Kibera Slum of Nairobi Kenya

The largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya is called Kibera and has over 800,000 inhabitants. The roads or pathways are littered with animal waste, garbage and human waste. Although most of the children do not wear shoes the roads often have jagged rocks.

Many travelers come to visit Kibera and "Slum Tourism" is getting popular. Viewers of this humanitarian disaster have been more than boisterous, yet still no major improvements to the area have been done despite the popular topic in the media. Humanitarian band-aids are helpful, but not enough.

Recently the rents were raised there and many poor people can barely afford to eat. It had became a political hot topic leading to severe violence, fires, protests and riots. Most feared for their lives. If the riots and protests do not kill them then surely HIV/AIDS or the raw sewage will.

The filth and sewage runoff from the Kibera slums flows thru ditches and runs into the already highly polluted Nairobi River, which is used downstream for people washing their clothes. Still even worse most of the landlords of the slum (60%) are government officers or politicians, corruption is another huge issue according to the UN Human Settlement Programme (UN Habitat) Study.

Kibera means "forest" but it seems the city officials of Nairobi are having a hard time seeing the forest for the slum. Not long ago, The Kibera Urban Environment and Sanitation Master Plan was introduced even so the problems run much deeper than the proposed measures and it appears to have been more political window dressing.

The Kibera Slum, golf course adjacent, is not the only shanty town in Nairobi, just the largest. One other shanty town in Nairobi, "Korogocho" got street lighting after a huge vocal firestorm to prevent civil unrest, so much more is needed. The sanitary situation in Nairobi's shanty-towns and slums causing serious health issues including, Skin Disease, typhoid and even worms.

Due to the altitude of the City of Nairobi and temperature Malaria is not as bad as other parts of the Nation, but Climate Change promises to change all that. Volunteer health clinic workers say that over 50% of the problems they see are hygiene related.

One huge problem has been that poor folks with no jobs cannot afford to pay for some of the open pit latrines and instead hold it until night time and defecate into a plastic bag and throw it into the street or on a neighbor's roof. They call these "Flying Toilets" and unfortunately nearly all the roofs leak or are in a state of disrepair.

Something needs to be done soon. I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

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