ghetto mirror june 2015 issue

Ghetto Mirror

Health: Residents get free treatment for eye compliactions

>>> Pg 7

Environment: River that was once a life source gets polluted over time >>> Pg 5

Real life stories from slumsFREE

Do not buyJune 2015 Issue

Youth from slumhelping street kids

Social stigma causes rape cases to go unreportedBy Eunice Otieno

We live in a society where rape has become common be-cause tradition confines women to stigmatization, the assaulted get shunned by others and the law enforcers fail to enact justice.

20-year-old name withheld, a victim of gang-rape, asks herself, Why should I go to the police? It is pointless to report the case because nothing will be done to them. Instead, I will

end up suffering from discrimination and social stigma. she was accosted by seven men as she walked home after visiting a friend living just three hundred meters from her parents home.

It was late in the evening at around 8:30pm. They beat her up, threw her to the ground near the railway tracks and one of the gang members ripped off her panties with a knife be-fore all of them took turns to rape her. To date, her attackers are still walking on the streets, free from prosecution because, she did not report the case. Many other women from my

neighborhood have been raped before and reported the matter to the police, but the perpetrators are never arrested, she said.

She is one of the many rape victims who are denied justice because she either fears that if she reports to the police, nothing will be done, or her attackers might assault her again in revenge.

National police statistics show that close to 45,000 women report that they are raped every

continue on page 3

ISSUE 18 Ghetto Mirror [email protected]

20-year-old boy driven by his passion to provide

equal opportunities to street children starts

foundation to help cater for their needs.

By Dorothy Orina& Andy Wanga

Anyone that has ever had to survive out in the street knows that it is like jungle out there.

Unfortunately, theres a huge number of chil-dren that have to survive in the most dangerous (con-crete) jungles of them all; the streets of Nairobi slums.

As bad as the situation is, there arent a lot of services that cater to the specific needs of children in the street.

This is what drove 20-year-old Isaac Biosse to start Aboki Foundation,

continue on page 6

TALKING POINT We welcome letters on topical issues or the stories we publish and comments on [email protected]. You can also drop them in our offices at Gatwekera near PAG church.

A publication of Shining Hope For Communities

Editor Liz Mahiri

Illustrations Oscar Chitiavi

ContributorsJohnston Mutua, Michael Ogutu, Namayi Kefa,

Erick Ouma, Halima Rajab, Shem Momani, Eunice Otieno, Ishmeal Ismail, Kevin Ochieng,

Andy Wanga & Brian Okinda

Technical AssistanceAlbanous Gituru, Lily Bullitt & Emily Akoth

E-mail:[email protected]

Quote of the Month

Will Rogers

Kenya Powers pre-paid system is here, but are we ready for it?

Switching to pre-paid

Send us your feedback by texting your name and where you are reading from to 20308. The sms is free of charge. Start with Ghetto Mirror Shujaaz or GM Shujaaz followed by your name and place.

Ghetto Mirror | 2 ISSUE:18 JUNE 2015

A lot of activity has been going on in Kib-era since Kenya Power launched its pre-paid system with the goal of supply-ing legal, safe, and efficient electricity to slum residents.

The pre-paid digital meters only allow consumers to use units they have already paid for. To do so, consumers can purchase a recharge card with a 20 digit number, much like the cell phone airtime scratch card and then key in the number into the meter.

The pre-pay meter is fitted with an alarm that notifies you when the units go below 20 so you can top up in time.

The good news is that there is no reconnection fee for the pre-pay method of billing because you pay before you consume and you are immediately reconnected upon purchasing power units.

However, some consumers have mixed reactions about Ken-ya Powers initiative with a number of them claiming that they are being overcharged and would rather use the post-pay arrangement.

Additionally, over the last couple of days, residents have complained about the dim lights they have had to deal with after a transformer situated at Olympic blew up.

Their appeals to Kenya Power to rectify the situation failed and this in turn made cartels tap other transformers which led to a blackout.

The ongoing initiative has created job oppor-tunities for youth who have been active in help-ing Kenya Power carry posts and other materials.

The big question now is how will electricity car-tels, who have been making a living by providing tapped electricity in the slums adopt to this change after get-ting used to making fortunes with the illegal connection?

On the other hand, Kenya Power will finally start collecting revenue after what has been a long trial to streamline its services in the area. In the past, they made huge losses due to illegal connections.

The increasingly rap-id growth in urban popula-tion within Nairobi for the last couple of decades has caused a major challenge to affordable housing that has, in turn, worsened the cri-sis of informal settlements.

According to the lat-est Kenya National Hous-ing and Population census, Kenya has a deficit of about 250,000 housing units per year.

Without new and cheaper building technology and more stringent social planning, slum upgrading in Kenya will con-tinue to be a mirage in a desert.

This is not say that nothing has been done to combat this issue, howev-er most of these efforts have been ill-informed, inadequate and have ultimately failed.

The most hyped of these efforts was the Kenya Slum Up-grading Project (KENSUP) that was launched by the Kenyan Ministry of Housing with the support of UN-Habitat and sev-eral other donor organizations.

Intended to pilot Kib-eras development, the proj-ect built subsidized apart-ments for Kibera residents in nearby Langata, a residen-tial area that is considered wealthy by most Nairobians. Vital lessons can or should been learned from the failure of this multimillion project.

Since its launch in the year 2003, the project has stumbled on serious chal-lenges. Each of the chal-lenges exposes a loop hole in the whole project design.

Demand and supply dic-tate how things work in a free market and the planners did not take into account the way Nai-robis real estate market would affect the KENSUP project.

Its a well-known fact that Nairobi is one of the most expensive places and there is stiff competi-tion for affordable housing.

It is therefore unsurpris-ing that when the apartments in Langata went up, they also became open to competition from non-Kibera residents.

Thus, the biggest loop-hole in the project is that it did not shield poor residents from the inevetible competi-tion that would result between the beneficiaries and non-slum inhabitants who have more income than slum residents.

Consequently, Nairo-bis middle class swooped in, searching for afford-able housing in a city with skyrocketing rents, hence pushing slum residents out.

In fact, many people from other parts of the city secured apartments in the project buildings through in-formal systems by offering the intended beneficiaries a deal they could not resist.

Many Kibera residents who were given apartments through the program were lured to take up the business oppor-tunity by renting their flats to middle class tenants at four and five times the subsidized rate.

They then moved back to the slum with the extra money in their pockets. Even if the

poor residents were to reject the lure of extra income from the middle class, the cost of living outside a slum, where practically everything is more expensive, would be a driv-ing incentive to move back to the informal settlements

Most informal settle-ments have organically grown economic, social, political and communal systems that closely imitate that of the ru-ral villages they come from.

These systems create a unique environment that incubates wellness by help-ing people survive amidst a reality of squalor, lack of services and poverty.

The obvious lack of these systems outside of the slum dilutes or breaks the existing social fabric that makes slum living tolerable.

Thus, many beneficia-ries of the project felt alien-ated and separated from the wider community with some claiming that their survival is pegged on these systems.

In a society where life is based on social capital, bartering and community support, the upmarket area of Langata made it hard to fit in and to make a living.

Moreover, Kibera res-idents perceive themselves as a voting bloc, thus the move to segregate a part of the residents would obvious-ly put a hamper on the lit-tle political sway they have.

Some landlords felt that the project was the govern-ments plan to take over their

land by taking residents out the houses in order to reac-quire the land that the land-lords had claimed as theirs.

Instead of relocating and essentially displacing slum residents as the main strategy for slum upgrad-ing, a more effective way will be to upgrade the slum by improving it from within.

This will surely pre-serve the existing sys-tems that slum dwellers have come to depend on.

To achieve this, the gov-ernment and other develop-ment stakeholders should focus on improved road networks, proper drainage systems, good sanitation, improved security and job creation.

For the problem of land ownership, the government should make it possible for the current unofficial land-owners to be able to legally acquire land in exchange for their participation in upgrad-ing housing and ensuring stan-dard housing laws are met.

In addition, the govern-ment and other stakeholders should aid in acquiring and adopting cheaper but innova-tive construction technologies that fit the slums conditions.

Overall, for any slum upgrading project to be suc-cessful, planners must under-stand the needs of the local community and include that in the process rather than just focusing on the physi-cal elements of upgrading.

The problem with current slum upgrading approaches

Even if youre on the right track,

youll get run over if you just sit there

Johnstone Mutua

one on oneSmart joker

Who is Smart Joker?My full name is Michael

Omuka, I am 28 years old and an artist at Churchill. I am also a mu-sician. Currently Im working on a few songs and other new jokes.

I easily socialize with people once I familiarize myself with them.

Tell us about your educational background.

I started school in 1993 at Lilia Nursery School in the former Western Province. I did my K.C.P.E in Lurrale Primary School in 2003 then moved to Luandeti High School where I did my K.C.S.E in 2007.

What did you do after High School? I did lots of odd jobs. In 2008,

I moved to Limuru where I was first employed by Green Change Land Caper to cut grass for the Bata company. However, luck was not on my side and I was fired.

I then became a security guard at a private school, Jocy Academy, in Limuru. I worked there for al-most three years without being paid and was fired when I asked for my salary. I soon found another job at a farm in Kabaku, Limuru near Tikoni.

How did you get yourself to Nairobi?I started saving some of the

money I earned while working at the farm in Kabaka and when I felt I had enough to get to Nairo-bi. I was lucky again as I soon got hired as a garden boy in Karen C.

Despite having worked as a ca-sual labouror to survive, I never forgot that I had a talent in singing and acting. I always knew that I was only working to get money to follow my dreams.

When did you record your first song?

After saving enough mon-ey, I recorded my first song on March 2010. The song was about drugs. It was a collabo we did with a friend of mine known as Millage.

What made you get into comedy and music?

There were auditions at carnivore grounds that were sponsored by Laugh Industry.

I cracked one heavy joke that judges were very happy with and I was acceoted to be a part of the Laugh Industry team. And just like that, thats how I found myself in comedy.

In terms of music, Ive al-ways had a passion for it. But its my the song Tumetoka Ana-logue, Tunaenda Digital that re-ally put me on the musical map.

On matters of comedy, what have you achieved so far?

Comedy has made me pop-ular and famous and has there-fore offered me more opportu-nities. Personally, the fame has landed me big advertising gigs.

You are working on another song, when will you release it?

That one is too early to say now. But for my fans, I urge them to be patient, the song will be released in a few months.

Youve met a lot of artists and comedians, who has been your favorite superstar artist?

Let me first say that Im not just a fan of celebrities or popular artists but I am also a fan of fellow ordinary people, just like me. I dont like nam-ing favorites but I met Basket Mouth from Nigeria and OmbokoLongai from Uganda, we had tea together and cracked jokes together. I have also met

Alaine, a Jamaican-American musi-cian, and I recorded a song with her, although I dont know where the song went, I still have hopes it will be one day be released. I have also met Chris Brown, 50 cent and a lot of Kenyan art-ists through shows and organizations.

How does the Churchil Show pick people to be part of them in comedy?

There are open auditions on Tuesdays 9:00am at Carnivore Grounds. When you audition, try to be unique, and you will suc-ceed. Also try to crack jokes that will really make people laugh.

Once you pass the auditions , they will take you and train you.

But what I can say, dont try to compete with me because I went there once, cracked heavy jokes, sang to them songs and they took me to be part of their team. But I can say everybody has got their own luck.

Word of advice to young talents out there.

Number one, say no to drugs, I dont use any drugs. Dont ever look at me when I perform like Im a mad person on stage, then you go and take drugs like alcohol so you can be like me.

Drug abuse misleads young peo-ple and it has brought shame to Kib-era. Kibera is not respected because outsiders think that the people who live there usually take drugs like co-caine, changaa, marijuana and so on.

Lastly, if you want to suc-ceed in comedy dont try to copy anyone, just be yourself and be creative in anything you do.

Discipline, hard work and de-termination are the most important things. And always put God first above everything you do and you will succeed throughout your life.

Everybody knows him as Smart Joker, with his own

popular brand of rib- cracking jokes from the

Churchill Show and his hit song, Tumetoka Analogue,

Tunaenda Digital. Ghetto Mirrors Andy Wanga caught up with him to shed light on his life and how he

manages to stand tall despite competition in the highly competitive laugh

industry.

Ghetto Mirror | 3ISSUE:18 JUNE 2015

from page 1

year and the figure is probably higher since many of the cases are not reported.

A legal advocacy center located in Makina, Kibera called Haki Self Help Group that counsels rape vic-tims confirmed that this is, in fact, the scary reality. A study they con-ducted in Gatwekera, Kibera sug-gested that only four or five percent of rape cases reported to the police actually result in a conviction. Ac-cording to the study, the victims are not happy with the manner in which their cases are handled by the police.

Charles Ogutu, the Chief Exec-utive Officer at the center said a lot of women do not see the point of re-porting to the criminal justice system because they dont see it as effective.

The rape victims who decide to press charges get frustrated, de-moralized and sometimes abused by the justice system. So far, a lot of women and girls think that there is no point of putting themselves

Social stigma causes rape cases to go unreportedthrough two years of hell when noth-ing happens in the end. Said Ogutu.

While the lack of faith in the criminal justice system is an obsta-cle, there are other deeply underly-ing causes that keep women from reporting rape cases to the police in Kenya. Societal stigma and cultural and traditional discrimination also dissuade the victims from bring-ing up these issues, therefore keep-ing them quiet and forcing them to act like nothing has happened.

Ogutu also said that there is a strong belief in Kenyan society that women have to be submissive to their men and that rape might happen with-in that relationship. It is also strong-ly believed that a lot of perpetrators of rape tend to be family members.

Consequently, the challenge of reporting rape cases for victims can be caused by the fear of betraying their family if they report the rape. A lot of the women have to deal with the in-ternal dilemma of how they will face other relatives, if they report the case.

The Haki Self Help Group center said it receives between 40

and 60 cases of rape a month, and most of them involve children and are family related. This also makes it difficult for social workers or councilors to intervene, especially when parents do not co-operate.

When it is your boyfriend who does it to you, you may call it forced sex, but not rape, even though le-gally it would fit the definition of rape. The shame that accompanies rape also accounts for the vow of silence that victims tend to take.

Because rape is a traumatizing event, its no surprise that most victims just want to put the experience behind them as quickly as possible so as to continue with their lives. Rape can have serious repercussions on a survi-vor, with the psychological effects usu-ally being more severe than the physi-cal one suffered during the rape itself.

According to Medicine Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Bor-ders (MSF) who work in Kibera, the psychological impact can man-ifest itself in different ways if not attended to. MSF advises rape vic-tims to speak out and get counseling.

SHOFCO Gender Development department suggestion boxes. Fill the black and white forms on the side of the box by writing your name, telephone number, place and briefly state the type of assault then drop the form in the box.

Photo: Emily Akoth


Humans of Kibera A full page of stories fromKibera residents. Visit Ghetto Mirror online for more on facebook and at ghettomirroronline.wordpress.com

Richard Mwendwa:I really like to dance to reggae music but my favorite song is Nataka Kule-wa by Diamond.

Dan:I am already used to living in Kibera but I want my two kids to work hard so that they can get out of the slum.

Kennedy Ochieng:Education got cut short so I had to start working at this shower business. I would like to go back to school at some point.

Jareld Nyasaka:Im not sleeping hungry, but Im get-ting very little money. I have to travel to Kisii once a month to see my family.

Jose:I started at a polytechnic engineering school in Nyamira. When I first moved to Nairobi, I did not have a job for a year.

Jeremiah Ogembo:The proudest moment of my life was in 1992 when I was arrested for sup-porting Raila Odinga in a rally.


Kibera musicians patience pays offBy Jared Kefa

Sometime in the year 2005, five buddies from Kibera united by their un-dying love for music, decided to form a rap group called Ghettorian Soldiers.

Today, with only two members still active, Ghettorian Soldiers com-prises of Michael Okiri who is known as Mike and Jonathan Kutwa, also known as Kajole Salamanda. Ghet-torian Soldiers are now finally on the verge of releasing their debut album.

Mike says, The exit of three of our members did little to kill our morale. In fact, it only served to re-fuel our resolve to soldier on in our pursuit to become musicians.

While it is unfortunate that the others decided to hang the mc and pursue other interests, the remain-

ing two are happy that they saw the light and embraced gospel music.

The duo has so far recoded about 20 singles and are well on their way to finishing their long-awaited album. Among the songs theyve done so far are, Wengi, Government, Tangu Zamani, Gangsters, Love, Mk-wanja, Ushapata and Wagada.

Baadaye, which was released in 2009, is their most popular hit single which won them many fans all over the country. Last year, they recorded Kazi ni Kazi that is cur-rently receiving favorable air play.

Apart from the two hit sin-gles, two years ago, Ghettorian Soldiers recorded a song called Street, which is doing equally well.

Finally, we have found our fan base and we are now receiv-ing numerous invitations to per-

form in different places all over the country said Kajole Salamanda.

For instance, last year in De-cember, they performed in Momba-sa at the Kim for Love concert. In Nairobi, they have had several stage performances at Sarakasi dome in Ngara during Wapi Events. They have also done a number of charity shows in Kibera to help raise funds for the Childrens Home in the slum.

The two musicians say that they have faced lots of challeng-es in their journey to make it as es-tablished musicians. Things were quite tough before we could re-cord our first single, said Mike.

In order to raise studio fees to record their music, they had to sac-rifice a lot to save as much money as possible. They used to walk al-most everywhere instead of taking

the bus and would skip lunch many times. Additionally, they were turned down by a number of producers.

However, their hard work and sacrifice paid off when they started receiving lucrative invitations to per-form for various joints. This was proof enough to them that patience pays.

Our first paid performance was in Mombasa and others have followed since then, said Mike. Those who thought and saw us as useless are now calling us for their events to perform, he added.

Since their financial situation has improved, they have begun work-ing on videos to some of their songs.

Kajole Salamanda says, We are very glad that now we can manage to do things we had only dreamt of doing. So far, they have shot videos for Government and Kazi ni Kazi.

Their current plans, besides releasing their album and vid-eos, are to embark on a country-wide tour to popularize their music.

In addition to working on their music, both work at Pamoja Fm in Kibera. Mike works as a Radio Pre-senter in a show called East Afri-can Express and as a Production Manager cum producer while Kajole Salamanda is a Sports News Anchor.

Mikes parting short is that hard work, no matter how long it takes, eventually pays off. His massage to upcoming musicians is to work hard and stay focused.

Kajole, on the other hand, warns their haters that they are here to stay and people should watch out for them as they want to prove the point that something good and worthwhile can come out of Kibera.

By Felix Omondi

Take a moment with me to rem-inisce the Gitathuru River in its hay days when it was still the heart and soul of the Mathare Valley community.

It was one of the most popu-lar spots in the Valley as it served the people who thronged its banks while simultaneously functioning perfectly in its role in the ecosystem.

You could find mothers washing clothes on its banks, chil-dren splashing as they plunged into the water while fathers would be resting under the shade of the many trees that aligned its banks.

In fact, it is common knowl-edge that any Mathare area residents who knows how to swim proba-bly learned to do so at the river.

This was made possible by the many swimming areas known as duuf mpararo spots that aligned the river. These spots where christened names like kita 1, 2, 3 and 4 that designated their level of deepness. But today, this river lies in a shadow of its hay days.

The high number of people who thronged its banks have deserted it,

trees and beautiful vegetation that aligned its banks have been cleared to create way for the many farms that have now cropped up around the river, its water levels have great-ly reduced and the water has now acquired a black mucky colour.

The flow of effluents from indus-tries, domestic waste from urban set-tlements and run off from agricultural activities along the river basin consti-tute some of the things contributing to the pollution and degradation that will lead to the future demise of this river.

Theres an alarming number of gardens that have sprung up around the river over the years. Locals have divided the area along the river into small pieces of land where they now practice their agricultural activities.

Most of them engage in sub-sistence farming and plant mostly sukumawiki (kales), carrots, arrow roots and maize among other crops.

In some sections, the gar-dens have gone all the way to the edges of the river banks and some farmers have opted to plant all the way into the middle of the river.

It is not surprising to find sug-arcane or bananas planted right

in the center of the river. This has disrupted the flow of water.

The local farmers have also mechanized ways of channeling water from the river into their farms for irri-gation purposes. This has reduced the water levels of the river and also the amount of water flowing downstream therefore reducing the size of the river.

Also run-off chemicals from the excess fertilizers used in the gardens and farms and the flow of untreated effluents from industries upstream have seriously polluted the river.

These pollutants some-times change the color of this river to pitch black and make the water extremely toxic.

Furthermore, due to the increas-ing population in Mathare, there has been high demand for more houses. This increased pressure for more hous-es has forced many people to construct houses all the way to the banks of the river to meet the growing demand.

Although this is clearly against the governments directive that no houses should be constructed 30 me-ters from the river, the residents still continue constructing with impunity.

Consequently, these houses

end up disrupting the natural flow of the river and during the rainy sea-son, the river breaks its banks and floods many of the houses leading to the displacement of many and substantial destruction of property.

These construction activities coupled with the agricultural activ-ities along the river banks have re-duced, in some sections, the width of this river -which also acts as boundary between Mathare and Ruaraka con-stituencies - to a foots length, making it look more like a trench than a river.

The locals who live near the river also end up polluting it. Some use the river as a dump, throwing in their liquid and domestic waste without caring. The accumulation of this waste has, at times, ended up blocking the flow of this river.

Whats more, there are mul-titudes of informal toilets that the locals have built along the riv-erbank that directly release un-treated human waste into the river therefore increasing its pollution.

Moreover, domestic waste from the adjacent homes coupled with run off chemicals from excess fertilizers that are used in the farms

has led to eutrophication. This is where plants have grown from the nutrients provided by these factors.

But all is not lost, the government has tried to put in place some mea-sures to try and rescue this dying river.

The introduction of the law that prohibits building any structures with-in 30 meters of the river is welcoming.

This will help clear the houses built on the rivers banks which disturbs the rivers flow.

Also, the government has on many occasions initiated clean-up projects for the Nairobi River of which this river is a tributary.

The process has not yet reached the Gitathuru area but some residents are positive that help is on the way for this dying river.

The National Youth Service (NYS) has also started contributing to cleaning up the river as part of its gen-eral mandate to clean up Mathare slum.

While the challenge to restore the river to its previous hay day con-ditions is great, it is clear that an ef-fective plan of action will require both the efforts of the locals and the government among other stakehold-ers to save it from complete ruin.

The demise of Mathares Gitathuru River

SHOFCO Economic Empowerment

Offers: >>Employability training that enhances ones

ability to get and retain a job by developing ones communication skills and personnal

attributes

>>Information on the DOs and Donts of the job market.

>> Link to internships and attachments that offer the required job skills

Call or visit SHOFCO offices.

By Kevin Ochieng

A new milk ATM has opened up in the Gorofani area of Kibera. The milk machine was first opened to customers on May 23 of this year and has been operating since.

Kennedy Otieno, a worker em-ployed to man the machine, says the machine was installed to pro-vide cheap and affordable milk.

The milk from the machine is so popular that residents are coming from far flung areas like in Kianda, Lindi, Kisumu Ndogo and Olympic areas just to buy from the machine.

A litre of milk goes for ksh.70 but the lowest amount of money one can buy milk with is ksh.10. The machine can hold a maximum of 200 liters.

In explaining the popularity of the machine and the milk, Otieno said, the milk is really fresh and re-ally good, once you try it, you will come back with ten other people.

According to Otieno, the busi-ness peaks in the early hours of the morning from 5:00 am to 11:00 am. However from around noon to 4:00 pm they have fewer customers.

Business picks up again af-ter 5:00 pm and continues to receive a lot of customers up to around 10:00pm when they close the shop.

Otieno says that the job can be exhausting especially since their dai-ly stock of milk can come as early as 2:00 in the morning. This means that Otieno and his coworker have to be awake before or by that time.

He also adds that their job is de-

Low cost milk for residents as Milk ATM opens up in Kibera

manding since they work while stand-ing from 5:00 am when the business opens to 10:00 pm when it closes, with little or no breaks, depending on the day.

Another problem they face regularly is when there is a pow-er outage which affects their work as they have to resort to man-ually operating the machine.

This sometimes becomes tricky because some customers think that the quality of milk has been compromised.

Overall, Otieno is hap-py about his work as he is one of the first people to provide this new business to people in Kibera.

Topical stories ondaily happeningsin our society.Society


from page 1

to help needy chil-dren from Kibera, Korogo-cho, and other Nairobi slums.

Established in December 2014, the foundations mission is to give hope, support and oppor-tunities to street children in slums.

Isaac, who lives in Koro-gocho, knows that if given the opportunity, poor people have the potential to achieve a lot.

Because of his entrepreneurial spirit, Isaac wanted to form a net-work and help fellow classmates help themselves. That is how the idea for the Aboki Foundation was born.

After completing form four at Jamhuri High School in Ngara, Isaac decided to get together with other school mates to start this project.

He spent two months looking for and pitching the idea to as many students as he could. He managed to

get 40 of his colleagues to join him.They arranged a meeting

place in Korogocho where they met and decided to begin by con-tributing from the little they had since none of them had any savings and the foundation had no capital.

They gathered money, clothes sanitary towels, blankets and foodstuffs and started donat-ing these things to street children.

They now donate every second Saturday and Sunday of the month.

Currently, the foundation has about 80 to 100 youths and usually selects one member from the group to walk around from slum to slum announcing that Aboki Foundation , which is also known as Youth Help-ing Foundation, will be at a particu-lar place such as Kibera or Mathare.

The foundation has so far helped over 7000 needy children from various slums but the major-ity are from Kibera, Korogocho, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, and Mathare.

More than donating to street

children and the needy, the foun-dation has or-ganized a group dance and the members en-gage in manual work that cleans up the streets of Nairobi slums.

As one of the only youth foundations in Nairobi slums that focus on helping street children, Abo-ki Founda-tion has so far played a major role in trans-forming lives.

Its mem-bers believe that the foundation has helped re-duce the rates at which small chil-

dren and young youth engage in robbery, hijacking, drug trafficking and much more.

One of the members, John Odhiambo said, Im glad I joined this foundation be-cause it keeps me busy and allows me to help kids in need.

I was selected to walk from slum to slum announc-ing where they will be giving out their collections in certain place at certain time.

The foun-dation has grown a lot since incep-tion and the group now collects about ksh.60, 000 to

100, 000 before the

end of the second Saturdays and Sundays of the month. They use the money they raise to buy food-stuff and other basic things that the street children might need.

The Foundation also gets support from various sponsors in-cluding churches, unions and or-ganizations who donate items like beddings, money and stationeries.

Some of the sponsors help with placing some of the children in childrens homes.

Aboki, which is now located in Umoja is looking to expand so that it may be able to serve more of the less fortunate in society.

Isaac says, In five years to come I want this founda-tion to grow bigger and have a business element, a childrens home and a child help center.

Other youth out there are en-couraged to join the group as it is open to everyone. For more informa-tion, you can contact 0707606892.

Youth from slum helping needy street kids

By Patrick Khamala

Calvary Secondary School in Kibera is in the planning stages of opening up a library to its stu-dents and the larger community.

Digital Alliance, a non-prof-it organization that works to pro-mote visual education, has com-mitted to equip the library with a television and DVD player that will be used to air academic set programs in various subjects.

John Mulei, the schools as-sistant director, said that the li-brarys mission is to provide space for book lovers, attract new readers and to encourage read-ing habits among the students and members of the community.

To that effect, the library will be well equipped with a di-verse collection of books rang-ing from textbooks to fictional novels in order to provide people with their book needs and intro-duce them to new reading material.

In efforts to encourage peo-

ple to come in and promote a reading culture, Mulei wants the library to offer a conducive envi-ronment that will contain reading and working spaces with enough tables and chairs to accommo-date as many people as possible.

More than just reading ma-terials and space, the library will also offer additional quiet rooms where students will be able to con-duct personal or group studies.

Moreover, the library will serve as a center for creativity where students will be able to discover

and/or nurture their talents through writing and reading clubs that will develop their skills and encour-age hard work and perseverance.

Mulei also hopes that by keep-ing youth busy through such activi-ties, the librarys resources can help dissuade idleness that tends to lead to youth becoming engaged in harmful activities like drug abuse and crime.

He added that the he wants to ensure that the library is extremely accessible so as to help students uti-lize their time better. He hopes that students use these resources effec-

tively, which will eventually lead to the students performing better.

Jamila Onyango, a form three student at the school said that I am excited about the coming library be-cause it will help me do my research and assignments on time and hope-fully help me improve my grades.

Jackline Serem, a Kiswa-hili teacher echoed the students sentiments by saying, I support the development of the library as it will create a better study-ing environment for the students and help them perform better.

Im glad I joined this foundation because it keeps

me busy and allows me to help kids in

need. I was selected to

walk from slum to slum to announce where we will be

giving out our col-lections in a certain place & at a certain

time.John Odhiambo

Upcoming library seeks to improve students performance

Locals turn to bead work as a source of employment

By Andy Wanga

In Kenya, many tribes have used beads as a basic element of their traditional attire, especially in jewelry. However, modernization has made beadwork become more than just a way of adorning a body. While beads are still most com-monly used to make jewelry, nowa-days, you can also find beadwork on shoes, sculptures, table mats, baskets, clothes and exquisite wall hangings.

With the current levels of unemployment in our country, a lot of people in Kibera have em-braced this art as a way of ven-turing into the business world.

One such businessman is Rob-ert Odhiambo, a calm, soft-spoken, young man who started bead-work-ing in 2009, six years after complet-ing his secondary certificate. He now makes Maasai shoes and other types of sandals using beads and leather.

Odhiambo attests that bead-work has been a saving grace for him as it provides him with a comfortable standard of living.

I live and pay rent with this job and I also pay my school fees from it, he said. He makes approx-imately Ksh. 1500 to 3000 a day.

His business has been grow-ing gradually to the point that he has been able to employ two young men and one mother, who work on a part-time basis and of-fer a helping hand when he needs it.

His workers state that they are happy with their work and wages and they make sufficient income to sup-port themselves and their families. He is proud that he has been able to give back to the community and he hopes to continue to improve the lives of more youth who dont have jobs.

We also caught up with wom-en who work in SHOFCOS women empowerment program (SWEP) who also make a living off their beadwork. These women make shoes, wristbands, wristwatches and logos using beads.

54-year-old Rose Khavet-sa who works there says that this work has helped her tremen-dously and has kept her busy.

Although both Odhiambo and the SWEP women have expe-rienced some success from their beadwork, there are still a few chal-lenges they all experience equally.

They mentioned that the mar-ket for the merchandise is charac-terized by low prices and at times there is no market at all for any of the products they sell. SWEPs wom-en counter this challenge by always having a diverse set of products, constantly trying out new designs and improving on previous ones.

Additionally, Robert states that commitment, determination and passion are the secrets of success.

Overall, SWEPs women advise that you must be the change you wish to see in the world. These bead work-ers show that poverty and hopelessness should not define slum living and that if you put yourself to it, there are plen-ty of ways you can overcome hardship.

Rose Khavetsa beading a wristband. Beadwork has grown into the one of the common ways women and youth are making a living.

Photo::Liz Mahiri

Residents treated of eye compliactionsfor free

Women establisha new business-modelfor washing clothes.

Health

Business


Women group merchandise on cloth-washing

Hundreds receive treatment for eye complicationBy Kevin Ochieng

Kibera residents were serviced with a free eye clinic on June 1 - 5 through the help of the Redeem-er Lutheran Church from Austin, U.S.A in association with Springs of Life Lutheran Church in Kibera.

In collaboration with Vision for Africa, an NGO that works to promote eye healthcare in Africa, Redeemer Lutheran Church sends volunteers ev-ery year to slums in Kenya with the mission to eradicate preventable eye problems while spreading the Gospel.

David A. Devore, who led the team from America, said that this vi-sion clinic usually attracts large num-bers of people who throng the venues to get their eyes checked and receive medical assistance. Since 2009, De-vore and his group of volunteers have helped thousand regain their eyesight. There is also a team of four Kenyan doctors who help with this service.

The initiative has also visited and set up medical camps in other places like Kiambu, Narok and Na-ivasha. On the first day of this year, the clinic served about 430 people. By the end of the week, 2220 people had been treated and received eye drops or reading glasses. The most com-mon eye problem that is usually found during the week of treatment is cata-racts, which is clouding of the eyes natural lens that lies behind the iris and the pupil. It is the most common

cause of vision loss in people over 40 and is the main cause of blindness in the world. According to Prevent Blindness America (PBA), there are more cases of cataracts worldwide than there are of glaucoma, macular degeneration and retinopathy, (three of the most common eye problems) combined. This initiative has saved a lot of people in Nairobi slums from

Baby Blessing and her parents pause for a photo with David Devore at the Life Springs Lutheran Church in Kibera courtyard after Blessing had been given medical attention to remove cataracts from her eyes. The cataracts are said to be hereditary.

Photo: Courtersy.

contracting this disease, people who would probably have had no way of preventing it and no financial means of getting the surgery to cure it.

A case in point is that of a young girl called Blessing from Kawang-ware who was born with cataracts in both her eyes. Doctors had discovered that her cataracts were hereditary as

her mother was also born with the condition. However, her case came in too late as Devore and his peers were closing their camp and preparing to fly out. The girls condition required urgent medical assistance. Normal-ly we fund one cataract surgery at a time and mostly for older people be-cause the high chance of infection

and the possibility of losing sight in both eyes. David however says that in the case of Blessing, the risk fac-tors of going under anesthesia twice far outweighed these other factors, so both eyes needed to be corrected at the same time. He asked doctors to make calls and confirm up the cost. After phone consultations with their colleagues at various clinics, doctors reported that both eyes including an-esthesia would be a little less than ksh. 40,000. Fortunately, an anonymous donor offered to pay 1/3rd of the cost. The surgery went well and Blessing had her sight restored in both eyes.

While this initiative has been suc-cessful in a number of different ways, it still experiences certain challenges.

One of the biggest chal-lenges is publicizing the proj-ect to people who need it the most as in the case of Blessing.

Spreading awareness through word of mouth alone takes time and prevents people from getting treat-ed on time or even checked at all. Another drawback is getting vol-unteers especially from the west as people tend to think that Africa is dangerous due to disease, war, and poverty. Despite these challenges, the eye clinic will continue to do its work in order to realize its mission.

The next eye clinic will be in Kawangware around November 5-9 of this year. It will also come back to Kibera around the end of May and beginning of June of next year.

By Eunice Otieno

The Achiever Womens group in Kawangware is unlike any other womens group you would find in a Kenyan slum.

It is a group of visionary wom-en who have devised a new way of minting money from an age-old en-gagement; washing clothes for pay.

As opposed to most other clothes washers who move from house to house and estate to estate searching for clothes to wash, the group instead has residents from wealthier estates bring their wares to them for cleaning.

Eunishandy Aoko, a single moth-er who lives in Kawangware, came up with the idea about two years ago. Aoko then partnered with other wom-en who would accompany her as she went knocking on doors in search of people needing their clothes washed.

I realized there were a lot of other women with the same prob-lems as I did, and saw that if we came together, we could solve some of our problems together, Aoko said.

They later decided to identify a specific place where they would do their washing.They started saving and were able to rent a place and the equip-ment needed to start their business.

More than making a living, the goal of the initiative is also to help poor women who depend on washing clothes but waste a lot of energy and time moving around looking for clients.

Aoko and her colleagues say that the group has been a saving grace for them because the previ-ous method had too many problems.

A lot of the time, most of these women would not get cli-ent or would get too exhausted from walking and be unable to raise enough money for the day.

A majority of the wom-en complained that their for-

mer clients did not trust them in their houses and some showed hostility. Aoko remembers that.

Some bosses used to test me even with food, She explains. As you know, after washing clothes and youre hungry and youve seen a banana you do not want to leave, so they normally complained that my interest was not in washing clothes but eating their food and

yet they do not want you to break for lunch before you finish wash-ing their clothes, Ms. Aoko added.

By providing a specific place to launder clothes, Aokos idea eased both the work of the women wash-ing and provided a constant and re-liable laundry service for the clients.

We are happy now because our clients do not have the prob-lem of having different people wash their clothes, some of who may be dishonest and end up steal-ing from the client, said Aoko.

She added that she is also hap-py that her fellow workers have their own source of reliable income and do not have to wait for their hus-bands to bring them money which may not satisfy all their needs.

One of their clients, Paul Nyan-gweso, says that, I am happy with the groups services because they make it convenient for me and I dont have to worry about a stranger in the house and the safety of my household items.

The group has employed 30 wom-en, 10 who are permanent and another 20 women who work on a casual basis.

The women on casual en-gagement are paid on a daily ba-sis after they finish washing their share of clothes and the perma-nent women are paid monthly.

We work from 8.00am to 3.00pm and even pay rent for the place we are working at. We are

able to pay for our expenses as well as save money, said Aoko.

To become a member of the group, one must register with a Ksh. 300 non-refundable fee. As sav-ing is an essential component of the group, each member is required to save Ksh. 400 per month, which also serves as their emergency fund.

The group balances work be-tween themselves as well as between work and home duties. Aoko explains why this is necessary saying that, some of our husbands want us to be housewives and not to work for pay.

Members of Each member Achiever Womens group are also entitled to two days off weekly.

The group has appoint-ed marketers who walk around to look for clients while some do the washing, and others fold.

Each piece of cloth has its own price, jeans cost Ksh. 100, a T-shirt is Ksh. 40, material cloth is Ksh. 80, capes and socks are Ksh. 30, towels Ksh. 50, carpets Ksh. 300 and nets and kitambas are Ksh. 150.

All childrens items are half the price. The group is aiming at employ-ing men who can wash cars and carpets.

To avoid confusion and con-flicts with their client over missing clothes, they have a records book where they keep track of who has brought in clothes, and who is wash-ing the clothes of each specific client.

Members of the Achiever Womens group washing some of their clients clothes. Over 30 women have been employed on permanent and part-time basis.

Photo: Eunice Otieno.


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 affecting 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 [email protected]. You can also visit our facebook page www.facebook.com/ghettomirror for constant news updates, photos, and videos. News and advertising 0722 550 024

GhettoMirror

Plight of the mentally-ill people in slumsBy Kevin Ochieng & Michael Ogutu

Kamkunji is a con-stituency of Nairo-bi that is about 200 meters away from the city center.

It houses the mother of (and therefore) the largest market in all of Nairobi. As such, it is a hodge-podge of people and things that are nestled within its slum conditions.

While there are a lot of prob-lems facing everyone who lives in such congested and poor conditions, the most overlooked and perhaps most vulnerable of this marginalized population are the mentally sick.

Ruth Ndukwe Amwai, who works for the Ministry of Health in the department of mental health, is among the very few who ac-tively advocates for and acts on the behalf of this shunned group.

She says that because these in-dividuals generally dont receive any type of aid for their conditions and since they are stigmatized by society, their symptoms worsen over time. Be-cause of this, they tend to be rejected by both family and their community, and left without any support system.

A lot of them end up fall-

ing into the traps of helpless-ness and dangerous situations.

Amwai claims that the number of mentally ill people in Kamkunji is greater compared to the rest of Kenya.

She says that this large number poses a real danger to other men-tally ill people and the community at large as they can be attacked or can attack any-one in the streets.

She adds that some carry knives as weapons therefore endan-gering themselves and those that that they may come into contact with.

Due to their helplessness, they can be influenced by drug peddlers to distribute drugs like marijuana.

Amwai, who has been working as a social worker in the community for 30 years, has experienced and seen the problems caused by the lack services and sup-

port in society for the mentally ill. While there are a few services

that cater to the mentally ill in Kenya, they are scarce and/or inadequately equipped to deal with the condition.

Mathari Mental Hospital is the only institution that takes in mental-ly ill patients in Nairobi. However,

it is far beyond its full carrying ca-pacity and does not have enough resources to care for all the pa-tients effectively.

In fact, it has been so over-whelmed that pa-tients get released as soon as they start improving. Amwai points out that this is a major reason why there are still so many mentally ill peo-ple on the streets.

K e n y a t t a National Hospital, the biggest refer-ral medical insti-tution in Kenya, stopped admitting

mentally ill patients because there

were a lot of cases where these pa-tients would try to escape by jump-ing from high floors of the hospitals.

One of the reasons Mathari Men-tal institution is overcrowded is be-cause of the high costs of these services.

A lot of families might not be able to afford the bills incurred, and therefore leave the patients in the hospital, which eventually forces the hospitals to let them go.

Amwai says that the lack of a comprehensive system to handle all these problems causes a never end-ing cycle that will not be resolved unless these issues are addressed.

Mary Wangari Kabanais one such patient who was re-leased from the Mathari Men-tal Hospital three years ago and has been on the streets since then.

Once she was out of the in-stitution, she was exposed to a multitude of risks that mentally ill women in the slum are especially more vulnerable to, such as rape.

Unfortunately, Kabana has been a victim of rape multiple times and has consequently become pregnant. She is currently expecting her second child.

She is six months preg-nant, living in the cold, not attend-ing antenatal clinics and not eating healthy food. This is why we need

a center to cater for such cases and help needy families to pay hospi-tal bills and give the abandoned mentally ill a home, Amwai says.

In an effort to help change the situation, Amwai has written a let-ter to several governmental bodies urging them to address these issues.

The letter requests help from relevant offices to help in start-ing the process of creating clinics and centers that cater specifical-ly to the needs of the mentally ill.

She explains that there is a dire need to increase these services and to make them accessible to peo-ple suffering from mental illness in slum areas and other poor areas.

Amwai believes that community based centers, particularly in slums and poor areas will be extremely effective.

She says that it will give ex-isting community social work-ers, like herself, an easier time to identify and help individuals within this marginalized group.

It will also allow each case of mental illness to be treated in appro-priate and effective means, and for the individuals to be taken care in humane ways. Moreover, this system will allow these individuals to make something out of themselves and to become useful members of society.

She is six months pregnant, living in the cold, not attend-ing antenatal clin-ics and not eating healthy food. This is why we need a cen-ter to cater for such cases and help needy families to pay hospi-tal bills and give the abandoned & men-

tally-ill a home

Ruth Amwai

By Kevin Ochieng

Brian Otieno Mbowo, who goes by the name, Bravoo, is a Kibera-born dancehall artist who has risen to star-dom from very humble beginnings. He was born in 1994 and was mostly raised by his mother. Bravoo only ever saw his father twice; once when he was sick and again during his funeral.

To make ends meet, his mother used to sell clothes in Langata. How-ever, as the money that came in from this was barely enough, she had to re-sort to selling changaa to supplement her income, which could land her in trouble with law enforcers. Bravoo is however proud and appreciative of her mother in saying, my mother is a

Brian Otieno Mbowo, commonly known as Bravoo, performing one of his songs during a good governance concert. Photo: Bravo

real holistic woman who has struggled so much despite the fact that she was jobless. Her hard work to keep them afloat is one of the things that drove him to become successful in his art. He says, I was always determined and focused to change the situation.

Although he got into the music industry when he was much older, his inclination towards music was sparked by a series of unfortunate events that began when he was just a young boy.

When he was still in primary school, Bravoo used to play football with his friends at Langata grounds. But this was short-lived as the foot-ball field was demolished to pave way for roads and estates. Bravoo and his friends who were now idle and demor-alized, turned to crime. They joined a

gang, experimented with drugs, got addicted to hard drugs like marijua-na and soon graduated to robbery.The gang used to terrorize Langata, Uhuru gardens, Jamhuri and South B estates. This activities eventually led him to drop out of school in 2007.

In took one incident that nearly cost him his life to change his behav-ior. Duringa robbery mission, hewas caught and corneredby a mob, beaten and left to die. Fortunately, he was rescued by a goodsamaritan who co-incidentally happened to be a neigh-bor. Having lost consciousness, he found himself in a hospital. It is also at this point in life, that he went on a self-discovery quest throughreligion and sought forgiveness from God.

It is also around this time that

he discovered that he could sing. Unfortunately, by then his friends and relatives had abandoned him be-cause of his past criminal activities. He was however not deterred by this as music was the one of the things that helped him recover and change his life. He started writing songs on his experiences in life and the sec-ond chance that he was given in life.

So far, Bravoo has released more than 100 tracks includingHap-py Day, I Ask You (a gospel song), Beat Dem Bad, Hands Up (off the JoverteRiddim), Il-luminati and Im Di Best( the video was released this year).

He became popular when he re-leased a hit called New Dancewith a video on YouTube. Fame started fol-lowing as he got interviews from one radio and TV station to another. He launched the song on K24s popular reggae and dancehall show RiddimUp Live Peoplewhich helped him reach out his music to a wider audience.

He has worked with two mu-sic stars from Jamaica, one drop hit maker, Venomous with whom he re-corded a song called Shagalabagla which, he says, is a new dance style that is getting launched in Africa.

He has also done a song called PumPumwith Naja Ashie.

His music has also exposed to local heavy weights like Octo-pizzo and Rabbit and he has shared the stage with Venomous, Prof, Na-jaAshie, and Brian Avia from Ugan-da and Tess Obrian from Australia.He has toured in Siaya, Nairobi,M-achakos and Mombasa and Uganda.

He is currently planning on working with an artist called Delus, Konshens younger brother who has

sent him a beat through mail mean-ing that there is a hit in the making and he also has plans to go to Aus-tralia to make some video tracks.

Bravoo is inspired by Redsan and the Ugandan, Jose Chameleon. He adds that Busy Signal is his role model because he has been outstanding since day one of his career. He also thinks out of the box compared to majority.

He has been rewarded for his talent and hard work as his music has won the ECN Radio Awards for best dancehall artist and best song of the Season (New Dance).

His success has also won him back his family.He says that at first the family did not take him seriously, especially his mother. That has how-ever changed now as he can support his mother from his music career.

Despite his success, Bravo still has a few challenges. He criticizes the Kenyan music industry for not being supportive enough of local musi-cians making it hard to penetrate the music scene as most radio and TV stations play foreign music at the ex-pense ofthe local ones. He says that, This is why you will hear more of Lil Wayne but less of Octopizzo. He recommends that Kenya should have good distribution mechanism like that of Nigeria or South Africa.

Bravoos long term vision is to set up a musical empire where every talented youth from the slum will be able to have an opportunity to make the most of their talent. He adds that his mission is to change the mu-sic industry in the same way the hip hop mogul Dr.Dre changed it with his Beats. He also wants to create a sound track that will reign for infinity.

Artists rise from bottom to stardom

ghetto mirror june 2015 issue

Documents