Our third visit to Mathare

Irine Wanjiri "Life in Mathare is Hard, hard, hard."

Mathare, The inhabitants

It’s June 26, and we are sitting in a matatu (public bus) on our way to Mathare. A man standing on my left hand side is hanging out the door of the matatu as it hurtles towards the station, shouting commands loudly to get people in. We look on nervously, half expecting him to fall off. Inside the matatu, Gospel music (actually a mix between Reggae and Hip Hop) is thundering away intensely, so if you want to communicate with anyone you have to SHOUT. After a while we arrive, we have driven through some of the worst traffic and pollution you can imagine. It can be pretty scary driving around Nairobi, because it seems like all the motorists are colorblind, they run red lights ALL the time, even when police officers are standing in plain sight nearby.

We jump out of the bus together with Nish and Ann, who work with Rays Of Hope, and stroll towards the opening of Mathare. It is impossible to try to explain the feelings and sensations one experiences when entering Mathare, it is a world of its own.

There is garbage everywhere, kids are shouting all around us, you see people living in metal boxes without any insulation from water or cold. One can only imagine what it is like when the temperature drops to a chilling 10 degrees during the night, and rain starts dripping in through the many holes in the roof. You then understand that Mathare truly isn’t a place you would like to spend the night.

After some breathtaking interviews of the people here in Mathare, we are yet again humbled by how they deal with such horrendous living conditions. One of the people we have been interviewing is Irine Wanjiri, she has a remarkable story about her life in Mathare Valley. She tells us about her father who became an alcoholic and used all their money on Changaa, (illegal brew) which he eventually ended up dying of a couple of years ago leaving his wife and kids to fend for themselves. Her brother followed in his footsteps and started drinking and using drugs, and it didn’t take long before he was arrested for brewing illegal spirits and drug trafficking, he is still in jail.

As she is talking she starts getting very emotional while describing her desperate situation in Mathare. She tells us how she fears the life in Mathare, and how they struggle daily to survive.

Her mother Katherine Nasera tells us that she works for an organisation called KENWA, they work with HIV infected women and take care of kids that have lost their parents to HIV and Aids. But she is only earning 50 Shillings (0,5 Euro) a day, and as she puts it so pithily, 'that isn’t even enough for myself'. We also spoke with her grandmother Rosemary Wanjiri, who has lived in the slum most of her 64 year long life. She tells us that conditions in Mathare are worsening, 'it’s getting so bad we are forced to steal’ she says. And when we ask her if they have received help from any of the organisations in Mathare, her answer was, ‘no, if you want help you need a disease.’

Some also tell us that when it comes down to receiving aid, tribalism is involved. One tells us that if you’re not a kikuyu you are born unlucky(there are 42 different tribes in Kenya, Kikuyu is the biggest, it is also the president’s tribe), and that most of the housing is owned by Kikuyu and that they pay the Kikuyu rent. There is a clear feeling of injustice, and it is obvious that tribalism is one of Kenya’s greatest problems.

Aid in Mathare

Quote from one of the inhabitants of Mathare: "If all the aid to Mathare Valley were to vanish, the next day the life would stay more or less the same. Survival of the fittest is the way of Mathare."

As our quest has been moving forward we have been in contact with an organisation called Rays of Hope. With the help of this organisation we hope to find out more about who the aid workers working in the Mathare slum are, and show what their work is all about. In our first two visits we met some of the people who are working inside the different areas. There are some who are skeptical to interviews whereas others are open and honest. Through these contacts we also hope to gain a deeper understanding of what life is like in an African slum.

With the people from Rays of Hope we want to create something positive out of our research in Kenya. The organisation is still in the start phase so they're not receiving any funds or help yet. They are very ambitious and that is one of the reasons we are choosing to have a closer look at their work inside the slums of Nairobi. And of course, it's a golden ticket to be welcomed inside with honesty and respect. Many of the people who work in Rays of Hope are still living with their families inside Mathare, and that makes them capable of winning the trust of the inhabitants.

Julius, one of the founders of Rays of Hope, tells us that one of the problems of some organisations inside Mathare is inflated membership numbers, "It's all that they really care about", he says. For instance, one organisation has 17000 members when they're actually only helping 400. Julius's goal with Rays Of Hope is to help a few properly rather than focusing on unrealistic numbers. Hopefully, as their work continues inside Mathare, they can follow the kids throughout their life and create a positive and sustainable network together for the future.

Looks can be deceiving

Today we went to Mathare Valley, which is the second largest slum in Africa, with our contact and friend Julius . While entering the slum we asked ourselves several times, "Is this really a sane place to be?", but after a couple of hours of walking around and a thousand, "how are you"'s later, we felt pretty safe. It seems there exists a strong unity in Mathare which made our visit a very pleasant one. On the other hand, it could of course be Allan's power of exuding positive energy:)

Mathare is divided into many parts, a few of them are: Kosovo, Somalia, Nigeria and the corner. The part called Nigeria is a place where they sell cocaine and other drugs in huge quantities. We were of course not allowed to take any pictures, somehow we felt unwelcome:) Somalia is mainly where the Somalian refugees have settled, and the relationship between the Kenyans and Somalians where tense. Kosovo was the part in Mathare where it had been the most violence, understandable according to the name.

After a few hours we met some friends of Julius who showed us around Mathare, and invited us to play football with the kids. They also showed us the recording studio where the youth were given the opportunity to make songs. Afterwards we were invited home to Ann, one of Julius's friends. She lived with her mother, sister, and brother in a room about the size of a small bedroom (approximately 7m2).

By witnessing Mathare inside out we where very humbled in terms of what we in the western world consider a problematic life. The smile they always managed to maintain even though life seems unbearable, is something we must admire. If the world would end today the Kenyans would be the last to die, they are what we can definitely call survivors.