Nairobi – Mukuru
Waving goodbye to the giraffes, I made my way to a less conventional tourist site. I asked my taxi to take me, along with all of the extra gear I had bought over the previous days, to the GM bus station. The taxi dropped me off with my bags of toothpaste, brushes, shampoo, comforters, and more, and gave me a perplexed look as he said goodbye.
I had made a deal to meet Kaylee’s boyfriend, Tom, on the corner of the street so that we could visit Mukuru for the day, which is not a tourist destination. In the morning I went to send him a message about what I was wearing, and he laughed. His response was that I would be the only mzungu (a Swahili term commonly used for a white foreigner) on the side of the street. There I stood nervously looking around. To the bystanders I probably looked homeless with all of my stuff as thousands of Kenyans bustled around me. This was the busiest bus stop I have ever been to! A security guard came and chatted for awhile, which made me feel safe. Before I knew it, a very tall man made his way through the crowd and greeted me.
We both hopped on the back of a motorbike taxi and began to weave through the streets to the Reuben Center in Mukuru. Slowly the taller buildings and cleanliness of the streets began to disappear, and shacks and trash took their place. Sticks, tin, and blocks smashed together made up home after home everywhere I could see. Kids lined the dirt streets playing with soccer balls made of crumbled plastic shopping bags. As we rode deeper into the area, more heads stared at us.
You see, I had chosen to take a day trip to visit Nairobi’s second largest informal settlement. Nairobi’s largest, Kibera, runs tours on the outskirts. However, throughout the years celebrities visit that settlement on tours, and I wanted a more personal experience. I wanted to truly talk to people and not be part of a guided foreign group observing from the sidelines. Visiting Mukuru with one other man who worked in the school gave me the exact experience that I wanted.
We arrived at the Reuben Center, which is a school located in the Reuben District within Mukuru. The school itself has been very built up and extremely impressive. Donors have invested a lot into the school, and the difference can be seen. Tom showed me around the school, which had no children since it was the weekend. The school had a library, life skills classes, an HIV clinic, a garden, a wood shop, sewing, and so much more. The garden was very impressive because the students had made plans to use every bit of resource they could. Most of the containers were recycled materials, and the waste from the animals was set up to drop down as fertilizer for the plants. It just went to show when you put your mind to something you can use so much more and waste so much less.
After touring the school we met up with a local hip hop artist who was born and raised in the settlement. He took us on a walk to visit wherever we liked. First stop was eating in a local restaurant. The restaurant contained about three tables and was no bigger than a fourth of my classroom. Here we ate some chapati, which is like fried bread, and a local Kenyan spinach mix.
Walking through the streets we encountered child after child running around and largely fending for themselves during the day. Five-year-olds carried babies, and children laughed while covered in mud. At one point I joined a game of jump rope. They may not have much, but they laugh and have fun with what they can find. Another favorite toy was old spare tires that children used to roll, jump, and hide in. I wanted to scoop up every child and give them a bath and new clothes.
One of the first things I noticed about the clothing in many of these African countries is that I recognized many items. Especially in the settlement, many of the clothes had clearly been shipped over and donated from around the world. Most of these children wore clothes that were worn thin and looked like they had been used for months on end. Kids ran barefoot through the mud streets.
Our next stop was to visit a man named David who grew up in the settlement and became an excellent gymnast. Now a full-grown man, he has decided to open an area in the settlement that allows children to come and practice skills such as slacklining, juggling, balancing, and tumbling. All around in the open field kids worked hard to improve their skills.
They made Tom and me do a few tricks as well.
The kids were much more graceful than we were.
Once again, tires were used — this time acting as a type of trampoline for flips. How creative!
Next we went through the area to a new district to visit David's mom. She warmly welcomed us into her home and began to tell her story. Her area consisted of a small fenced space of land surrounding her shoebox house. This was the first time we had seen anyone with grass around their home. Everywhere giant bags of plastic were wrapped together and many dogs ran around. Inside her house she had three couches crammed along three walls, a table fitted in the middle like a puzzle piece, and a TV stand on the remaining wall. Each wall was covered in a white lace sheet. This was considered high-end for the area.
In 1980 she was down on her luck trying to raise three children, so she moved out of the busy city and into Mukuru. At the time it was farmland, and she was one of the first people to settle there. Slowly she struggled to collect plastic bags to recycle and earn a living. She described how life was very tough and how she had to eat scraps from hotel dumpsters. As the years went on, more and more people began to struggle around the city and also moved out to these fields. Rapidly Mukuru grew from 10 people to 600,000 in 36 years.
We were stunned. How could this place grow so quickly? This isn’t even the largest informal settlement, yet this many people had come to live in a place like this. Yes, many of the people were friendly, happy, and seemed to enjoy life on the outside, but as the stories continued with each home visit the struggle was clear. People here are working incredibly hard for better lives. David's mom was a success story. She worked hard to have a nicer home, build a plastic buying business, and raise successful children. Other stories were not so fortunate.
Our friend Tito took us to his new home. Winding through the alleys, across log bridges, and up a set of broken rock stairs, we came to his house — really just one room. A sheet covered the entrance. The room was not any larger than my classroom closet. Its only contents were a mattress on the floor, a stack of CDs, and a half-melted stereo system. Tito had been living fairly comfortably until a fire destroyed his complex. Even with all of his possessions gone, during our walks he talked about selling his music to raise money for mothers who struggle to buy formula for their children. Once again, I was struck by the generosity of the people.
My final stop was to visit the house of a student named Rosemary. During the school visit she had been practicing her sewing skills over the weekend. We kindly asked her to take us to her house. Along the way we met a man in a suit who wished to join us and worked as an excellent translator. He was curious why two white visitors were wandering around a rarely visited settlement.
Getting to Rosemary's house was like a game. The area she lived in was past flooded mud patches where we had to navigate by stepping from one rock to the next. Her complex was built by a landlord who had constructed solid wall rooms to serve as small rentals. Each one was again about a quarter of the size of my classroom or less and consisted only of mattresses, a couch, and a table. Fitting Rosemary, myself, Tom, and Tito inside was quite a squeeze. Three children came into the room. Their ages were around 10, 6, and 2. Each one, however, looked younger than their age, and the lack of nutrition could be seen in their size.
Rosemary had grown up in a stable family. She quickly got swept up in love and married her sweetheart and had three children. Her husband worked for the airline and had a steady salary, so Rosemary did not need to continue school or work. He rented an $800 apartment, and they lived a comfortable life. Unfortunately, Rosemary became sick one day and spent time in the hospital. After that, her husband decided to abandon them. Unable to keep the apartment, Rosemary downgraded to a smaller rental so the kids could stay in their school. Shortly after, even that became too expensive because she did not have the skills or education to get a job. Supporting three kids exhausted her limited funds, and she was forced to move into the settlement.
The Reuben Center helped her by giving her a small job so that she could take adult classes for free. She worked hard day and night practicing. Still, with three kids, it was not enough. The stove she was using had been loaned from a neighbor who needed it back soon. Her own stove had caught fire and been destroyed earlier. Soon her rent was due as well. She was left to decide whether they should pay the rent or eat. During the night, while all four of them shared a bed, she would work on sewing projects in hopes of selling them in tourist shops. Rosemary wanted to continue classes but was still $12 in debt to the school. No matter which way she turned, she said she felt like she was falling down a dark hole. I held back tears. How many more stories just like hers were there?
Walking back along the path I stared at each and every tin shack. Inside, children and families could be seen living on very little. I could not comprehend what some of them have seen and how they have struggled.
It was nightfall, and we made it back to the center as the sun went down. My small excursion had turned into a full day trip. I missed my pre-overland trip meeting, but I did not care. The experience that day was unlike any other. Walking through the alleys and listening to stories gave me a new perspective. As we shared a snack and a drink with Tito, his brother, his girlfriend, Tom, and Bev who works at the school, I replayed Rosemary’s story in my head. Before saying goodbye and getting dropped off, I handed Bev the rest of the money in my wallet. I asked her to use it to pay off Rosemary's debt and buy her a stove.
