in certain areas. Unfortunately, the neat work these groups is only visible for a few hours before residents go back to dumping.

It is becoming more and more difficult to move from one end to another of Silanga village in Kibera whether on wheels, railway or feet. In addition to preventing easy mobility, it is difficult to survive the stench of the garbage, let alone the horrific bodies of dead dogs and cats.

Worse still, the now blocked drainage channels are left with no option but to meander out of their proper pathways in order to continue flowing.

Slum residents should realize the importance of keeping their surround-ings clean and this should happen whether or not NYS goes back to work. A 15-year-old boy in Si-

langa village in Kib-era is spending his

life in a rehabilitation center after gettingcaughtwhile trying to make away with a neighbour’s DVD player. A couple of days before, he was caught with a stolen lap-top from the same neighbourhood.

As a consequence of steal-ing the laptop, both the boy and his mother suffered in the hands of irked residents.

Despite his constant wrongdo-ings, the boy’s mother continually protects him, which may contrib-ute to the boy’s repeated offenses.

The neighbors described the boy as a threat to their peace.

“He keeps us alert and always on the lookout when he is around,” exclaimed one of the neighbours.

The other neighbours also said that theparents have been too lenient in bringing up the boy.

In fact, it is well known in the neighborhood that that the boy left school in favor of robbery and inde-cent behaviorand his parents are not doing anything to correct their son.

Surprisingly, the boy’s father is a conservative pastor who be-lieves that the best he can do for his son is to pray for him so that God can deliver him from his evil ways.

On the other hand, the moth-er is so blinded by what she calls ‘parental love’, that she cannot raise a hand to her son.

The dormant participation of both parents in upbringing and molding the boyhas landed them and their son in disgrace.

This should be a lesson to all parents to engage in active participa-tion of their children’s upbringing.

Current teenagers have rot-ten behavior because of the path their parents have chosen for them. When the issue of students engag-ing in barbaric behaviors in a pub-lic service bus trended in the news, people wondered who was to blame betweenthe teachers and the parents.

Teachersare hiding be-hind the government’s shadow that forbids them from punish-ing students while at school.

Perhaps this is the reason those students had the nerve to en-gage in such unwarranted behavior-while still in their school uniforms.

If the government does not want them to be disciplined by teachers, what will the same gov-ernment do to them? Baby-pam-per them in rehabilitation centers?

As far as every parent would like his or her child to become a successful person in life, this can

hardly work without discipline. The fact that is unknown to

many is that children’supbring-ing does not need divided atten-tion but rather depends on the determination, focus and efforts of the parents towards the child.

If you will sit back, fold your arms and watch your child go astray thinking that his/her teacher will correct him/her for you, your child may turn out like the boy thief.

The teacher you are de-pending on has a heavy task of instilling the syllabusinto your child’s brain and proper up-bringing should be upon you.

It is high time that mod-ern parents learn from old-er times when upbringing was a community responsibility.

Parents these days are so pre-occupied by their careers that they hardly have time for the family. Thumbs up to our forefathers for properly bringing up their chil-dren to become good parents.

Parents don’t spare the rod! Strike the iron while it is still hot because mtoto um-leavyo ndivyo akuavyo -a child grows up as he/she is brought up.

Spare the rod and spoil the child

Bill Clinton

SHOFCO Aldut Literacy is recruiting primary or secondary school drop outs who want to continue with their education.

Join today for freeWe are located at the Kibera School for Girls compound

Ghetto Mirror | 3ISSUE 22OCTOBER 2015

By Mirror Reporter

Who is Fello?My name is Felix Onyango, I am 21 years old and the first born in my family. I have three siblings, two brothers and a sister. I went to Lindi Friends Primary School in Kibera and Soweto Baptist Second-ary School.

How did you start playing foot-ball?I was around five years old if I am not wrong, we were playing for our school when Coach Ken Onyan-go of DX United scouted me and invited me to his team. I joined his team and we started training every evening after school.

What are some of your best mo-ments playing football?I will start with the most recent one, winning the Nairobi County mini-league at Camp Toyoyo. I have also played for City Star’s Academy. I also liked it when I started playing football when I was young.

Other than football, which others sports do you like or play?No other ones, it’s just football and football alone. In terms of hobbies apart from foot-ball, I also love doing community service, social work and listening to gospel music

When not playing football, what do you do?As I mentioned before, I like doing community service. I get moti-vated and encouraged when I see

someone with a smiling face after helping him/her. Sometimes, I do social work as well and I have a small business of selling mitumba-second hand- clothes.

How did you end up playing for SHOFCO FC?Coach Ken advised us to join SHOFCO in 2007. We were playing for DX United then.

Who is you favorite player and role model in football? I am my own role model, but my favorite player is the Brazilian captain Thiago Silva.

How do you rate Kenyan football compared other countries in the world?Kenyan football cannot be com-pared to other countries since we lack serious investors who can invest in our football. Corruption is also killing the game in Kenya. Despite this, there is a lot of great talent locally.

Given a chance to play profes-sional football where would you like to play?I would love to play professionally in Europe, specifically England or Spain.

Where do you see yourself in five to ten years?I would like to have achieved at least a diploma in Social Work and Community Development and also expanded my business.

Are you fan of Kenyan football, which club and who is your fa-vorite Kenyan football player of all time?Not really, but I like watching Gor Mahia’s right back Karim Nzigi-yimana playing. I like his calmness and discipline with and without the ball.

Do you have plans to play in the national team?Of course, that is every player’s dream, to play in the national team.

If you were FKF president for a month, what would you change or do differently?First,I would try to ensure there is transparency in everything we do since there is none now. Then I would try my best to invite more investors in football. Lastly,I would strive to improve the playing grounds in Kenya as most of our football pitches arein bad shape.

What is your last word to the youth?I would like to say to the youth that unless you recognize yourself,no onewill. Everyone has a role to play in this world. You have to start from somewhere to get to where you intend to be. Lastly, I would like to finish with my two favorite quotes; “A tragedy of life is not death but life without a purpose. Nobody is a nobody but everybody is somebody, so every youth out there, you can go for it”

Hardship pushes woman to become a bus conducter

one on oneFello

By Collince Otung’

Deborah Waithaka wakes up at 4 ev-ery morning to get

ready to go to her job as a bus conductor in Dandora, Nairobi.

She began working after re-alizing that she needed to help her family make ends meet. At first however, her husband, who has the same job, was skeptical about the potential for his wife to succeed in this male dominated industry.

Before she got this job, Waithaka’s husband was strug-gling to make ends meet, let alone put food on the table. Now she earns Ksh.1,200 per day, a little bit more than her husband earns

and has gained his support as well. “My family is fully satisfied

with the money I get, especial-ly my husband,” says Waithaka.

Waithaka is happy with her decision to help her husband make ends meet, happy to con-tribute to the household’s income.

Need to change stereotypes

She explains, “Many women believe that men are the ones sup-posed to work but I don’t believe so. If I thought the way other wom-en do, we would still be suffering.”

While a lot of women now-adays work, there is still a strong societal belief that only men can be the breadwinners and only women can be the caretakers.

Waithaka, among many

other women in society, prove that these stereotypes about gender roles are not true.

In fact, she started two busi-nesses, a boutique that is attached to a salon. From these business-es, she is able to pay for her three kids’ school fees which amount to Ksh. 16,500 per year, pays rent and sends some money to her parents.

In addition, she is part of a group of other women who also work and save money amongst themselves.

Because all the women in this group earn a fair amount of money, they are able to contribute quite a lot to their collective savings, and they can each take out up to Ksh. 60,000.

Her decision to work af-fords her a comfortable lifestyle and future security. Accordingly, she advises both women and men

to let go of their gender stereo-types when it comes to working.

“I would like to urge all women to start doing the du-ties that men do and they will be more successful and useful in the community,” Waithaka said.

Husband’s death

Another woman, Anne Awour from Kibera, Nairobi, also started working as a con-ductor after her husband died.

She had never worked be-fore but she found herself with no choice but to look for a job in or-der to support her three children.

She started out by opening a kiosk but she wasn’t making any profits. She saw that other women

were making good money in con-ducting buses. Consequently, she found a mentor and started work-ing with her. Now, Awour makes Ksh. 800 - 1,200 and above daily.

Work knows no Gender

Like most bus and matatu conductors, she reports to work at 5 in the morning and finish-es around 10pm. Her earnings have enabled her to hire someone to look after her three children.

Awour says, “Work should not depend on gender, but on one’s ability to do the job.”

She doesn’t see it as a challenge to be a woman in the industry, but rather, she believes that it’s an advan-tage because more people will get into her bus because she is a woman.

Hustling Women defy normsto succed in jobs that are associated with men

Felix Onyango, SHOFCO FC’s cap-

tain has guided the team to its first ever major

trophy. Ghetto Mir-ror caught up with him to shed light

on his football career so far.

Ghetto Mirror | 4 ISSUE 22OCTOBER 2015

Bringing backthe memorablemoments to lifePic Speak

SHOFCO FC players enjoying themselves at Camp Toyoyo grounds in Jericho after clinching the Nairobi County mini-league trophy. They beat Baba Dogo United 2-1 in the finals. The team now proceeds to Nairobi Provincial League. Photo | Adan Ibrahim

King Needs Motors is filled with water jericans as the water shortage in Kibera escalates. Boys who were out of school during the teacher’s strike are also seen on top of the jericans per-haps helping the owner transport water to his customers. Photo | Collince Otung

One of the loudest massages teachers sent to the government during the recently concluded teacher’s strike. The strike was called off after a ruling by the industry court ordered teachers to resume duties until after 90 days when they will reach an agreement with TSC. Photo | Google Images

and dangerous home-made electric wiring and to re-duce theft from the main grid transformers within the slums.

Kevin Mwatia, who works at the Nature Foundation Electron-ics/an electric supply shop, says the demand for the bulbs has in-creased tremendously since the installation of the power lines.

“We have so many customers now” he said.

The shop sells at least 10 bulbs a day with each bulb cost-ing between Ksh.100-250 de-pending on the type and quality.

The installation of prepay box-es is still going on in houses across slums and has ensured at least ¾ths of the households in each slum light their houses with pre-paid tokens.

Izrael Odhiambo, an elec-trician who operates along the Gatwekera-Laini Saba Rail, says

that residents are getting it right by buying energy saving bulbs. Odhi-ambo explained, “The bulb has a lot of advantages such as being dura-ble, cool and does not emit heat. It is also cost effective as it saves on electricity, thereby reducing the cost of electricity and it is mercury free.”

Macrine Mulembi, a resident from Lindi in Kibera, who cur-rently uses the bulb in her house attests that she has saved a lot of money by using the energy-sav-ing bulb. “I bought tokens worth Ksh. 500 and was awarded 48 units, I’ve been using the bulb for 3 weeks now and I still have 44 units.

Most other bulbs that have 100W have now has lost their market. When asked how they plan on selling them, bulb suppli-ers said they are targeting busi-nesses along the streets like ki-osks which still use these bulbs.

Energy saving bulbs find market in slums

Relationships An advice section that answers ques-tions submitted from readers about their relationshiops problems.

Society Stories on topicalissues happeningdaily in slums

I am a 19-year-old woman in love with a handsome 22-year-old man. We have a son but, I don’t understand where we are heading coz it’s like he has other girls in his life. I want to spend the rest of my life with the fa-

ther of my son. I’m also afraid of what will happen if he leaves me because I don’t have a job. Please advise me

on what I should do?

Esmeralda from Majengo.

Dear Esmeralda,

The first thing you ought to do is to sit down with the father of your son and tell him how you feel and what you want. Second, look for a job. You are both still young hot cakes, so the guy is just mixed up and probably doesn’t know what he wants in life. It’s not good to plan a future with someone who does not have future plans or worse yet, someone who does not have you in his future plans. In any case, it’s very important to start getting involved in something productive. It will get your mind off him and improve you in many ways. Lastly, it is not a must for women to be married or live with the man that they bear a child with. Thank God for giving you a wonderful baby and put your attention on him/her. One day, the guy may come around and be there for the both of you.But till then, you have to put yourself and your son first.

Good Luck!

By Kevin Ochieng

It is official, Sonko Rescue Team (SRT) is no more. Speak-ing in Machakos during his fa-ther’s burial, the Nairobi Sen-ator Mike Sonko announced publicly that he was disbanding SRT.

Sonko also announced that he was doing so to support the Nairobi Governor Dr. Ev-ans Kidero in running the city.

According to the Senator, he is doing so to show appreciation to Dr. Evans Kidero who had been by his side since his father was ad-mitted to hospital until his burial.

This comes as a disappointment to many Nairobi residents, especially slum dwellers, who had been bene-fiting from the project’s free services since its launch earlier this year.

The flamboyant Senator had started the initiative to pro-vide free and diverse services to people who could not easily ac-cess these amenities in Nairobi.

Many of the services SRT of-fered were vital and provided much needed support. One of the most essential of these services was free ambulances that were especially suited to drive through the narrow and decrepit roads inside slums.

Fire engines were equally important as they were also cus-tomized to wade through the many narrow parts of the city to tame the frequent fires that occur around the city and deep within slums.

SRT also provided funeral hearses to transport coffins to any corner of the country, a service that was in high-demand by many.

Residents whose neigh-borhoods suffered perennial wa-ter shortages were supplied with the increasingly scarce com-modity at certain days of the months in all parts of the city.

There were also garbage trucks that collected waste from city streets to ensure the city and its environs were clean. In addition, SRT offered wed-

ding transport in the form of Lim-ousines and other high-end cars.While many Nairobi residents sup-ported SRT, the Nairobi County Government had its doubts about it. At one point, the county government claimed that some of these vehicles were used to peddle drugs in the city. Dr. Evans Kidero is said to have claimed that the initiative un-dermined his administration but the Senator had always de-nied the allegations vehemently.The Senator’s decision to end SRT is an indication of his move to work closer with Governor Kidero and the county govern-ment to better serve the county. In his speech at the funeral, Sonko said that the vehicles will bedo-nated to the county government to aid indelivery of services. The withdrawal of these services has come as a shock to many. Sarah, a Kibera resident said, “The free hearse service really saved us from accumulating too much debt”. they used on other funeral costs.

Sonko disbands rescue team

Ghetto Mirror | 5ISSUE 22OCTOBER 2015

Feature Teachers return to classesdespite not receiving thepay rise promised by court

Marcus Garvey coMMunity Library

we are Located next to paG church Gatwikira

By Brian Okinda

The month-long teacher’s strike, which was started by the Kenya National

Union of Teachers (KNUT), affect-ed slum-based students differently than those residing outside of slums.

The strike that began in ear-ly September was made worse by the government’s orders that closed all schools. Private schools however, challenged that order and many of them con-tinued to run their institutions.

The strike, which was sus-pended for 90 days on court or-ders, saw a big number of slum-based students staying at home.

Libraries and tuition initia-tivesin slums filled up each morn-ing as students tried to make up for lost time and keep themselves busy.

Informal settlements are gen-erally lacking in public schools, with most slums having only a few public or government recognized schools, most of which are located at the edges of or outside the slum.

Private schools, most of them informal and under-resourced, pro-liferate throughout slums to fill the need for educational institutions for the hundreds of thousands of school-

Teachers end strike

aged children living in slums. Jane Aoko Okeyo, an adminis-

trator at Starays Secondary School in Kibera, said that most of the pri-vate schools in slums don’t only act as educational centers, but also as rehabilitation centers and daytime shelters for many young people in slums. Okeyo says that this is one of the main reasons Starays stayed open during the strike, to continue to offer protection to their students from the many vices present in slums. Okeyo mentioned a former student of the school got stabbed to death in a violent street fight during one of the school breaks. “Be-

cause of these types of incidents, we decided to keep the students in school although learning was com-promised in many ways,” she said.

Indeed, children living in in-formal settlements are easily prone to various dangers, from high crime rates and violence to alcohol, drugs, sex, and deadly infectious diseases.

Mary Otieno, a mother of six children says that the strike had her worried about her older girls who are about to finish second-ary school. But not because of the possibility of not doing well on their exams. She explains that, “I had to spend a lot of time looking

after them because I was worried about the many unemployed and out of school idling youth who take advantage of young girls, I’m worried they might get pregnant.”

Although Starays kept its doors open during the strike, the school suffered from lack of re-sources as many of the parents stopped paying the monthly fees out of fear that their children might not be able to continue schooling till the end of the year.Starays stu-dents were also quite distracted from their daily lessons especially because many of their peers, broth-ers and sisters were out of school.

Ezekiel Otwori, the head teacher at Gifted Hands Educa-tion Center, a primary school in Gatwekera Kibera, also reported that despite the school remaining open, most of the student’s atten-dance dwindled during the strike.Otwokori said, “I agree with our fellow teachers from the govern-ment schools, but it is unfortunate because this [strike] will negatively impact our children’s performance.”

He suggested that the Ken-ya National Examination Council (KNEC) body should postpone the dates scheduled for national exam-inations, especially KCSE which is set to begin on Oct. 12, while KCPE is set to begin on Nov.12.

Contrary to this, Kevin Rai-ro, a form four student at Starays, feels like he is ready for the exams and prolonging the dates would dis-rupt his thinking and preparedness. Akoyo, the administrator of the same school echoed his sentiments saying that, “the syllabus for the year was finished much earlier on, most of what’s been happening in schools has been revising and mentally pre-paring the students for the exams.” Okeyo believes that the exams should also go as planned because it will be hard to get the students back into the mindset needed to successfully be ready for the exams.

By Kevin Owino

Consumers in the city have a reason to smile following the an-nouncement by Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)of drops in fuel prices. ERC said that a liter of diesel will now retail at Ksh. 79.9, kerosene

at Ksh.52.55 and petrol at Ksh.102.6.This might be very good news

to a majority of city dwellers, most of whom use public transport dai-ly but only if the drop in fuel price leads to a decrease in fares. But the public transport industry has been known for not responding in kind to fuel price drops.Most commut-

ers are still waiting to see if they will benefit from these changes.

Fuel has a big influence in the economy as its price affects the price of various commodi-ties from the highest to the low-est level. Since most commodities are transported through road, fuel prices will always affect the mar-

ket price of most commodities.However, with the weaken-

ing Kenya Shilling, the price might actually become higher as fuel is bought in dollars. The regulator adjusts fuel prices monthly and the latest changes will run from September 15th to October 14th.

Another factor that affects

how fuel price changes reflect in real market value is the distance the fuel travels from Mombasa. Towns further from Mombasa port always pay more, Nairobi includ-ed. Mombasa residents however, enjoy the lowest fuel prices due to their proximity to the port where oil is stored once it has been shipped.

Relief for consumers as fuel prices drop

Teacher at Gifted Hands Education Center in Gatwekera, Kibera supervises an internal exam a few days after schools resumed.

Photo | Brian Okinda

SocietyGhetto Mirror | 6 ISSUE 22

OCTOBER 2015

Topical issues on daily happening in our societies

SMS causes a man’s life

Dispute in ODM elec-

tions in Kib-era

By Kevin Ochieng’

A man lost his life following a fight with his wife who had demand-ed to read a short message (sms) on his phone. The incident hap-pened late last month in Buru Buru.

According to the area police chief, Richard Kerich, the argu-ment between the couple escalated into a fight and the woman identi-fied as Wanjiku Kamanda stabbed her husband, Fahid Mohamed, several times in the stomach.

Neighbors said they heard noise coming from the house and upon inquiry found the man lying in a pool of blood.

Police have since launched investigations into the matter. The woman is in a hospital under tight security and is expected to be ar-raigned in court to answer to the murder charge once she has been discharged. The body was taken to the City morgue for post mortem.

By Brian Okinda

Pascal Otieno commonly known as Ous Tall was elected Youth Leader while Florence Awino Otieno the chairlady in the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) grassroots elections held in mid September.

The results for the constit-uency chairperson’s post were however disputed between the two contestants, Samson Ochieng Jera and Jekonia Ochieng.

There was a mixed reac-tion between supporters of the two after the announcement that Jekonia Ochieng had won.

This dispute influenced Rai-la Odinga to intervene in person. Speaking at Kamkunji grounds in Kibera, the former Prime Minis-ter asked his supporters to stop in fighting as they are looking for-ward to winning elections in 2017.

“I didn’t come here to know who has more followers than the other; all of you are corded and should not fight among yourselves, you should embrace dialogue and resolve your problem as we all eye a win in the 2017 general election.”

He also asked the Cabinet Sec-retary for Devolution and Planning, Ann Waiguru, to step aside for truth to take its course on the NYS scandal.

Among other leaders there were the area MP Ken-neth Okoth, Sarang’ombe ward Member of County Assembly, Pius Owino Otieno K’otieno and all the elected grassroots ODM leaders from the constituency.

By Felix Otieno

On Sep. 18, the PCEA Bahati Mateaus Church in Bahati played host to a ground breaking event dubbed “kua sober naujiundue ka-zi”-get sober and get entrepreneurial.

The one day event was main-ly organized by the Ready Aiders-Foundation (RAF) who partnered with Nairobi Visionary CBO from Bahati, the Rotary Club Parklands and the National Campaign Against Drugs and Alcohol abuse (NACA-DA) to help make this day a success.

The event’s aim was to create a platform for reforming and reha-bilitating all those who had left the consumption of alcohol and drug abuse after the national campaign for a sober nation through the crack down on illicit liquor and drugs.

The initiative is targeting youth who, it believes, still have a chance to reform and turn their lives around before it’s too late .

The area was chosen as it was strategically located in the heart of Eastlands in Makadara Con-stituency and was therefore easily

accessible for many areas such as Mbotela, Maringo, Jericho and Ma-jengo, which are some of the places that are most affected by this issue.

Kenneth Apopa, RAF’s chair-man, said that they came up with the event so as to create an avenue for all the youth who decided to abandon alcohol and drugs to find ways to stay sober and develop skills to support themselves without having to depend on other people.

Mr. Apopa said that the event was necessitated by the vacuum created after the national crack-down on illicit liquor and drugs.

In the aftermath, the many al-coholics and drug abusers who had abandoned this lifestyle needed something to do to keep them from reverting back to their addictions.

RAF invited various groups and organizations to help them with the difficult task of spread-ing the message of the benefits of sobriety and self-dependence.

The Nairobits School of Dig-ital Design that offers subsidized ICT training to slum youth contrib-uted by conducting a free computer literacy class for the day and offered

to sponsor three of the best students.The One Stop Youth Cen-

ter from Makadara and the Makadara Huduma Center talk-ed about their programs that are tailored for youth and that help youth groups receive government funds to support their businesses.

Equity bank Buru Buru branch manager Godfrey Watheru took to the stage to advice the attend-ing youth about entrepreneurship.

Also in attendance was Ghet-to Radio presenter, James Kima-ni Kangethe who hosts the show “Sare Madree” – Say No to Drugs.

The Ghetto Radio team was brought in as their show is among the only one that ap-peals to the youth to quit drugs.

Ghetto Radio offered to air the upcoming musicians that had performed at the event as a sign of their commitment to supporting developing talents.

Invited guests from the enter-tainment sector were Kibera-bred comedian cum musician Michael Omuka who is commonly known as Smart Joker and former Ogopa Dee-jays hit maker Kenzo whose hit song

“Mama Milka” made him popular.They both thrilled the au-

dience with comedy and music.Guest speaker, Mrs. Susan

from NACADA talked about the deeply negative effects of alco-hol and substance abuse and how NACADA helps rehabilitate all those who abandon the drug life.

She also sensitized the youth on some of the problems that people face at the rehabilita-tion centers and the importance of staying and remaining sober.

The RAF chairman, Mr. Apopa was pleased with the turnout of the event saying, “the event was amaz-ing, we had a really good turnout of youth from Makadara, the invit-ed speakers and artists, the various organizations and government offi-cials all turned up in large number.”

After this pilot event the RAF-is looking forward to working with other groups from other counties and spread their message of sobriety.

Kiambu County has already confirmed their desire to partner and has welcomed the foundation to come spread their message in their county.

Campaign against drugs intensifies

By Eunice Otieno

23-year-old Benson Mwangi, popular-ly known as Mwas,

runs a hair salon business in Kawangware on Naivasha Road, opposite Kinyanjui Junction.

Mwas is among the small but growing number of men who are challenging the stereotype that only a woman can style women’s hair. His passion for hair styling began when he was in primary school.

Like many other girls who have a passion for hairdress-ing, he would find himself braid-ing grass during break time.

He likes his work, despite the challenges he experienc-es as a man at his workplace.

In fact, most of the prob-lems he experiences stem from the fact that he is a man in a female dominated industry.

For instance, there is a running rumor that men and especially young-er ones working in salons seduce the wives and girlfriends of other men.

“I have lost a lot of customers because this idea is so vivid and dis-turbing to many men,” says Mwas.

His female clients also some-times give him trouble as they prefer to get their hair done by him and not the other female hair-stylists working in the same salon.

However, this does not only overwhelm him, but it also creates tension with his coworkers as they can do the job just as well as he can.

One regular client of his, Lydia Githang’a says that she prefers the way men work in sa-

lons more than women because men are more professional.

She explains, “I think wom-en can very easily get jealous and decide to do a less-than-perfect job because of this.”

Better at caring

Unlike most men, her hus-band encourages her to choose the male hairstylist because men hair-stylists are better at customer care.

“The women won’t pay par-ticular attention to your desires and are less likely to compliment you on the final result,” she says.

Githang’a adds that peo-ple who complain about male hairstylists should be more pro-gressive and realize that this is helping curb unemployment.

She believes that there is nothing wrong or abnormal about male hairstylists and urges op-ponents to see the benefits it has on society by keeping young and vulnerable men off the streets therefore preventing them from engaging in crime and drugs.

Perhaps one of the only non-gen-der related problems that Mwas fac-es is accessing original products.

He complains that he has to im-port a lot of his products because most of the ones in Kenya are unoriginal.

However, the taxes and de-lays that come with importing make business a little harder.

Mwas urges the government to help young entrepreneurs and business people who want to nur-ture their talents like himself by reducing the taxes they take from hustlers at the bottom of the chain.

Making a living braiding

Two male hair stylists working on their female clients at a salon in Kawangware. As more and more men get into this traditionally female industry, rumors abound that they are popular because they seduce their female clients. However, as these two prove, it’s all about passion and skill, gender and tricks have nothing to do with it. Photo | Eunice Otieno

Ghetto Mirror | 7ISSUE 22OCTOBER 2015

Gender Course that educates community members about women’s empow-erment.

Pilot Initiative promoting women’s empowerment

from page 1

and how to put what they have learned into action.

The free course goes on for 8 weeks with each week focusing on a module that explores various women’s issues ranging from gen-der roles to maternal child care.

Each class must include 10 men and 10 women, a meth-od that seeks to make the class as realistic as possible in exploring the ways gender relations work.

Including both genders also ensures a learning setting that is inclusive of as many is-sues as possible that affect wom-en’s empowerment and guaran-tees effective implementation of the things learned in the course.

Additionally, each class also consists of specific age groups that are divided into the following years; 13 -16,17-20, 21-24 and 25-40.

The lessons are held once a week for two hours. After the two months of lessons are over, the stu-dents are given three months before graduation to apply the modules they’ve learned to their daily lives.

Mary Mogana, one of the fa-cilitators, says she has witnessed

By Collince Otung’

Eric Wachira, a resident of Gatwekera village in Kibera woke up one day to find that one side of his house had been destroyed by floods from heavy rain. It was January 1998, one of the rain-iest months during one of the worst El-Niño storms in history.

He was afraid of reconstructing due to the risk that it could rain again.

many of the program’s participants from both genders not onlychange their views about women’s roles in society but they also actuate what they’ve learned in their daily lives.

Of her experience facilitat-ing for the past year, she says,“It’s been awesome, I’ve met people who think women should be in-ferior but when they start taking these lessons and we tell them about how women can be equal, they start changing their attitudes and it’s amazing to witness that.”

Mogana says that her favorite and most influential topic is that of maternal health. “Many men come in with the belief that the woman’s role is to bear children and take care of them. A lot of them have no idea what goes into pregnancy and the child’s health.” Mogana said. She further explained that once they go through the importance of ensuring a mother and the child is healthy throughout pregnancy and after, and the equal importance of fathering the child, a lot of men and women are convinced of changing their behavior towards this issue.

The pilot program in Kibera began on Sep. 2014 and there have since been four graduating classes.

Marcus Abuto,23, one of the

Weather experts around the world have confirmed that an-other strong El-Niño storm is set to hit East Africa, with fore-casts of the harsh weather last-ing from October to December, or up to January in some places.

In a press briefing about El-Niño’s likely effects in Nairobi, County Environment Executive Ev-ans Ondieki said, “Predictions are that the enhanced rainfall will reach the strongest levels ever seen in the

graduates, found that the course was very valuable as he gained a lot of knowledge that he could apply daily in society. “I real-ly gained a lot, I learned so much about gender and child care and I am now able to apply gender equity anywhere,”Abuto said.

The program, has inspired him to become a youth peer pro-vider (YPP) volunteer at Shining Hope For Communities (SHOFCO) where he can provide information and create awareness about the importance of sexual and repro-ductive health to youth in Kibera.

One of the very first graduates of the program was so impressed by the lessons and methodology that he decided to open a similar one in his hometown, Waibuye. He loved the seminar style setting of the lessons which relied on sharing and learn-ing from one’s own and others ex-perience.A pastor by profession, the SOF graduate went through the very first pilot classes and loved the course for the way it challenged ac-cepted social norms about women.

After one year of running the program, the facilitators are taking a break from classes to evaluate and produce a report on the impact the course has had in the community.

last four decades.”“Areas where the major rivers in Nairobi join includ-ing Nairobi, Ngong and Mathare rivers will be majorly affected during the floods,” Ondieki added.

The government has assembled a multi-department team to plan the necessary responses to emergencies in the next couple of months. The government has also set aside Ksh. 5 billion to respond to expected emer-gencies that will be caused by the storm in the next couple of months.

National Youth Service workers are also supposed to be on standby to respond to emergencies as well.

County governments have been told to allocate some of their budget to dealing with damages and emergencies caused by the storm .

Ondieki also emphasized the need for everyone to be prepared including residents, county gov-ernments and other stakeholders. He said that county departments like Planning and Roads and oth-er key actors such as Nairobi City Water and Sewarage Com-pany will start unblocking water ways and fixing roads to minimize the negative effects of the storm.

This is especially necessary as Nairobi tends to shut down not only during strong El-Niño- like storms, but due to normal rainy seasons.

Every year during the long rains season, between late March and early June, most parts of Nairobi suffer from flash floods. This year’s rainiest season was one of the worst in history as many parts of the city experienced floods that blocked ma-jor roads, destroyed many buildings and led to the death of many people.

Slum dwellers are at a high-er risk of getting adversely affect-ed by these types of disasters. This is because slums are completely unplanned with blocked drainage systems and no sewage systems.

What’s more, slums are heav-ily congested with people and structures, most of which are ex-tremely vulnerable to heavy rain-fall.In addition, two of the big-gest slums in Nairobi, Kibera and Mathare, have major rivers running through them which may cause landslides and heavy flooding.

That El-Niño’s effects will likely be worse than the heaviest downpour of any rainy season calls into question how terribly slums and slum dwellers will be affected.

Ondieki has advised that those living near water or in lower grounds should move to avoid the predicted floods.

Ondieki has also said that residents living in slums, in-cluding Mathare, Kibera and Huruma would be temporarily moved to 200 public schools that have been identified to be safe.

However, Wachira, like many other slum residents, is worried about his ability to follow Ondieki’sadvise.

Wachira said, “Now that El-Niño is coming, where should we go to? How will we manage to start living in a new place? There’s too many people living in Kib-era, we can’t fit just anywhere.”

Many of the slum residents that were displaced due to this year’s rainy season are still homeless.

El NIÑO | How prepared are we?

In preparation for the coming El Niño rains, residents living on the river banks have decided to construct gabions that might help minimise damage to their houses.

Photo | Brian Okinda

Ghetto Mirror | 8 ISSUE 22OCTOBER 2015

Sports SHOFCO FC downs two Eastlands teamsto be crownd champs

SHOFCO FC tops County

The Ghetto Mirror is a monthly publication published and distributed for free by Shining Hope for Communities as part of its programs aimed at empowering the youth through developing their media skills and also to bring attention to the issues affect-ing the residents of the informal settlements. All the work that goes into production of this newspaper is done by youths from the slums. Correspondence should be addressed to ghettomirror@shininghopeforcommunities.org. You can also visit our facebook page www.facebook.com/ghettomirror for constant news updates, photos, and videos. News and advertising 0722 550 024

Ghetto Mirror

SHOFCO FC advances to the Nairobi Provincial

LeagueBy Adan Ibrahim.

Two late goals from Am-brose Ayoyi and Kev-in Okoth were enough

to ensure that SHOFCO Football Club emerged as the champions of the Nairobi County League.

SHOFCO FC won by 2-1 against Baba Dogo United FC in the finals of Nairobi County’s mini-league that was played at Camp Toyoyo grounds in Ofafa Jericho.

The mini-league comprised of four teams; Korogocho Youth FC, Sports Connect FC, SHOFCO FC and Baba Dogo United FC that had all come out on top in their respec-tive zones A, B, C and D. SHOF-CO had topped zone B, that en-sured the played in the mini-league.

Before qualifying for the fi-nal against Baba Dogo, SHOF-CO FC had to fight hard as they played against Korogocho Youth FC. Coming from a goal down to beat Korogocho Youth 3 - 1.

Korogocho FC scored fro-ma dead ball just outside the goal area but SHOFCO FC put a spirited fight to win the match.

SHOFCO managed to toequal-ize five minutes before half-time having gone down in the 20th minute.

Kevin Katitu punished Koro-gocho Youth FC defense for not clearing a loose ball in their goal area.

The ball came from a corner that was floated in the are aby the SHOFCO’s skipper Felix Uho-lo but the Korogocho Youth FC could not stand the pressure SHOF-CO FC had put on them so far.

The second half started with high speed as SHOFCO FC man-aged to cause some trouble for the Korogocho Youth team. By the 60th minute, they had taken the lead after Ambrose Ayoyi collect-ed a loose ball and sent it behind Korogocho Youth’s goalkeeper.

Despite these advancements by SHOFCO FC, Korogocho Youth did not give up easily as the team started looking for an equalizer.

Nevertheless, every attempt they put in was cut by the steady SHOF-CO backline, most notably by Jeirus Indeche, the centre half commonly known as Jay denied the Korogocho Youth FC’s stikers scoring chances with the distances he kept in clearing the loose balls in their goal mouth.

He provided a man of the match performance and almost got a goal to his name when he led a counter attack in the 75th min-ute that was luckily and carefully dealt with by the Korogocho Youth goalkeeper that was sent out of the field for a corner by the goalkeeper.

In the dying minutes of the game, Ambrose Ayoyi proved why SHOFCO relied on him as the team’s lead striker when he netted a brace ensuring there were no doubts of the game ending in a draw. His goal meant SHOFCO were lead-ing by two goals hence having booked a date with Baba Dogo United FC, who had earlier beat Sports Connect FC 2-1 during the opening match of the semi-finals.

In the final match, Baba Dogo United were the first to score after their striker capitalized on a defensive mistake by SHOFCO FC defenders.

Having denied SHOFCO all scoring opportunities during the first half, Baba Dogo United un-like Korogocho Youth, were able to carry their lead to the second half.

The team remained disci-plined in and outside their goal mouth, making no mistakes that could be punished by SHOFCO.

However, things changed lat-er in the second half as SHOFCO pressed on till they got a break on the 70th minute when Ayoyi netted the equalizer with the help of his at-tacking counterpart Vincent Ouma.

Ouma, who had been brought in as a substitute in the second half, grabbed the ball from the midfield and made a run towards Baba Dogo’s goal when he spotted the unmarked Ayoyi who netted the equalizer put-ting SHOFCO back in the game.

The game then saw both teams create and waste op-

portunities to take the lead.Kevin Okoth was the one

to finally bring the cup and glo-ry to SHOFCO FC’s technical bench and faithfullsin the 86th minute when he collected a pass and scored against Baba Dogo.

With a final score of 2-1, SHOFCO FC lifted the county trophy in their first try and en-tered the Provincial League in style, beating the best of the best from other zones in the county.

This has added to the good run they had had so far, having won 14 matches and drawing two as well as losing only two matches to finish at the top of Nairobi County League Zone B with a massive 44 points.

Meanwhile, the four teams that played in the mini-league had already qualified for the Nairo-bi Provincial League which is the country’s fourth tier league lev-el. These four teams are hoping to better their results so as to make it to the third tier league level the di-vision one in their next campaign.

Photo | Justine Ondiere