Mathare: Life in a Slum in Kenya
AFRICA SERIES : PART 8
Mathare, one of the oldest slums in Africa, lies on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. An estimated 700,000 people live here.
Children living in Mathare are born to very poor families. Only a few attend school and the vast majority of their time they spend on the streets.
The use of cell phones in informal settlements has become common practice. Some people make a living from charging cell phones.
The use of drugs and alcohol is a common problems in this slum. Young people are often recruited by drug dealing groups and become part of this cycle of corruption and crime.
In Mathare, just as in many other slums in Kenya, there is no garbage collection system. This means that people live in unhealthy environments and diseases such as malaria become are common causes of death among children.
Most people live on less than one dollar a day. It is also estimated that one of every three adults in Mathare is HIV-positive.
Today, international organisations from all continents, especially North America and Europe, work in the slum with projects in education, technology, environment, health and culture of peace.
All photos by the author.
Paula LeRoy
This succinct, compelling, photoessay tell so much. The photos in themselves are artistic, and the message is unforgettable. I hope a follow up story can be about the NGOs and organizations that are trying to make changes, and if they are making an success.
One that I know of is Hope to Shine.org that works to combat poverty in the Kibera slum area by supporting (1) the Kibera School for Girls and (2) the Women’s Income-Generating Empowerment Project, an initiative that combines income-generating projects with desperately needed community services.