Gaining momentum

My Kenyan experience has changed a great deal from when I first arrived until now. Before leaving for Kenya, I was linked into one organization, Shiriki, and was told that I would be most useful in the rural area of Kitui. If you have followed my blog since the beginning, you know that while I did live out in Kitui for some time, I have spent most of my time in Nairobi. This is of no surprise, as even before I left the northwest, I felt that I wanted to be working with youth in the city’s slums. For some reason, I felt a strong pull in that area. Perhaps it is a calling, OR more likely it is curiosity, fascination with Hollywood’s glamorization of ghetto life, or simply my reservations of leaving behind the comforts of the city (aka hot showers, modern kitchens, tile floors). Either way, I love the hustle and bustle of the city and though there are many downsides, I feel truly content here. This update is a little bit long, so get ready to read!

One thing about cities that has always drawn my attention is city art. Not the type of art you see hung up in art galleries (though I appreciate that too), but the kind of art innovations that occur when people turn trash into something magnificent. This is what I love about Nairobi and the colorful characters that dwell here. Jah Warrior, a young man of 25 years (pictured above), born and raised in the ghetto. While attending high school he was living and sleeping on the street, and eating from the garbage. How, he is a well-known local artist who paints on virtually any medium, writes music and sings at different venues in Nairobi. Though he is still struggling to get by, he maintains an incredibly positive outlook. He has a 2 year old son that he is raising by himself. I am assisting him by helping make a short film about ghetto living. I will post it here when it is complete.

Reading the screenplay for the short film

What update would be complete without mentioning our fine Nairobi police? After filming some night scenes in the fine housing the Kenyan government provides to the citizens of Kawangware, Jah Warrior and Nightsake (an actor in the movie) thoughtfully walk me home. No problem, I arrived home safe and sound, bid farewell and promptly go to sleep. An hour or so passes, and my phone begins ringing. Not uncommon. I ignore the phone, go back to sleep. The phone rings again. Again I ignore. The phone rings a third time and the responsible side of me answers this time. A panicked voice: “Jahwil, they have arrested us, we weren’t doing anything, please come, please come down here”. It is midnight and though I know they will not be released at night, I make my way down to the police station to find out what the charges were. Funny thing, the officer is reluctant to tell me their charges. I go back the next morning bringing a full grocery bag of breakfast for the youth. They are temporarily let out of the holding cell (filled to the brim I might add), and they sit beside me on the bunch. Jah Warrior looks over at me and says the most profound statement “this place is shit”.  ABSOLUTELY. They describe the extremely unhygienic conditions in which they slept in, the room is riddled with lice, and the captive youth have not been given a drop of water. Needless to say, after speaking with the OCS, they are released. 

Indeed, never a dull moment in Nairobi. I love working with Kenya’s young population, listening to their stories, asking them about their talents, skills, strengths, and helping to connect them with ideas, resources and information. Over the last month I have helped several youth work towards obtaining a national ID. In Kenya, it is not possible to get a job in the formal economy without an ID. This is a big challenge for many of the street youth who don’t even know their own birthdays, let alone the information, documentation and confidence required to obtain an ID. As I have come to experience, several bureaucratic procedures must be taken before an ID is granted. These procedures include swearing an affidavit before the High Court, obtaining permission from the Chief, standing in long lines, and wading through the red tape. Despite my complaints, the mission has been a great success, IDs have been granted. The formerly unidentified are Kenyan nationals, ready to contribute to the country’s GDP! Well, we haven’t gotten there yet, but progress is being made.

Sammy (One of the youth I am helping to get formal licensing for matatu conducting)

I have also tried to help facilitate some of the youth to start up a small business by providing small loans and information support, though I did require explicit business plans inclusive with budgets (kind of). Anyways, one of the businesses involves the buying of clothes from Gikombe and selling in Dagoretti. Gikombe is the largest marketplace in Nairobi. Mass shipments of your graciously donated second hand clothing items get sent here where hawkers buy crates of unseen clothing which they unwrap, sort, and sell to the vendors. There is money to be made in the second hand clothing market, and if one hustles hard, knows how to find nice clothes, they can make some extra income. The other business loan was for a start-up hoteli in Kibera. The word hoteli is equivalent to the English word café. They are selling typical Kenyan food, working hard, and hoping to turn a profit. Thus far, I have received positive feedback about both businesses, the youth are learning a lot, and though the work is hard, there seems to be a sense of pride in running their own ventures.

Hoteli in Kibera

Though you can sense my enthusiasm in the work I am doing with the youth, I have not forgotten about my two organizations: Shiriki and Soweto Academy. I continue to collaborate, share ideas, hunt for proposals and share in collective discourse with the other Shiriki volunteers. We are still awaiting information on our status in the youth in agriculture blog competition. I have largely passed over the reins in terms of updating the website and the blog to other members of the organization, though I still update and edit as well. On an unfortunate note, due to beefed up security in our country’s capital (triggered by the Al Shabab attacks and election year), the place where the music department operated complete with studio has been shut down. The Kenyan police have ousted the building from public use and we unfortunately need to find another venue for the music works. This has come as a big disappointment for the hard working musicians within Shiriki, though I know there is another plan in store for them, onwards and upwards, though it may take some time for the plan to unfold. The agriculture initiative continues in Maragua: http://shirikiorganization.blogspot.com/ and I am planning to visit the farm again in the near future.

 I also had the opportunity of touring around Dandorra with one of the Shiriki members, Ras Ambassa. I have long been interested in garbage collection due to the immense need present throughout Kibera, Dagoretti and nearly all, but the upscale neighborhoods of Nairobi. What I found there was far from pleasant, progressive, or even humane. Dandorra is Nairobi’s garbage dumping site. No one bothered to dig a landfill here; instead, the garbage is dumped on what was once a beautiful greenscape in Nairobi. Unfortunately, it also houses more than 1 million people. There are no regulations enforced to safely dispose of toxic waste and hazardous materials. In fact, 10% of the population (including children) make an income wading through this garbage. Life expectancy, unsurprisingly but very sadly, in Dandorra is around 45 years. As soon as I alighted from the matatu, the overwhelming smell of garbage permeated the atmosphere. The temperature tipped 30 degrees and there was no escape. Fortunately for me, in a couple hours I was out of there. However, there is no escape for the residents of Dandorra, the hotter the heat, the more toxic the air. Respiratory diseases, cancer, tumours and typhoid are commonplace. 

Nairobi has over four million inhabitants and just one dumping site. There is no legal framework for solid waste management and disposal. More than 2,000 tons of rubbish is dumped in Dandora every day. Dandora covers 30 acres and is located in the center of a poor residential area. It has been there for thirty years. In 2001 it was declared to be at full capacity and a health hazard to the neighbouring population. Chemical, Hospital, Industrial, Agricultural, Urban and Domestic Waste is dumped and left unprocessed. Due to lack of space the people are forced to burn the waste to reduce its volume. Toxic fumes continuously contaminate the air. This issue is closely linked to various interests and illegal activities. 

Child working in the garbage in Dandora

Even still, ``the light shines in the darkness, and darkness has not overcome it`` John 1:5. I was introduced to a local NGO working to improve the livelihoods of the community by providing youth with income generation ideas, connection to information, community participation through sports, and facilitating community clean-up days. And this is what I have come to admire so much about Kenya, youth living in the ghetto recognizing that unity brings strength, by organizing, mobilizing and pooling their human capital, they can make a big impact and effect positive change. There are many groups of young people working together in this capacity, and I am humbled by their work ethic and spirit of hope.

I am still involved with Soweto Academy as well, on a very positive note, the computer proposal has been very positively received by the Safaricom Foundation. They have not yet given me a response on whether or not they will fund the project; however, they currently have the proposal under consideration, and will respond within the next few weeks. 

On another positive note, my brother came to visit me for two weeks in January. My brother, Adam, is a nurse working at a mental health facility in B.C. He volunteered with the health clinic at Soweto Academy, in addition to seeing some of the beautiful (and not so beautiful) Kenyan sites, meeting the infamously friendly Kenyan people, including members of Shiriki, and my neighborhood youth. While visiting me, he went on a gruelling walking safari through the Masai Mara, climbed Mt. Longonot, biked through the rift valley and got lost in the biggest slum in East Africa. Not quite a beach vacation, but a great time for everyone including myself and all that got to know Adam. We did have our indulgences though, which included dining on the finest Ethiopian food, attending a social gathering in my apartment building, and checking out some of Nairobi's museums and city markets. Now that Adam has left, I am constantly asked, how is Adam doing? When is Adam coming back? It is funny how fast time goes by; it feels like Adam was only here for a weekend, though it was two full weeks. 

Adam in the Rift Valley

Another project has emerged: I was asked by some of my fellow Dagoretti community youth members to help out in forming a formally registered Community Based Organization called KUSH-ITES Family. I was asked to help out with this initiative in early January. The very first meeting was held in Satelite at one of the member's homes. There were about 30 people, all youth, and all eager to start up this organization. The meeting commenced with the mandate that we would make a constitution, we would elect board members, and we would register the organization during the upcoming week (fairly ambitious first meeting). As things progressed I was asked to be Secretary, to keep the minutes, and facilitate the registration process. Partway through the meeting, an agitated young man entered the compound. Though he was talking in Sheng (mix of Swahili and English), I could understand that he wanted money for his friend that was being held by the police. The members did not give in to his wishes and he got increasingly agitated, started shoving some of the members, making threats, picking up large rocks. Though everyone seemed pretty calm, it certainly freaked me out. Finally the man left, only to return 5 minutes later, even more agitated. He ran up to the member sitting beside me and pushed him off his chair, started yelling, picked up some rocks, and we all piled out of there. Again everyone was pretty calm, except me. A little shooken up, I exchanged glances with some of the other members and the only consolation I got was "welcome to the ghetto". 

KUSH-ITES Family CBO

We have been meeting every Monday, and the objectives of the group include problem solving within the community, facilitating small business ideas, and organizing community events (such as the community event on December 12th that I posted about a couple blogs ago, which was organized by members of this organization). I was tasked with the job of officially registering the organization which involved writing up the constitution, making the list of members, filling out applications and getting approval from the Chief, District Officer and Ministry of Gender and Social Services. While it took me about two weeks to complete everything, I can thankfully say the group is officially registerered and we will be able to pick up our certificate in two weeks. Now the real planning will begin ....

I have only two months left here, not a happy thought. I have gotten to work with many different people in different capacities, I have learned a ton about Kenya, grassroots organizations, learned some Swahilli, and have seen the overwhelming needs evident everywhere. I have started to think about starting an initiative out here. An initiative that could continue to help out the youth, perhaps more formally, through resources, information, mentoring, knowledge and expertise. I am gathering ideas on how to make such an initiative happen and how to make it sustainable. Thus far, these are just thoughts, and this may only commence in the future, but I feel I have found a role here amongst the youth and would like to be able to continue with this work.

Train that takes workers from Kibera to town