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Published: March 2nd 2007
We've been back in Nairobi for several days now and are enjoying the amenities of the ICIPE guest houses. We're rooming in groups of 2 or 3 and have been using the library and computer resources here readily to get assignments and studying done. I've officially finished my stint as a bird-watcher, while it was pretty fun I don't think I'll make a life hobby of it anytime soon. The final count of my life-list stands at 100 bird species in about 2 and a half weeks!
Nairobi seems much different to me now that we've been through the rural communities, though we've had our share of adventures here. Bob Munro, a UN advisor and environmental activist from Canada, came to speak to us one day about his initiatives in the Mathare slum. Much like Kibera, Mathare is situated just a few kilometres from Nairobi's downtown centre. It's home to over half a million people, many of them widows and their children. Over the past 20 years, however, a significant number of youth in the region have joined Bob in an NGO combining sports and development. The organization's name is MYSA - Mathare Youth Sports Association. It's so unique in that it's almost completely run by people under the age of 25. The slum regions house so much talent, kids just aren't given the opportunity to practice and stay out of trouble given the extreme poverty and dire conditions.
The entire effort began in 1987 with a boy's soccer team. It's grown to be an international success story as their teams are reknown the world-over, winning championships and representing their country and region with pride. A girls program was added in 1992 and has seen similar victories. Additionally, they expanded to include an arts, drama and culture program. There are now over 17 000 kids involved, 1 000 intramural soccer teams and 10 000 matches held a year! The management team has also initiated leadership programs - members of the sports teams at every level (from intramural to international competitors) participate in slum clean up projects, creating libraries and study halls, education about AIDS prevention and in helping jailed kids.
We found out just how inspiring the endeavour has been the next day when we had the opportunity to visit the slum. Contrary to Kibera, we were divided into smaller groups of 3-5 students and assigned to a guide which made for a much more interactive setting. My group followed Julius, a 23-year old member of the Mathare United professional soccer team. He's been involved in the program since its birth and can attest to it helping to keep him out of the gang violence and substance abuse to which many of his childhood friends succumbed. We were first led through an informal primary school situated just a few metres from a main road out of Nairobi that splits Mathare in half.
Valley View Academy is aptly named as it sits upon higher ground and looks onto the sea of housing. There is little division between and among the shelters, just roof upon roof of rusted, aluminum siding. We had no idea that there was a school nearby until a door opened and shabbily-uniformed kids starting spilling out from behind what looked like a sheet-metal wall. We entered through this door and walked the dirt path lined with classrooms. Between the low-hanging roofs of rusted metal and the garbage on the pathway I had to concentrate pretty hard on every step I was taking. The rooms themselves were no more than 10 x 12 feet and held up to 50 kids on average. At least 4 kids were seated at every desk with no ailse room between them. As we toured through we learned that they were amidst writing midterm exams, I can't imagine being tested in those conditions. The musty air smelled of garbage and raw sewage, the students had absolutely no personal space and very few academic resources.
Despite all the hardships, however, over 900 kids attend the school from the ages of 4 to 14. The institution is largely ignored by the government's free primary education program given its location in the slum and student body. As such, the school is forced to charge very small fees to each student, a sum that many families find very hard to get together. The teachers are mainly volunteers, their work is occasionally compensated for with a small amount of money that largely goes towards their food and rent (did I mention that all the people living in slums actually pay rent to landlords?). Many of the instructors are from Mathare and have returned in the name of offering their children and others better hope for the future. There were 23 staff members for all those kids and their stories and dedication are incredibly inspiring. Leonard, a fifth-grade instructor, described his biggest challenge as a teacher being the acceptance that there is little they can do to help the kids once they've finished their primary education. Secondary school is pretty expensive and the school has too limited resources to provide any scholarships or bursaries to their star pupils. He is really frustrated with the conditions, especially because the students in the informal system largely outperform government-funded schools in standardised testing. In a report put together by an NGO in Kenya we saw that Valley View is rated 55 among the top 500 schools in the country. Kids are there from 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening, with class time running between 8 and 4. The headmaster explained that they keep the kids busy through such long hours with before and after school activities to keep them safe, healthy and out of trouble.
After saying good bye to the kids and teachers of Valley View, Julius brought us into the heart of Mathare. The conditions we witnessed were simply inexplicable. Troughs ran with open sewage, plastic bags were embedded into dirt paths everywhere and garbage piles were unavoidable. It was difficult to take a good look around because I was watching every step I was taking - a fact that I became shamefully aware of as I watched barefoot people walking around. I found the conditions to be much worse than those I saw at Kibera, however we were led through a pretty depressing region. Julius grew up in a section of Mathare where there was a lot of gang warfare, even just last year an absolute massacre broke out. Many of the homes were abandoned as too many families had witnessed mutilation and blood shed and needed to escape. The absence of people gave it an eerily still and omnipressing aura. Even worse was the ignorance the police forces and government showed towards the riots.
As we walked on, Julius suddenly stopped and pointed out a random grey, cement building. They turned out to be what everybody in Mathare refers to as "The Black Toilets". They're the only bathroom facilities in the region and are used daily by up to 10 000 people. Véro, one of the girls in my group who had heard about the infamous toilets, explained to us that they are controlled by a gang and that thousands of girls and women have been raped and violated there, both during use and even just passing by. There wasn't anybody around so we took a peek in. The walls were covered in graffitti and dirt, the corridor adjacent to the toilets was long and dark, the entire place was silent. It gave me the chills looking in there with that knowledge, you could almost feel the pain and humiliation this building has brought women of Mathare. I definitely left them with a heavy weight on my shoulders, realizing how very lucky I am to have grown up in Canada.
We returned to the MYSA headquarters after that stop, having been gone for nearly 2 hours. Everybody was sitting on the cement floor, preparing to watch a presentation the drama, dance and culture program had put together for us. As we sat down, the percussion section began rhythmically beating on drums as 6 guys (approximately aged 7 to 19) came in wearing shorts and tshirts, both in tiger print. They danced to the song for a bit, presumably finding their beat, then started the most amazing acrobatic and tumbling routine I may ever have seen. There was very little space to work with, but they were whipping out back handsprings, tuck rolls and human pyramids, all without any specialized instruction or training. I've never seen such physically strong people in my life, at any moment one of the older guys would have the other 5 hanging off his limbs, the youngest standing on his shoulders. It must have taken some incredible physical discipline, awareness and practice to whip off that routine! Our visit to Mathare, therefore, ended on a bit of a happier note. The sight of these kids makes you realize how much potential and hope a group like MYSA can offer to the residents of the "ghetto" (as it's referred to by its dwellers).
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Dad
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Incredible
What incredible experiences you have had. Been reading the Mcgill blog to get others perspective but your stories are always the best! Stay safe and tell Nick he needs to update HIS blog.