Mukuru is one of the many slums in Nairobi. It covers a vast area in the East of the city. It stretches along the dirty Ngong River and borders the industrial area. It has many villages: Mukuru kwa Ruben, kwa Njenga, Lunga Lunga, Mariguini, Kayaba and Sinai among others. Tens of thousands of the poor live and eke out a living here. Like all the slums of the world, people in Mukuru slums face many challenges including crime, prostitution, drug abuse and pollution amid many others.
Families live crowded in tiny shacks made of corrugated iron sheets. One of their biggest challenges is fires that break often leaving families homeless. The roads are narrow and congested which often makes it hard for fire engines to access the area. These are mostly caused by illegal tapping of electricity and in recent times the Kenya Power Company has disconnected most of the area leaving a large population in darkness.
The slums in Kenya seem to be in worse conditions compared to others in the world. In between the closely constructed shanties are muddy pathways with open sewage running down the middle. Pools of foul smelling waters and heaps of garbage dot every other section you walk past. Several residents share “paying” toilets making it even more difficult for the old, children and persons living with physical disabilities.
The national government through the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) is currently undertaking the upgrading of infrastructure and services including roads, drainage, water and sanitation, health facilities among others. This has come at a great price for the residents who are being evicted and their houses demolished to create room for these facilities.
Most of these affected families have nowhere to go. It is worsened by the Corona virus pandemic which has affected the globe. The government is not offering any compensation to the evicted leaving entire families worse off and hopeless.
So who will give hope to these people already burdened by poverty? It is as if the gods have conspired against the down-trodden!