Very Dirty Feet

I have had some very dirty feet days but I think this one may have topped them all. There was dust in my mouth and eyes so thick my eyes burned and my teeth felt coated. It was Monday and my 3rd day in Nairobi, Kenya. The first 2 were spent getting a feel for the city, the church, my host family, and preparing for the week ahead. As we toured the city over the weekend we saw the downtown with it's high rises and the affluent neighborhoods with their mansions. Then as I thought of the apartment I was staying in with hot water and reliable electricity, I could not have been ready for the complete opposite I would witness on Monday. The day started with a 4 plus hour walking tour of Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa. Nairobi has many slums in fact about 60% of the population live in the slums but Kibera is the largest.

Kibera Facts:
Approximately 1.5 sq miles - the land is government owned yet someone is charging rent
Population: between 800,000 and 1.2 million
Average Home: 10 ft x 10 ft
Average Home Population: 7
Electricity: 20% of homes
Water: untreated and only available sometimes (according to one resident about 3 days / wk there is water)
Drugs/Alcohol: very widely used
Unemployment: 50%
Sewage: 1 latrine per 50 households - once the latrine is full it is emptied into the river that runs through the slum
Pregnancy: 50% of women age 16-25 pregnant at any given time. Many as a result of rape - it is estimated 1 women is raped a minute in Kibera.
HIV: rates are high across Kenya but women are at a 5x greater risk of infection

So we walked around this place for 4 hours and we could have kept going and going and still not seen it all. We walked up and down hills, over some very questionable bridges (where I had very vivid images running through my head of me taking a sewage river swim), across some still functioning train tracks (no warning system mind you), and leapt across running sewage. The slum is composed of 13 neighborhoods and they vary greatly by socioeconomic status as well as people and language groups. Some of the areas had paved walkways wide enough to fit a cart and reliable electricity so much so that people had televisions. Then some are far worse off, these areas seem to be located on the steepest terrain and in the deepest valleys.

The government is trying to slowly change and relocate the slum by building concrete high rises and slowly relocating people. These high buildings although composed of very small apartments have proper sanitation, running water, and electricity. This sounds good in theory but they have found that the people are moving back to the slum quickly after being relocated. One resident of Kibera said to me "why would I live up in those high rises when I could rent out my high-rise apartment for double what I pay in Kibera, then I have money in my pocket and food in my stomach." Someone else I spoke with said many are not comfortable in this new setting, it takes them away from all they have ever know. Generations have lived in Kibera.

There is lots of work being done in Kibera. The Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) runs a clinic in one of the muslim neighborhoods of Kibera. It has taken lots of time, sweat, and tears but it is now well respected in the community and doing some amazing work. They are also starting a church after a bible study took off. Originally with 5 members, meeting one evening in the clinic about a year ago is now up to 300 people. Outside of NBC and work being done by the local church there are tons of Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating within Kibera. We had the opportunity to tour a couple of schools that are completely NGO sponsored and they were very nice. In fact they estimate there is 1 NGO in Kibera for every 10 households.

As I stood up on the top of the hill where these new buildings were located looking down over the vastness of Kibera, I wondered what is the solution? Is there a solution? Who is to say how these people should live? And on the other hand something clearly needs to be done. But the truth is many people are trying. The government and the innumerable NGOs along with the local church. It all felt so useless and helpless as I stood there just staring out. I must admit I felt angry as I thought of the huge amount of resources being poured into this place and the corruption and mismanagement and waste, as many of the resources simply disappear. These are the times I cling to Isaiah 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways." says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."  I know I could think on this all day and talk it over with the greatest big thinkers of this world but none of that could add up to a solution without the One who is Greater, the One who knows intimately each of those million people. He knows their thoughts and worries and even the number of hairs on their heads. I am so thankful that He is He and I am not. He sees it all and yet I can cry out to Him in frustration when I am looking out over this city and He will lovingly comfort me all the while continuing to hold the whole world in His hands.

* Images from google images