Many have moved to Nairobi in search of greener pastures but all they find is a greater amount of financial difficulty and constraint.

Mr. Johnston Kamau, once a coffee farmer moved to Nairobi in the early 1980’s when the international coffee prices had hit an extreme low. He expected things to be different but all he found was hard griped poverty. He settled down in Kibera (An informal slum settlement in Nairobi) and has been living there ever since.

The cost of living in Kibera, just as it is in other slums in Kenya, is very expensive. A majority of those in these informal settlements don’t have a steady source of income. Many work as casual labourers’ in the surrounding factories where they earn about KES 200 for a day’s work. A slight increment of KES 20 is considered a significant amount since it will go a long way to catering for their livelihood.

If you are unfortunate not to get a casual job then you will be forced to go to the dump site to search for recyclable plastic bottles to sell. A full sack of these would fetch KES 20 though it is important to note that getting the plastic bottles entails stiff competition, the damp site is usually over crowded with children, women and youngsters, all searching for the same commodity.

The homes, most of which are just mere shacks are made of mud, plastered over sticks and boards, or made from mabati (corrugated iron sheets) with a few being plastered over cement. The rent for such houses goes for between KES 700 to KES 1,000 per month. Some of them are divided into two rooms, often by a sheet, each room approximately 8 feet by 8 feet housing two to a dozen people.

Most of these houses do not include a bathroom so many slum dwellers are obligated to pay for each use of a shared latrine at the cost of KES 5. Many who can’t afford this amount employ the “flying toilet”, this entails relieving oneself in a plastic paper bag and throwing it out at night.

The City Council of Nairobi does not recognize slum areas as human settlement so these areas are not formally supplied with water, electricity and roads.

The water mains cross underneath Kibera to carry water to the surrounding golf courses and estates while the Kibera residents are forced to walk an average distance of 40 meters to buy water from the kiosks which are either private or community owned. To fill a twenty litre water container would cost you between KES 5 to KES 20 depending on the availability of the commodity, and the residents, particularly women and children are at times forced to queue for up to 4 hours to get water. The locals end up paying five to a hundred times more for water than what is paid by residents of middle and high income areas in Nairobi. The consumption ranges from 16 to 20 liters per person per day.

Like the rest of Kenya, Kiberians are subjected to highly volatile food price swings. While the wealthy can afford an expensive meal of KES 5,000 at KFC or Sankara, a majority of the poor in Kibera can’t afford a KES 50 meal and are obligated to eat on credit in the food kiosks.

At the end of the day Kiberians are a grateful lot for the little that they have. Inside most of the homes, everything is clean – worn, old and falling apart – but freshly washed, but more importantly, inside most homes is a family that provides the warmest welcome.

Kibera is not attractive from the outside and life there is not easy either, but on the inside you’ll meet men, women and children who, given a little of your time, will open up to you and invite you into their lives. Individuals that you will come to love and who will love you back.