Who said that a breath-taking place does not have shortcomings? Well, Nairobi just like any other big city is not exempted from its fair share of flaws. From pollution, to pickpockets, to overpopulation- you name it. Kenya actually offers one of the largest markets for imported vehicles in Africa. This provides a paradox because you would expect it to be up-to-date with the road network. Sadly, the vehicles seem to outnumber the people- One would be stuck in the traffic jam for hours on end. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get to where they are going, but the jam keeps slowing them down. Kenya’s population is on the rapid growth, with the cosmopolitan Nairobi having approximately 3 million people. -The irony is that our infrastructure has failed to keep the pace with our growth, resulting in one of the worst traffic jams in the continent.
With jams there are the traffic rules which seem to be a waste of time for some ruthless motorists. One morning I witnessed an ugly scene on my way to school- a man was knocked by a public service vehicle also known as a Matatu and to add salt to injury, it was at a zebra crossing. I am sure that the person who invented the black and white lines did not intend them to be mere decorations. Then there’s this issue of un-roadworthy vehicles that emit exhaust fumes which add to the air pollution.
Speaking of pollution, there are days when I walk on the streets carrying a ticket from my bus ride, or a wrapper from a finished piece of candy on my hand- it would be much easier to just drop it down and comfortably walk away- but my conscience does not allow me to do it. Unfortunately, not everyone is like minded, so you’ll find litter everywhere. During the strolls, I still see papers everywhere. It is a good thing that the Nairobi City council endorsed tough rules against throwing of things haphazardly in the city centre. Ever since, the Nairobi Central Business District has been in prim shape, but I am almost sure that without such stringent regulations- we would surely bounce back to our old ways.
My worry ceases to be with the city centre; instead it is with the estates that lack dustbins on the streets and have no one to keep watch of the occupants’ conduct. Worse still, with the informal settlements, where any open ground seems to have a silent name on it, “dumpsite”.
This prompts me on the largest problem that is now faced by the capital. The gap between the rich and poor is daily on the increase, more and more people still migrate from the rural areas to come to the capital in search of jobs which always are nowhere to be found. The cost of living on the other hand is ascending daily, leading to the development of urban slums due to expensive proper housing. The vast majority, actually two thirds of Nairobi’s population lives in these slums, with horrid living conditions.
Of course one can not deny the fact that many plans to upgrade the slum areas have been put in place, but have instead been met with contempt from the dwellers. This is because they predict that once the housing has been upgraded, they will not afford the rents. Behind nearly every posh estate you will most probably find the slums. The problems in these settlements are numerous; they lack proper sanitation, poor road system, indecent housing, overpopulation, lack of healthcare facilities and insecurity among others.
The Government on the other hand does not recognize them in the allocation of social amenities. Officials say that the settlements have to be organised; by upgrading them first before they can be considered in allocation of basic facilities; like schools and health centres. I have worked in the slum community and had a first-hand experience on these challenges. One of the most recent and vivid ordeals is with City Carton slum area in the Eastland’s part of Nairobi. There was an upgrading program that was targeting land allocation to squatters in 2007- this is an activity that made City Cotton among the news items, with residents complaining about the mode of allocation.
The thing that annoyed me with the allocation; was that the residents insisted to be allocated every piece of available land, overlooking the fact that they only have one public toilet serving an entire population of over five thousand people. They were to build their own houses with individual toilets- which up to now, some have not gotten the money to set up even a basic structure. They end up selling their plots of land due to the frustration; they also continue with their use of the infamous “flying toilets”.
There is also this issue of traffic jam that extends to the slum in the evenings. Vehicles using the main road divert into the shortcut of the slum in avoidance of the traffic. Some of the drivers drive very recklessly, not considering that there might be children playing along that path which they have turned into a highway. It is usually not a pleasant experience walking along the dusty path during these times of trying to distinguish your way through the dust. This poses another health hazard to the residents by causing respiratory infections for example asthma and bronchitis.
Another example is clean tap water – until August 2007, the residents were purchasing water from illegally diverted pipes which were from the neighboring Buruburu Phase one estate. This water was not even safe for drinking, because plastic pipes were being used for supply throughout the area. The problem with the plastic pipes was that they would burst and since they passed underground; the dirt would seep in, endangering the health of the consumers.
Thanks to the city council, all the illegal water supply was cut off. They then installed communal taps for the residents to access free and safe water. After two months, some of the pipes started disappearing. Simply put, these people did not own the noble gesture that was meant to relieve them from the agony of buying water from unscrupulous dealers.
WHAT DO I LONG FOR IN NAIROBI?
In September 2000, 189 nations came together under the United Nations and agreed on eight goals that must be achieved by 2015; to ensure the world is a better place for everyone. Among the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) are: goal number one- To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and goal number seven- To ensure environmental sustainability.
Many efforts have been put in place to reach these goals but in my view, we still have a very long way to go. But that does not mean that these are overly ambitious and unrealistic wishes that can never be met. I see them as a possibility especially in Nairobi.
The Nairobi I long for is one that has well organised, more hygienic slums with basic social amenities such as health centres, schools and proper housing. City Cotton is just an example of the numerous informal settlements with challenges in the city of Nairobi. There are more than two hundred similar, even more densely populated than City Cotton.
I don’t think that it is fair for human beings to live in such indecent conditions. Achieving these enviable dreams is a possibility. We may have a resort of blame game- that our leaders have let us down; overlooking the part we ought to play in making these dreams a reality.
AVENUES FOR ACTION WITH MY PEERS.
We have been trying the same tired tactics over and over again. Community based clean-ups for instance- I have nothing against them, but I’m looking at it from a realist’s perspective; it takes a lot of time, logistics and planning to arrange for a one day’s clean up and yet, the majority of the young people living in the community are left out in the planning of the whole event- this leads to apathy from the community members towards a well intended projects. I think that a community should own initiatives targeted at improving their environment.
We can start small initiatives targeted at improving the environment. An ideal starting point would be by sensitizing the communities around informal settlements on hygienic practices. We could do this by magnet theater- where you play short educative skits, in the process drawing an audience; and educating them on cleanliness. I could mobilize my peers and we start working in these communities. We could also as a result, start small income generating activities with the youth by: - garbage collection, general clean ups involving the peers who live in the informal settlements, setting up groups of young people who ensure that no one destroys the resources that have been put in place and that everyone co-operates with the efforts to make the environment a pleasant place to live in.
A pleasant place to live in starts with our houses; I think that we should develop a habit of garbage separation even in our homes, and spread the habit to our peers. People should be made to see the worth of keeping something they discard as waste; and a good way is to sell the idea of storing plastics for sale- to them. With the garbage collection, we could do garbage separation and sell different categories of the garbage to recyclers who transform the things we dismiss as useless; into beautiful things that we later buy.
Some products made out of waste plastic material are: - colourful baskets, mats and jewellery weaved from pure waste plastic bags and roofing slabs made of molten plastic. In fact, the thing we see as a nuisance could bean avenue for our success. We could actually get cheap building material from plastic. I believe where there is a will there is a way and we could organize for capacity building; from the people with the technical know how. Some of these organizations are like the city garbage recyclers.
These groups can form self help groups that could enable them to raise money for building their houses. They could as a result use cheap building material made from recycled garbage; like the plastic roofing slabs made from molten plastics. We can also use bricks made from mud and cement. These ideas may actually reduce the cost of building.
We could also seek audience with our Members of parliament, councilors and local leaders so as to keep them on their toes regarding development of informal settlements. This tradition of seeing our politicians just near the election; when they are desperate for our votes and the next time we see them is after five years. Politicians have resorted to buying their way into the leadership positions by bribing constituents, who are more than willing to sell their votes. It has become a vicious cycle that must be broken in order to realize tangible development. We are the employers of our political leaders, so we should monitor their work.
This should be followed up by proposals to the Community Development funds (CDF) and Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan (LASDAP) among other funds that are available for the development in our communities. It is our full right to access these monies. Only after all these efforts can we sit back and analyze who is failing us. Knowing that we have played our part, we could also use the media to inform our leaders of our disappointments with their leadership strategies.
Along with proposals to government bodies, there are also Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), both local and international that would be interested in funding similar projects. Through our activities and networking with various groups, we may end up attracting the external donors’ interest. This indeed is possible, because I have witnessed groups form and start activities that now earn them a living.
Our fascinating city has all kinds of imaginable talents, some of which would even surprise you; examples are Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) football team, the Eco-sandals industry which makes sandals out of recycled tyres, the City garbage recyclers in the east lands estate; Makadara , local musicians, Koch FM- a radio station in Korogocho slum, several youth groups and numerous other enterprises initiated especially by young people- most of whom live in resource strained suburbs of the capital. With these talents also comes innumerable untapped potential, which may be discovered during the youth activities.
The vast population living in the slums is majorly jobless, or living under a dollar a day. The initiatives would be a good job creation strategy that could be appreciated by the people. I believe that together we stand, divided we fall.
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