Kenya Today
By Miriam Pepper | June 01, 2009 | Kenya
NAIROBI: The world's largest slum is here, Kibera, home to 1.2 million mostly young Kenyans, about one third of Nairobi's population.
Today was a national holiday, marking the beginning of self-rule for this African nation in 1963. The president spoke, hecklers interrupted, and talk among University of Nairobi students focused on the continuing fragile circumstances of the nation split by ethnic, class and tribal divisions.
In Kibera, the holiday gave children a day off school, sing-songing their favorite greeting for visiting American journalists: How are you? How are you? How are you?
The shanty-filled, mud-path community lacks clean water (or running water), sanitation, jobs, health care and opportunity. Its pathways are littered with the well-known "flying toilets," bagged human waste tossed out at night, but visible each day.
A volunteer-run community radio station, Pamoja, survived the post-election late 2007-early 2008 violence and continues to provide residents with local news, children's programming and announcements about lost children, except during intermittent power outages, as occurred this morning. Once back on air, music filled the program, intended to please the women listeners today.
Youth socccer teams filled the fields for the holiday, including one player sporting a popular "Made in Kenya" t-shirt featuring President Barack Obama. Kids crowded around Americans with cameras, and 42 orphans whose parents have died of AIDS sang songs about the monster disease they are learning how to avoid at the Kigulu HIV/AIDS Orphanage Center.
Roosters crow, open cooking fires send smoke up, small food stands offer fresh bananas and dried fish, and a few assorted shops stayed open for the holiday. Down a rocky, muddy path, the Kibera Youth Development Organization offered kids a free showing of the movie, "Prison Break," while its leaders worried about rent and how they can continue to provide the social hall, garbage collection, water and sanitation services.
I'm here with a dozen American journalists, all "gatekeeper" editors chosen by the International Reporting Project of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies to learn about Kenya during a two-week fact-finding trip.
Coming tomorrow: human rights discussions, economic development briefings and a visit to the U.S. Embassy.
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