‘PUSHING THE WEEK’ AN ETHNOGRAPHY ON THE DYNAMICS OF IMPROVING LIFE IN KIBERA: THE INTERPLAY OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

THESIS MSC DEVELOPMENT AND RURAL INNOVATION WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH CENTRE THE NETHERLANDS

KEYWORDS SLUM, NGO’S, UPGRADING, GRASSROOTS, UPWARD MOBILITY, IMPROVEMENT, AGENCY, INFORMALITY, TRIBALISM, SPATIALITY, ETHNOGRAPHY

STUDENT EVA VAN IWAARDEN STUDENT NUMBER 870712-383060 [email protected]

SUPERVISOR DR. B.J. JANSEN SOCIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The title of this research starts with ‘pushing the week’. This is the translation of the most eaten vegetable in Kenya and Kibera, a kale by the name of ‘sukuma wiki’ in Swahili. As this research progressed and life in Kibera was examined more closely, it seems that language around life and living in Kibera can be seen closely related to the name of this vegetable that is eaten almost every day. ‘We are just pushing ahead in life, another week, lets see where it takes us’. No matter what is written down about life in Kibera, another week starts, and another one, and another one…

This research examines how women living in Kibera perceive improvement of life in Kibera. This topic is very dynamic, broad and has many ways in which it can be approached. It is impossible to merely ask some questions and draw conclusions about a space so dynamic and a population in all its diversity. As most slums worldwide, Kibera is a popular place for organisations to lend a helping hand, where community initiatives are plenty and where slum upgrading programs are implemented. Then, Kibera’s population is not merely awaiting handouts, because more often than not have plans, dreams and ambitions. This research displays the complexity of understanding life in Kibera; the negatives, the positives and the neutral about it. It challenges what is recently written about slums or informal settlements worldwide. There is a large body of literature where slums are treated as places where outcasts and unfortunates try to find their urban space. Then, we are ignoring a large body of people who are inventive, passionate, that work hard, that have their own dreams, where some are addicts, many work over twelve hours a day, some wish to be famous artists, some long to be teachers, where many hate heavy rains and power-cuts, where most work hard to make their dreams come true and where some fall astray in the difficult environment. It is almost as if Kibera is a place similar to so many others in the world. I am not saying we should leave Kibera to deal with itself, as continued support is of course beneficial to many. Improving life in Kibera cannot be equalized to solely wanting to leave the slum, to gain more financially or as if improving is only focused on the individual. Rather, improvement is often family focused and Kibera is not a place to ‘run away’ from. If there is one message I wish you take from this writing, it is that including so-called slums in formal urban planning will lead to best outcomes and doing away of presumptions about slums will improve the situation for those living there.

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PREFACE

When I started to think about a topic for my thesis, one of the first things was to at least get myself in a context that is unfamiliar. The less I know about a place and the more out of my comfort zone I will be, the more I will learn. That is what I thought. And this has proven to be true.

For a long time I have been interested by urbanisation. The drive that people have that there more is to gain in urban environments as opposed to rural places is interesting to me. Then it is impossible to look past the urbanisation that Africa is going through. More people find their place in cities, demanding extremely rapid growth. The topic of this thesis has broadened my mind a lot. I am thankful for all the opportunities I have in my life and thankful for the means I have to discover more.

I want to thank Bram Jansen for supervising me. From the first proposal to this final result I have come quite a way, and his feedback and guidance have contributed much and helped me to be more critical. Also, much thanks to Sabina who hosted me in Kibera and who took me in so friendly, shared her family with me and actually gave me my African home. I also want to thank my family and friends for support. I will only name a few, but this list could be near to endless. My family; Henk, Hanja, Jos and Boaz and the attic I can always return to. Special thanks to Noura, Miguel and Jeroen; for endless amounts of coffee and a listening ear. To Cody, Brandy, Edu and David back in Kenya for friendships and suggestions and the peek into their lives, the relaxing hours and eating chapo together. You made Kibera a place where I will keep returning to, even if it only was to hear you joking again and for you to teach me more bad words in Sheng or Swahili. Then, I want to especially thank the women in Kibera that I have interviewed. They have given much more than words; their time, interest, laughter and I’m very happy that we have been able to talk about our lives.

Eva van Iwaarden August 2015, the Netherlands

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Abstract ...... 2 Chapter 1. Introduction ...... 6 Problem statement...... 11 Research Questions ...... 12 Methodology ...... 13 Chapter 2. Theory and literature ...... 22 Slum discourses...... 22 Gray spaces...... 27 Assemblage thinking...... 27 Slum Rhetoric...... 28 Slum informality...... 29 People’s Economy ...... 29 Cities without slums...... 30 Interventions...... 31 Social exclusion ...... 32 Conclusion chapter two...... 33 Chapter 3. Sketching Kibera ...... 33 Vignettes...... 34 Livelihoods ...... 37 Community life & motherhood ...... 38 Women’s struggles & husbands...... 40 Conclusion chapter three ...... 43 Chapter 4. Perceptions on spatial Kibera ...... 44 Patterns and villages...... 45 Insights in the unmapped...... 46 You know you are in the slum when…...... 47 Space and access ...... 49 Conclusion chapter four...... 51 Chapter 5. Tribalism and ethnicities in Kibera...... 52 Background on ethnicities...... 53 Opinions on the post-election violence and tribalism ...... 55 Languages...... 59 Conclusion chapter five...... 60 Chapter 6. Perceptions on slum upgrading ...... 61 KENSUP ...... 61 Possible decanting sites ...... 61 Corruption and social consequences...... 63 Boundaries & how to proceed...... 67 Conclusion chapter six...... 69

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Chapter 7. Perceptions on NGOs ...... 70 Bitterness ...... 70 Approaches ...... 72 Positive views...... 73 Conclusion chapter seven...... 76 Chapter 8. The government and title deeds ...... 78 Big offices, big cars ...... 78 Title deeds...... 81 The way forward? ...... 83 The digital migration...... 84 Conclusion chapter eight...... 86 Chapter 9. Perceptions on community initiatives...... 87 Initiatives...... 87 Empowerment and opportunity...... 89 Kibera’s philanthropists ...... 91 Aid as business model ...... 93 Conclusion chapter nine...... 94 Chapter 10. Perceptions on upward mobility ...... 95 Success story ...... 95 Different views on life in Kibera ...... 96 Improving life within Kibera...... 97 Stretching wings...... 99 Empowerment, opportunity and security ...... 99 Conclusion chapter ten ...... 101 Chapter 11. Conclusion...... 102 Summary theoretical approach...... 102 Summary research findings...... 102 Overall conclusion ...... 104 Chapter 12. Discussion ...... 107 Poverty pornography ...... 107 Kibera’s discourse ...... 108 Social exclusion ...... 109 Trap versus springboard ...... 110 Rite of passage...... 110 A positive note ...... 111 Improve the lives of slum dwellers...... 112 Chapter 13. Recommendations ...... 113 References ...... 115

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

This chapter includes an introduction to the topic of this thesis, the problem statement, objective and the methodology of the research. The methodology will include information about the research area, some theories that were created into a visualisation of this research and it includes a part about the data collection.

Slums

Between now and 2050, the world population is expected to grow from 2.3 billion people to a world population of about 9.3 billion. The growth of the population is expected to be absorbed fully by urban areas, when looking at the growth trends of both the urban and the rural. The rural population is expected to decline. Migration is one of the root causes of increased population in informal settlements (UN-Habitat, 2011). Currently, 32 % of urban population worldwide lives in slums (UN-Habitat, 2004). One definition of a slum is:

‘’a contiguous settlement where the inhabitants are characterized as having inadequate housing and basic services. A slum is often not recognized and addressed by the public authorities as an integral or equal part of the city” (UN-Habitat, 2004).

Slums are often the result of a (local) government that lacks resources or will to handle the increasing number of city dwellers (Cities Alliance, 2014). To avoid eviction from their new settlement, these people often choose places that are not suitable for other use to make their homes. This could be steep slopes, plains or environments that are contaminated or used as dumping sites. These slums come up without preparation or formal planning; often resulting in non-access to electricity, clean water and sanitation facilities and housing that is affordable and legal. Housing often arises out of materials that are on-set or nearly available and because of lack of space houses are packed together. In general, formal services such as health facilities or police security are not provided by local governments (Davis, 2006). From the start of increased rural-urban migration, many African countries did not have any policy on the growth of slums, but neglected them and just ‘let them be’. The first thoughts about slums were that they were temporary and that economic growth would make them disappear. This attitude also made that slums were neglected from providing basic services (Arimah & Branch, 2011).

Urbanisation in Africa that leads to high increase of incidence of slums has been called ‘urbanisation without development’. It combines the growth of incidence with low or no economic growth, poor agriculture performance, unemployment, weak authorities and governance and lack of an urban planning policy (UN-Habitat, 2004).

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Urban poverty was thought to be a temporary phenomenon, but now seems to become one of the constant things in global cities. Actually, the absolute poor in this world will be living in cities across the world, making cities extremely unequal. Cities might be places where health care and schooling are in proximity, but these are definitely not accessible by all. Urban dwellers have different conditions then people living in rural areas. Their living conditions and environment has a large negative impact on their health and wellbeing. Urban poor are exposed to overcrowding, contaminated water, bad or absent sanitation, lack of services and outside threats (Beall, 2000). These negatives initially led to attempts to slum clearance, by aiming to completely fade away slums from the city view. Nowadays other strategies are taken.

Gilbert (2007) is defending in his article ‘The return of the slum, does language matter?’ that the term slum has too many negative connotations to it. Slums have been defined in many ways, as described above, but the overall suggestion it makes is that they are places that are undesirable to live in. The quickest associations are made with bad health and high crime. Gilbert (2007) makes a caution for the fact that slums are stereotyped and all the people in it are seen as equal; equal to the slum (as dirty), and as equal to each other (homogeneity).

Also, for example, many inhabitants of the slum Dharavi in Mumbai have been very offended by the title of the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’; basically associating people who live in slums to ‘dogs’. The portrayal of the slum is even described as ‘poverty pornography’ (Roy, 2011). Cities Alliance explains on their websites that there are many terms to describe slums and their organization justifies its use of the word ‘slum’ to create one common language surrounding these areas, even though the term is loaded and its use is controversial. This word brings a common vocabulary and makes the focus directed on addressing the problem of slums (Cities Alliance, 2014). For this similar reason I will use the term ‘slum’ in this thesis. While views on slums might differ, there is a notion that these spaces of informal settlements are in need of improvement. The Millennium Development goals also highlight this need, directly with development goal #7. This goal aims to ensure environmental sustainability, with target 7D being ‘Achieve, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers’ (WHO, 2013).

Slum upgrading

The term ‘slum upgrading’ is well known amongst development organizations and scholars and more often addresses official slum upgrading projects as executed by governments or bodies such as the UN. Cities Alliance, a global partnership for urban poverty reduction defines slum upgrading as a process:

‘’through which informal areas are gradually improved, formalized and incorporated into the city itself, through extending land, services and citizenship to slum dwellers. It involves providing slum dwellers with

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economic, social, institutional and community services available to other citizens’’ (Cities Alliance, 2014:2).

These services include physical (infrastructure), legal (tenure), social (for example improving education or crime reduction) and economic aspects to turn around downwards trends in these areas. Cities Alliance states that cooperation between all parties should be undertaken; from the residents to community groups, businesses, local and national authorities (Cities Alliance, 2014). Often slum upgrading includes provision of basic services such as housing, footpaths or sanitation, but also access to education and health care can be part of slum upgrading. ‘’Ultimately, upgrading efforts aim to create a dynamic in the community where there is a sense of ownership, entitlement and inward investment in the area’’ (Cities Alliance, 2014:2).

There is a gap in literature in the division between regular and so called official slum upgrading projects and programs and the initiatives that come from the inhabitants of these places. This division is what this thesis aims to examine.

Residents initiatives and agency

Simon (2011) puts this forward in his writing by referring to Lloyd who was focusing on the positive sides of shantytowns and the ‘residents initiatives’. A very interesting remark by Simon is that what is often overlooked in current slum upgrading programs is that shelter construction and upgrading are also a livelihood en source of income for many of the slum residents, as they are in a constant process to improve their housing conditions and shared spaces through self-help or wage labour (Simon, 2011). This also points to the fact that inhabitants of the very place that is ‘qualified’ as in need of help are overshadowed. Actually, this employment and skills are considerable and can contribute to slum improvement. In the article ‘Growing up at the ‘margins’’ it is concluded that people in the slums, in this case youth, have agency in addressing circumstances and their narratives challenge the perceptions we have of slum dwellers (Karibu, 2011).

The many successes and failures of projects with the aim to improve the situation in slums make it very difficult and problematic to make a worldwide assessment of progress (Simon 2011). In ‘Rhetoric of the ‘slum’’, Arabindoo (2011) argues in his article that general theories about slums are not much needed in this era of slum eradication and upgrading. What is needed in the context of urban change according to Arabindoo (2011) is:

‘‘a sincere engagement with in-depth, empirical case studies that clarify much of the uncertainty surrounding the spatialisation of urban poverty’’ (Arabindoo, 2011:636).

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She clarifies that social science has developed the bad habit to overlay social categories of the urban poor with spatial divisions and only few try to figure out the heterogeneity of the urban poor and the spaces (Arabindoo, 2011). The social, economic and cultural complexities of everyday lives in slums are important to be captured through all its layered multiplicity, perhaps more importantly empirical; through observation and experimentation, than through theories (Arabindoo 2011). She calls theorizing slums in the light of evictions inappropriate and only right when the refined jargon about slums can help evictees in building a counter argument. He seems to claim that research on slums should benefit the people in the slums. When realizing the vulnerability of the urban poor, it is important to trace their everyday networks in the reshaping of marginality. Theorizing should not be a playground for academics and focusing on the ‘spatial fix’ that has come across in literature too often:

‘’What is needed is the charting of a conceptually detailed topology of the urban poor whose social relations criss-cross an intricate set of connections and flows stretching across multiple physical spaces’’ (Arabindoo, 2011: 643).

One is not solely a ‘slum-dweller’, but also connected to a family, a family with links to a native land, friends in different parts of a city, neighbours with their unique stories; connections in different layers of society.

Women

This research looks at stories and perceptions of life and improving life in a slum environment. These stories and perceptions are based on women. In literature, slum dwellers are vulnerable to unemployment, sickness and poverty. Within this group, it is women who are extra vulnerable, due to their social position. In many cultures, women hold a subordinate position to men. Their rights are especially limited in the fields of housing and social security. This gives women a marginalized position (UN-Habitat, 2013). The urban divide is particularly real for women and girls and when urbanization is poorly managed it will lead to social exclusion, poverty and deprivation. According to a survey by UN-habitat, 69% of people in either decision-making positions or slum dwellers themselves believe that urbanization and the prosperity of women are related. Actual response only showed 7% of women in the researched cities is prosperous in all types of dimension (such as quality of life, productivity, infrastructure, equality). The second key message of the UN-habitat report (State of women in cities, 2012/2013) is: Urbanization and prosperity of women interlinked in theory but not in practice. Of this report, message 8 and 10 state that women in the informal economy and in slums require more and special attention.

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The focus on females limits the scope of the research, while adding knowledge to the special attention that is demanded for. While vulnerably of women is often emphasized, this thesis will provide a counterbalance of viability and inventiveness of many women, possible through in-depth research into heterogeneity and consciousness of the notions of place and people poverty. The informal settlement that has been chosen to execute this research is Kibera in Nairobi. The reason is that this slum has often been researched, is in proximity to the UN head offices, has different official slum upgrading programs and many international, national and local NGO’s and countless grassroots initiatives as well. This makes that most inhabitants of Kibera will have opinions and ideas about both the external help and the internal initiatives.

Conclusion

Kibera is thus the appropriate location to deepen the knowledge and understanding of slum upgrading programs as described above and those living in a slum that have often been overlooked or neglected. Insight into both sides of the spectrum and anything in between is possible by taking views, opinions and perceptions of these women into account. As Arabindoo suggests, the focus should not be on theorizing but on the empirical; sensing, observing and experimenting. This research is based on the empirical, but generates theory at the same time. It is paradoxal, because empirical methods and research for this thesis produced this document. Still, the aim is not to make generalisations for slums worldwide or draw large conclusions, but to show the complexity of Kibera and the interplay of different internal and external influences for those that live there.

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PROBLEM STATEMENT

Many positive and negative things have been written about slum upgrading projects. It is interesting to evaluate these projects next to the perceptions and expectations of women living in Kibera. There are attempts to change Kibera that are coming from outside, such as the Kenyan government or international organizations. Still, we should not neglect the power of the inhabitants, the initiatives of people living in Kibera and individual efforts towards changes. It should be acknowledge that these people have agency to influence their own their lives, to change situations, to accept help or to decline it, or to amend it to their needs.

In this research I weigh individual agency versus official projects and slum upgrading in Kibera. The focus will be on examining individual lives and agency of women in Kibera and their perspectives on the future and the link to existing programs and projects. Both the influence of NGOs and large slum upgrading projects will be taken into account.

As suggested by Arabindoo (2011), I want to look at Kibera and inhabitants from a view of social relationships and community bonding within spaces and not overlay place poverty with people poverty. This research supports a search for the heterogeneity of spaces and people within a slum. The statistics about Kibera, which are lacking and untrustworthy in many ways, will not and cannot define what life is like in Kibera, as slum life is based on informality. I hope to tap into the discussion about the process and the usefulness of slum upgrading programs and the many interventions in slums. One of the millennium development goals is ‘improving the lives of slum dwellers’ (United Nations, 2003). In what way can this be reached? In the end, I hope to shed light on individual’s abilities for improving their lives; personal upward mobility outside the regular scope of projects and programs. The definition of upward mobility is ‘’the capacity or facility for rising to a higher social or economic position’’ (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, 2014). Looking at slum upgrading, projects of NGOs, initiatives from inhabitants or any ways to improve the situation in a slum, it can be said that the goal is upward mobility, whether through personal capacity or facilitation.

This thesis deals with the complexity of a slum, the influences that are internal and external, but often a mix of both. It is about the puzzle between the official and the self. The arranged programs versus inventiveness, constructed ideas versus nurtured dreams. And more.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

HOW DO WOMEN IN KIBERA PERCEIVE THE DYNAMICS BETWEEN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL INFLUENCES THAT PLAY PART IN IMPROVING LIFE IN KIBERA?

A. HOW DO WOMEN IN KIBERA PERCEIVE IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR OWN LIVES AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE SLUM AS A WHOLE?

B. WHAT IS THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL INFLUENCES THAT HAVE THEIR EFFECT ON LIFE IN KIBERA?

Objective and thesis structure

The objective is not to officially evaluate slum upgrading projects, as this is being done often. These projects have successes and failures and the same goes for different organizations. The aim is to get opinions and views of women in Kibera to see what works and what doesn’t for improving lives in a slum. What do they think Kibera needs for improvement? What is working and what does not? The perceptions of women that live in Kibera are leading in this.

The largest pitfall for this thesis is to fall into the same categorisations of slums that have been emphasised by many authors already. Therefore the topic needs enough elaboration from existing literature and needs to go beyond standard ‘thinking’ of slums. The thesis needs enough structure in order to remain focus, the chapters will be guiding in this.

The next part explains the methodology of this research and a ‘research model’ that has been made to visualise the research. Chapter 2 deals with examining of existing literature. Chapter 3 gives an introduction to live in Kibera and chapter 4 deals with spatiality in and around Kibera. After this, chapter 5 deals with the issues of tribalism and ethnicities. Chapter 6 displays perceptions on slum upgrading and chapter 7 on NGO projects and programs. Chapter 8 discusses the role of the government and the importance of title deeds. Chapter 9 is about community initiatives and chapter 10 deals with perceptions on upward mobility. Every chapter concludes in the most important points and shows the way it is embedded in this research. Chapter 11 and 12 give the conclusion, discussion and recommendations for further research.

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METHODOLOGY

The methodology will describe where and how this research was performed. First, more information will be given on the research area. After this the theoretical approach of the research will be explained. From there, the ‘model’ that was used as visualisation of the research is explained. The data collection methods and position of the researcher are also elaborated on in the methodology.

Research area

The research took place in Kenya, a country in Eastern Africa that has been independent since 1963. The capital of the country is Nairobi. Kibera is one of the slums of Nairobi, with estimated population amounts ranging between 200.000 and one million people living on a piece of land between 2.3 and 2.5 sq. kilometre. In my personal estimation, Kibera’s inhabitants won’t reach up to one million, but certainly is close to the amount of 200.000. The area of Kibera is about 250 hectare or 620 acres. Kibera is one of the oldest slums in Nairobi and originated from the Nubian tribe from South Sudan that settled in this area first around the end of the 18th century. They consider it their homeland and the proximity to central Nairobi has come in handy in trade, mostly for Nubian gin. The place was originally called ‘Kibra’; meaning a forest or bushy place in Nubian language. The government representative interviewed for this research still uses the name ‘Kibra’. Many youngster of Kibera also refer to the place as ‘Kibich’ or ‘Number Nane’. ‘Number Nane’ means ‘number 8’ in Swahili and this name comes from the matatu busses with number 8 that connect Kibera to the bus station in Nairobi town. The railway from Mombasa to Uganda passes through Kibera in Nairobi. Trains pass daily, transporting people and goods. Next to busses and matatus, many taxi’s and private cars make Nairobi’s traffic very crowded. Kibera is situated in an advantageous place within Nairobi; southwest of central Nairobi, the city’s centre area. Ngong road is one of the main roads leading to Kibera. Kibera borders Langata, currently is a middle class neighbourhood of Nairobi, similarly it borders Ngumo Estate area on the North Eastern side.

Nairobi is the capital of Kenya and also the largest city in the country. It is home to many multinationals and the UN headquarters of Africa. Nairobi is also a centre where many NGOs have offices or work from. The city unfortunately also suffers from high crime rates (da Cruz et al., 2006). Crimes happen in many areas in Nairobi, but informal settlements have been pointed out as criminal hotspots. Kibera was very affected by the post-election violence of 2007 considering the many ethnicities that live there, but also for other causes. There are

13 historic grievances over resources, anger at the government institutions and the presence of gangs. De Smedt expresses the ambiguity:

‘Kibera.. An illegal, informal settlement, practically in the city centre, on land with a very high value – almost a contradiction in terms’ (de Smedt, 2011:228).

Many research has been performed on health issues, water and sanitation and housing. Millennium development goal number 7 with a focus on slum dwellers gave a boost to projects in slums worldwide. Many organizations have projects in Kibera and the amount of local NGOs is rising. The Kenyan government is trying to take large steps by implementing the official slum upgrading projects of KENSUP and KISIP, which are overseen by UN-Habitat. KISIP has a short-term focus on infrastructure and land tenure. The aim of KENSUP is to ‘have improved the livelihoods of at least 5.3 million urban slum dwellers’ (1.6 million households) by 2020 at an estimated cost of 13 billion. The funds come from UN-Habitat and the World Bank, Cities Alliance and the Kenyan government. The main focus is to improve shelter, infrastructure and land tenure and is countrywide. The first KENSUP project was a decanting site adjacent to Kibera to help relocate residents in 2012 (KENSUP, Kenyan government). A ‘decanting’ site is a term used for sites where residents of Kibera are moved temporarily, while their original villages within Kibera can be upgraded into permanent residences (Luiz, 2012). Or as the goal is stated by UN-Habitat’s KENSUP project; ‘‘the decanting site will house the residents of Kibera who will have to be moved to make way for upgraded infrastructure and services’’ (UN-Habitat, 2004). Anderson and Mwelu (2013) address the weaknesses of KENSUP and the most important one so far is that community participation seems to be flawed and engagement lacks.

The left image is picturing Kibera by Google maps; the right picture shows Kibera as mapped by the ‘Map Kibera project’. Even more pictures and maps show the different views and borders of what the ‘slum’ Kibera entails. Also, the maps show different perceptions of the borders of Kibera, or might even give the suggestion that things change over time; that Kibera is dynamic.

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The history of Kibera has been extensively researched by de Smedt (2009) who focused on its history, from settlement of Nubians (South-Sudanese) in Kibera until what Kibera has become today. Before the 1950s, Nairobi was segregated by races, with Africans, Europeans and Indians all in their own places and Africans were only accepted as temporary workforce and not as permanent residents of the city. Therefore, many men, without their families, were accommodated in illegal settlements. Many of these illegal settlements were removed in different periods of time but the land of Kibera was assigned to the Nubian army and therefore allowed to stay. The population of Kibera has been growing steadily during its history and the growth of Nairobi as a city also had its impact on Kibera. Around 1972 there were about 17.000 people living in Kibera according to research stemming from the 1980s (Amis, 1984). During the period from 1872 till 1979, some local administration on housing took more control, implementing the need to get permission to build new structures in Kibera. New houses without permission were taken down, and informal, control, not governmental ruled. In 1979 the population had been tripled to 62.000 inhabitants (Amis, 1984). At the early beginning, the population was mostly of Nubian decent, but by the time of the 1970s, the Nubians only represented about ten percent of the total inhabitants of Kibera (de Smedt, 2009). In the 1980s the majority of landlords was from the Kikuyu tribe. While all Kenyan ethnicities were represented in Kibera at that time, most were Luo’s (40% of tenants), Luhyas (30%) and Kikuyus (10%) (Amis, 1983).

In the early 1990s construction on a large scale stagnated and only continued on a small scale, as Kibera was considered more or less ‘full’. Also existing rooms could be divided into smaller ones to create space for more people (de Smedt, 2009).

Currently, possibly 94 percent of residents of Kibera are tenants. Other research has also shown that most landlords are not living within Kibera but elsewhere (Mutsoto and Kinyanjui, 2002). Now, around 50 percent of the landlords are Kikuyu and this number is decreasing (de Smedt, 2009). The business of being a landlord is less attractive after different ethnic clashes and mainly that of 2007/2008 violence, where it becomes hazardous and scary to be a landlord and paid rents are uncertain (de Smedt, 2009).

Theoretical approach

At the start of this research different theories were used to capture the ideas. These theories deal with changes coming from different types of influences and these theories inspired a ‘model’ of what this research entails. These theories include marginality, system change and change of actors in the system.

Marginality can be defined as: an involuntary position and condition of an individual or group at the edge of social, economic, and ecological systems, preventing the access to resources, assets, services, restraining freedom of choice, preventing the development of

15 capabilities, and causing extreme poverty (Gatzweiler et al., 2011). Looking at this definition, it clearly shows the link with the many images we have of slums and slum dwellers (von Braun and Gatzweiler, 2014). Marginality was first addressed by Park (1929) who saw ‘the marginal man’ as a consequence of migration. This migration led to social disorganization but also to social reconstruction where the marginal man was the intermediary of two different cultures. The history of Kibera displays that it is also a place where people settled after migration.

A change that happens over time concerning marginality can happen in two scales; through system change or through change of marginalized actors within systems (von Braun and Gatzweiler, 2014). Of course in reality it is a combination of the two. The first is concerned with the system as a whole and the second is where the change of actors is flowing from the individual’s choices and capabilities. The change of the system as a whole can also be called reconstruction and the change of actors in the system can be called adaption. This divide is the core of this research and the dynamics between those two will be examined. Kibera can be seen as a system, being all embracing, rather than existing out of individuals, governance and structures, and it can be examined if the area as a whole is improving or examined through the sum of different parts. Individuals who have grown up in Kibera all their lives will have an opinion about the place as a whole and on what aspects might have improved over time. To look at this improvement, one can also have a focus on the different aspects such as the role of the government and NGOs. Von Braun and Gatzweiler (2014) say that individuals are part of different ‘systems’; their household is a system where they have a certain role and function, in their workplace they have a different role and in their neighbourhood and with their links to other places in Kenya they also have different influences.

A change in marginalization of groups of people can happen through changes in society, for example through programs aimed at helping poor livelihoods. These two ways can also be called adaption; also called endogenous, or reconstruction, also called exogenous (Gatzweiler et al., 2011). These two views can be drastically separated by seeing slum dwellers as either; helpless and ‘forcing‘ reconstruction on them mainly from outside, or as ingenious and capable of making change by themselves. The research deals with this divide, though this divide is by no means clear or static. More so, this divide is in part artificially created by theories and is fully intermingled in real life. When talking about improving lives, agency or upward mobility, the theoretical framework of marginality can give insights that benefit to this research. The use of this framework by no means defines people living in the slum as marginalized, but the framework gives insights on how changes can happen and gives a measurement for individual change as well.

Gunderson and Holling identified two dimensions of how change in a system can occur. The first dimension clarifies the importance of looking at the available change potential. This potential could for example be cultural or social capital, knowledge, technologies or a degree

16 of social organization. Next to this it is important to see how connected the internal variables are; the system connectedness. ‘’The system connectedness reflects the strength of internal connections that mediate and regulate the influences between inside processes and the outside world’’ (Gunderson and Holling, 2002). This shows the amount of internal control that the system can have over external variables. In earlier literature, Holling (2001) also gave a third dimension, the adaptive capacity. This shows how well the system can cope with shocks and un-expectancy and is the opposite of vulnerability of the system. The adaptive change cycle (Gunderson and Holling, 2002) shows these dimensions. As this model displays, external influences on Kibera can come from politics, government policies, international law, slum upgrading programs and NGOs, but are not limited to these. Changes of actors in the system can occur differently, for example, somebody might improve their individual life, for example in the area of health, food intake, or increase in social network. When one of these improves or increases, they are less marginalized overall (Gatzweiler et al., 2011).

Marginality is often described by two dimensions, the societal and spatial (Gurung and Kollmair, 2005). The societal criterion describes all the social dimensions such as religion, culture, economics and politics, inequality and exclusion. Larsen (2001) takes (poor) livelihood options, reduced or restricted participation in public decision-making, use of public space and low sense of community and low sense of self-esteem into account. Marginality is the distance that is only clear or understood when the ‘mainstream’ also is defined. Actually, the concept of marginality only makes sense when a division can be made between the poor and the less poor. Even in marginalized groups as a total (for example slum residents) can be even more marginalized among them (Gurung and Kollmair, 2005). The spatial criterion is focused on physical locations and actual distances from ‘development’. For many locations worldwide the actual proximity to for example a water source will be closely related to marginality. In the case of slums, the proximity might be less of an issue, but the access to services counts here. In some places, the spatial dimension will be of higher importance, in other places in the world the societal dimension will. This research clearly gives priority to the societal dimension over the spatial dimension. Still, the spatial dimension can be of use while evaluating marginality in and around the area of Kibera. Marginality can be measured in different scales, from individuals to groups, from household to nations.

Visualisation of the research from theoretical perspective

The model on the next page is more of a mind map, as well as memory aid to display different influences within and outside of Kibera. This is based on the theoretical ideas and will provide a basis for this research.

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Both the societal and the spatial dimension can be found in the model. The spatial is shown in spatial and physical dimension of Kibera, also showing a map of Kibera to highlight its focus. The societal part is displayed on the top of the ‘cube’ where individuals can improve their lives and community initiatives can come from within Kibera. Also, the social networks, livelihoods and community aspects are part of ‘social’ Kibera.

Again, having a ‘marginality’ framework is not to adhere and approve of the view on people living in Kibera as slum dwellers and marginalized. This model helps to view the interplay between external and internal influences. This research focuses on individuals and their views and cannot generalize for all of Kibera. Still I hope tap into the discussion about the usefulness of external programs and the many interventions in slums. In the end, I hope to shed light upward mobility, whether through personal capacity or facilitation. Facilitation reflects initiatives from outside and personal capacity the person’s own agency, though boundaries are not static.

Data Collection and position of the researcher

The data for this thesis was collected from December 2013 until February 2014. Semi structured interviews were held with 33 women with different backgrounds and ethnicities living in different parts of Kibera. Next to this, the representatives of four NGOs and three community-based organizations were interviewed and some women’s groups were visited. A government representative for Kibera was also interviewed. Next to the official interviews, ethnographic research was performed through informal chats, observations, living in Kibera and friendships that were made. The interviews generated information about upward mobility through personal agency or through facilitation. In December 2014 some extra information was gathered, not specifically for this research, but some conversations with women, or catching up, were interesting enough to use as ‘updates’ in the data.

The NGOs spoken to were Cordaid, Umande Trust, Ghetto Light Academy and Kibera Pride. The CBOs were Khasip HIV/Aids initiative and Paradise Orphanage and in this category I also placed CCO Emmanuel day-care. The interviews of this research were unstructured, in the way that no certain set of questions in a particular order were kept. A topic list was made before doing the research, so the interviews were semi-structured interviews. This was a method I was comfortable working with as it gave enough freedom for interviewees to inform me on certain issues that were most important to them. Most interviews were performed in English, but four of the women were not able to speak sufficient English, so I used a translator for these interviews. Few interviews were short, for about 20 minutes. Many interviews were around one hour and some were even up to two hours. The interviews were recorded, with permission of the interviewees, and all interviews were

19 transcribed. After transcription, the different useful items and quotes were organized into different topics, by use of Excel. Remarks and field notes were written in a diary and information from the diary was also put in the same file to give an overview of all gathered information.

Of course, it is impossible to consider my position equal to any local person living in Kibera. My skin colour was a large influence on the way people dealt with me and how they perceived me. It even builds up expectations and makes me literary quite ‘visible’ wherever I was going. It was important for me to be clear on my purpose and to not be too much drained into emotional stories or begging for help. It was a challenge to not be in the position where people only wanted to gain from me. I would always explain the purpose of my research and that I am a student myself and was open to any questions about my life, whether in Kenya or back home in the Netherlands. I even encountered some moments where women would ask me if I could pay them, or if there would be a ‘sitting fee’. These moments I declined to interview them, and without problems I found enough women who would ‘help me’ by being interviewed and just connecting on a personal level. The overall perception of me is still ‘a mzungu’ that received good education. Due to my skin colour I always made sure I was indoors by the time it started to get dark or that I had someone I trusted with me to walk me home.

I am content that I decided to focus my research on women, and I think it has made me enjoy me research more than when I would have also included men. I have encountered many nice men asking me about my whereabouts, but I have also been disturbed by some of them wanting my attention. With women, I was able to speak freely and even joke easily and especially after some weeks I felt very comfortable chatting with them. My enthusiasm for football did gave me very easy connections with men, for example by watching the English Premier League in a bar just around the corner from ‘my house’. This bar, and especially the close surrounding neighbourhood gave me some nice friendships with men and some insight into their lives. In general, some of the friendships I made with both men and women have given me a large insight into life in Kibera and are such an added advantage to my understanding than only interviews would have provided. With them, I had the possibility to not be in the researcher role all the time but just be myself.

An important step within this research was the decision to be living within the area of Kibera. Living with a family in Olympic estate gave enough security of living, while being introduced to real Kenyan family life. The family was large and the women I lived with had many brothers, sisters and extended family, many of whom lived in different parts of Kibera. The family I stayed with was of the Luo tribe, and so were many friends I made. The area of Olympic (where I lived) and Gatwekera (where I did many interviews) are Luo dominant. Still,

20 my research has a proper mix of ethnic backgrounds, but my Kenyan life has been influenced still by Luo traditions (e.g. eating a lot of fish, because this tribe originally comes from the area next to Lake Victoria). Luckily, the women I lived with was very open-minded and is a person who would only even use her first name because she has no interest in letting others know her tribe or making any divisions based on this. Living with this family gave me the benefit of seeing Kenyan life up close (e.g. many cousins and family members would always come and stay over since it was their holiday time). Also, since Sabina previously had some other foreigners in her house for volunteering or research, she knew very well what might be difficulties for me and she was making sure my stay was pleasant for me. I think this has made me more comfortable than I initially realized during my stay. The first weeks I was mainly getting used to the lifestyle there and did many observations and exploring the neighbourhoods. The first few times, I walked around in the neighbourhood with one of family members, but soon I was comfortable enough to walk on my own. The restriction to not walking too far on my own was related to the difficulty of remembering the way back and not related to safety as such. I learned many things from just walking in the neighbourhood and talking to some of the shop owners. I benefitted from not being linked to any organization but just being an individual. This gave opportunity for women to be critical of organizations and no need keep a certain facade because I might be linked to them

The red dot in the yellow area is where I lived during my research. The yellow areas are the formal areas of Kibera, also called estates. The white parts are the different informal villages of Kibera. Due to my location and initial connections, most of my interviews were performed in the villages of Kianda, Soweto East, Gatwekera and Laini Saba.

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CHAPTER 2. THEORY AND LITERATURE

This chapter will discuss literature and theories used in this research. First slum discourses will be discussed, after that also the topics of informality, slum upgrading, marginality and social exclusion.

Slum discourses

As the introduction showed, the term slum has inglorious associations (Gilbert, 2009). It is mentioned how all lives of poor people are equally reduced to the lowest common denominator (Gilbert, 2009). Just as the word ‘underclass’ has dangers, the word slum and the people living in the slum are reaching synonymy. Using this term fits our desire to explain the world in easy and overall terms. Arabindoo supports Gilberts view when he says it is impossible to make a theory of a global slum (Arabindoo, 2011). He describes how urban poverty and life below poverty line are seen as the same, but in reality not everyone is a slum is below poverty line and not all urban poor (BPL) live in slums. Varley (2010) sees a lack of sensitivity surrounding the term ‘slum’ and the careless use of it in academic literature. Gilbert writes more about the history of the term ‘slum’ and concludes that its use cannot be validated. He sees the slogan ‘cities without slums’ as rhetoric and a carrier of an empty promise. Simon also agrees the term ‘slum’ is too imprecise and slum terminology is ‘dangerous’. He writes of large slums as complex, contradictory and contrasting, with mixes of livelihoods, people and incomes:

‘‘Life and death, violence and community cohesion, exploitation and social capital and solidarity, relative wealth and absolute poverty all overlap and are juxtaposed in tangled webs of dense population and meagre resources in individual slums.’’ (Simon, 2011: 681)

Slums are very heterogeneous and include a mix of housing conditions, livelihoods and people. The differentiation between slums and within slums has not been put forward enough (Gilbert, 2007). In very close spatial and social proximity there might be large differences in perceptions and conditions, while from here we rely on generalizations and depersonalizations and popular prejudices. This concludes in confusion over place poverty and people poverty. When a certain place, such as an informal settlement, is seen as ‘poor’, the entire population of this place might be seen as poor. The descriptions about slums are uniform and its residents are seen as impoverished and in despair altogether (Simon, 2011). Wacquant (1997) sees racist classifications of slum dwellers being out-of-place, dirty, despised and rejected. This is generalizing poverty that exists within a certain place to all the population living in this certain place. A different representation that slums have acquired is

22 that of slums as vibrant, inspiring and typically surrounded with music (Jones, 2011). Perhaps this is more an image of those exposed more to the ideas of slums as places of opportunity, not just despair. Jones (2011) sees slums in this light as well, as being exoticised; slum life is never boring or simply common. Slums are seen as the opposite of ‘bland’ and ‘carefree’ non-slum city lives. Which ever of the two extremes above is emphasized, discourses surrounding slums are commodified and others decide its representation (Jones, 2011). This research aims to show how Kibera is indeed represented, while life in Kibera is in many ways not so different from life in other areas of Nairobi.

Measuring poverty is hard task that is relative; therefore the quantitative options that slums allow for (e.g. enumerations or sq. m2) became key indicators of poverty. Arabindoo (2011) even speaks of a slum-line instead of a poverty line. This repeats the overlaying of social categories on spatial terrains of slums. McFarlane (2011) makes a case for unpacking heterogeneity of slums as well and argues against large meta-narratives of slums and slum life. Applying and using quantitative, easier-to-reach results are not strange in the light of policy and decision making by large institutions or governments, who might lack resources (or will power) to examine situations more closely.

The difficulty of this is shown in the National Urban Poverty Reduction Strategy of the government of India. It needed a policy direction for dealing with urban poverty (Mathur, 2009). Questions that deemed relevant to the policy or strategy were in the lines of; is poverty in India urbanizing? Are there any geographical trends? Where does urban poverty show itself most? To find these answers, the context of macro-economic parameters is taken into account, such as urban literacy rate and infant mortality rate. This is where policy makers might be in a split. The strategy paper explicitly mentions awareness that not all poor live in slums and that slum settlements include non-poor people. Still their foci will be aimed at slums, brought in selective ways. Their strategies’ flagship is slum-free cities, because slums are spatial entities that can be identified, then targeted and reached.

A slum according to the UN (2003) is:

‘‘An area that combines, to various extents, the following characteristics (restricted to the physical and legal characteristics of the settlement and excluding the more difficult social dimensions): inadequate access to safe water, inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure, poor structural quality housing, overcrowding, and insecure residential status’ (UN-Habitat, 2004: 12).

This definition of a slum also highlights the physical and legal dimension of the slum, and UN-Habitat even points out its neglect of the ‘more difficult’ social dimension of the slum.

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Addressing these as more difficult is however not a free reign to take ones hands of that particular aspect.

Auyero (2000) claims that there is abundance in statistical analysis of slums, but a lack of serious ethnographic case studies. His ethnography within an Argentinean slum tries to contribute to this;

‘‘This ethnography should attempt not only to provide a sociological account of the social strategies and experiences of those living in enclaves of poverty but also to rise up against the widespread hostility and/or indifference towards los villeros. An ethnography of the other side would thus be above all – populist overtones aside – an act of solidarity with those wretched of the city now being entrapped in the hyper-shantytown’’ (Auyero, 2002:112).

An earlier article of Auyero (1997) applied findings of Wacquant, whose works I will discuss as well, on the slums of Argentina, agreeing and overlapping much of Wacquant’s work. Wacquant (1996) sees how poverty is always singled around the issue of the poverty line and (unmet) basis needs, rates of segregation, unemployment and more. He therefore insists on ‘’forms, not rates, connections, not conditions’’ (Wacquant 1996:1). Auyero (1997) sees this as going against geometrical analogies, thus the place/space, and aiming an approach that is positivist and that has methodological individualism. Methodological individualism I read here as context based and not generalizing to entire populations in a slum or all slums alike. Wacquant also warns for translating principles to another socio-cultural context, this has to be critically valued. Auyero writes:

‘’Looking at the slum – and at urban marginality in general – in light of Wacquant’s relational perspective invites us to make policies and discourses, structures and experiences, forms and connections, the economy and the state, our primary empirical focuses in the study of poverty/inequality rather than faster on the properties of populations trapped in neighbourhoods or marginality’’ (Auyero, 1997: 510).

As an example to this approach, Wacquant’s research in ‘Urban Outcasts: Stigma and Division in the Black American Ghetto and the French Urban Periphery‘ (1993) was aimed at uncovering similarities and differences between ‘new urban poverty’ in the cité in France and the ghetto in the United States, in Paris/Lyon and Chicago respectively. Instead of looking at statistics such as income, living standards or consumption patterns, he looked at individuals and groups’ texture of everyday living. This discards the focus on bureaucracies and aims at two main aspects; ‘’territorial indignity and its debilitating consequences upon

24 the fabric and form of local social structure and the principal cleavages that organize the consciousness and relations of their inhabitants’’ (p. 380). He looked at experienced social immobility and exclusion, concluding that in Chicago this is an enduring historic reality, while in the French periphery this is a social myth. People living in the French periphery were not socially immobile, neither excluded from the rest of the city. This distinction in results shows differences in social and spatial patterns of inequality through a change in research perspective. There is academic fuss about getting the numbers right, while ethnography can contribute to insight into social production of urban poverty and insight into urban change (Auyero, 1997). He notes that this perspective might not be well received in ‘conventional’ social sciences, for there is a switch in focus. More focus to those living in a slum; less focus on figures, policy makers, governments and researchers making theories.

In ‘Slumming about: Aesthetics, art and politics’ (2011), Jones wants to tackle stigmatic representations of slums. Slums have to be recognized, but the question is how. Jones acknowledges parameters – sanitation, health, income violence etc. as useful. Still, he sees interventions not taking slum inhabitants from positions of anomaly; they are still a deviation from the ‘standard’. He calls for insights from different angles and underlines the need for imaginative texts to create new vocabularies (Jones, 2011). ‘’New voices that can challenge dystopian and counter-modern narratives and offer positive mundane accounts of city-ness’’ (Jones, 2011:706). He calls for aesthetic stories; surprising, fascinating and inspiring to tackle the stigma and change the focal point.

A recent article called ‘The Economics of Slums in the Developing World’ (Marx, Stoker & Suri, 2013) gets involved in the debate of slums. The article provides an economical view on slums, where they suggest that slums are more of a trap for its inhabitants than many economist thought. The trap versus springboard view in this article is an interesting viewpoint that will be challenged in the discussion. However, the findings of this particular research are based on economical findings. Where the UN gave a definition of a slum based on physical and legal characteristics, it has left out the social dimensions (UN-Habitat, 2004). It can be said that the economic approach of Marx and co-authors is in the sphere of the social, by for example looking at income figures. Still, this is in the realm of numbers, figures and no ethnographic accounts and personal stories.

Ann Varley (2010) is cautious when it comes to slums, because of fear that fantasy and fiction will be mixed up in the image of the slum and that the theory of the slum will become the theory of the city. She is against the notion that African metropolises have been characterized with slums as a key feature, for example by Watts (2005), because according to Varley, cities are more than this. Her article calls for postcolonising urban studies of Latin America, going against dualistic interpretations of the continent and changing the current

25 stereotypes. On the other hand, Roy (2011) is clearly pro-theory by demanding theoretical imagination. She desires alternative vocabularies to the ‘slum’, not to break with old terms, but to gain fuller understanding. Roy prefers to break with apocalyptic narratives of the slum, by theorizing the megacity and its subaltern spaces and subaltern classes. To her, subaltern urbanism displays slums as:

‘‘Terrain of habitation, livelihood, self-organization and politics’’ (Roy, 2011:223).

There is a paradigm she acknowledges in referring to subaltern in recognizing spaces of poverty and less of agency that is present. She wants to shift the subaltern term away from either poverty or agency and look at an interrogation of epistemological categories. Two important themes are economies of entrepreneurialism and political agency. Many other authors, Chatterjee for example, also discuss these. More of these themes will be discussed below. Roy (2011) hopes to cause epistemological and ontological disruption and provide new analytical strategies of research. Roy discusses four emergent, but not completely new categories; peripheries, urban informality, zones of exception and gray spaces. To explain peripheries, Roy refers to the work of Simone (2010) who sees the concept as multivalent, as a space in-between, never fully logically understood under the development that characterizes the centre (of a city). A periphery is also a generative space, of innovation, adaption and possibility, maybe even destabilizing the centre. It is a space produced through humanitarianism, urban restructuring, capital flows, policing and control and not necessarily one place, but for example the zone in-between urban and rural. Informality is well known in the idiom of urbanism and was more often used to address the economic activities outside the organized (legal) labour force. Urban informality is not restricted to the space of the slum or solely entrepreneurial labour, but also the connections between the slum and suburb. Roy calls it:

‘‘The heuristic device that uncover the ever-shifting urban relationship between the legal and the illegal, legitimate and illegitimate, authorized and unauthorized’’ (Roy, 2011: 233).

Whereas stage legitimacy is instrumented through means of maps, surveys, property and zoning and of course the law, urban informality deconstructs this very basis (Roy, 2011). Zones of exception refer to some spatiality or territory with use of the word ‘zones’. Roy refers to the work of Ong (2006) who themes zones of exception where patterns of non- contiguous, differently administered spaces of sovereignty exist. These zones of exception are out of the ‘ordinary’; the state power is deployed differently and people in different zones are ruled by different kinds of control by state and social regulation by state and non- state (Ong, 1999). According to Ong, subjectivity and subjection characterize systems of

26 zones, as she displays many contrasting zones such as zones with cheap-labour regimes vs. superior privileges.

Gray spaces

The final category addressed is that of gray spaces. Roy (2011) shows that previous literature has marked gray spaces as those at the margins. It links to the other categories, where Yiftachel (2009) says gray spacing takes place at the periphery of peripheries and Ong marks zones of exception into gray spaces when it comes to power. Yiftachel (2009) termed gray spacing as being within subalternity, as spaces in between white and black. The white represents legality and safety, while the black represents eviction, destruction and death. They are defined as follows:

‘’Gray spaces contain a multitude of groups, bodies, housing, lands, economies and discourses, lying literally ‘in the shadow’ of the formal, planned city, policy and economy’’ (Yiftachel, 2009; 89).

These places are tolerated but only spoken about as terms of criminality, danger to the public and contamination. Even more, Yiftachel states that gray spaces are attempted to be ‘laundered’ from above, to gain control over them, through elimination or destruction. Only this turns the space black instead of white (Yiftachel, 2009). An interesting note is that gray spaces show uneven incorporation of groups and spaces according to Yiftachel, showing the re-appearance of colonial relations in cities of today; dominant interest are expended, marginalized are exploited, essence is based on identities and there is hierarchical segregation (2009). A gray space is however a space of potential societal transformation. Roy wants to disrupt subalternity and sees these four concepts as those that should be referred to and constantly changed and attempted to be grasped (Roy, 2011).

Assemblage thinking

McFarlane (2011) gives a perspective on slums, or actually on urbanism, by using assemblage thinking. He sees this concept alongside critical urbanism, because urbanism cannot be viewed separately of capital, politics, everyday social relations and environment politics. He sees assemblage thinking as:

‘’relationalities of compositions – relationalities of near/far and social/material. Rather than focusing on cities as resultant formations, assemblage thinking is interested in emergence and process, and in multiple temporalities and possibilities’’ (McFarlane, 2011:206).

His assemblage thinking relates the history to the potential; the reality of slums with urban

27 inequality and possibilities of this inequality to be questioned, contested, viewed differently and even altered (2011). I prefer this thinking of combining the actual and the possible (in slums). It gives insight into ways of thinking in ‘us’ and ‘they’, where the privileged exploit others, creating both solidarities and resistance. Next to this it focuses on potentiality:

‘’… Potentiality exists as the tension between hope, inspiration and the scope of the possible, and the sometimes debilitating recognition of that which has not been attained’’ (McFarlane, 2011: 222).

He sees assemblage thinking as a means to carve strategies for alternative urbanism, including recognition and solidarity.

Slum Rhetoric

Arabindoo’s article ‘Rhetoric of the ‘slum’’ (2011) concludes that instead of meta-theory we should have the goal of investigating everyday practices that will give valuable insights into the links that exists between macro-structural processes and the fine texture of human experience. In this thesis, both these macro processes and human experiences will be explicated, taking into account not just numbers, structures, economies or state, but all together; including experiences, thoughts and connections of those living Kibera. It will also take into account both the actual and the possible; looking at processes and the potentiality of Kibera. And as the introduction pointed out, differentiating place and people poverty. Urban change inspired by ethnography and real accounts, as pushed by Auyero and many other authors is the final aim of this approach.

The book ‘Planet of slums’ by Davis (2006) is one of the well-known works about slums. His book has been criticized of being populist and negatively received by many other scholars. He tries to capture the reader in the bad situation in many slums and the expansion of slums worldwide. While it is good to educate and raise awareness that circumstances should change, Davis has taken little account of what slum dwellers themselves do and what they think they need. This is where other scholars would point at the focus of statistics, enumeration and policies and neglect of experiences and connections of people living in slums. Angotti (2006) criticizes Davis in a review essay with a title referring to Davis and his planet of slums as ‘Apocalyptic anti-urbanism’. He agrees it is positive that Davis links rapid urbanization, global capitalists development and neoliberal policies, but still the apocalyptic tone and rhetoric feed into anti-urban fears. He notes that Davis ignores people or social forces that are capable of challenging the social order and makes the over simplistic analysis between rural and urban. Also, slums are seen as storages of the informal sector and of marginality. Angotti links back to Perlman, who in 1976 already pointed that many of the people in the favelas, in South America, were not marginal at all and that the links between

28 informal and formal activities are complex and dynamic. Perlman’s book titled ‘The Myth of Marginality’ asks for assessing marginality beyond traditional and prima facie notions. What has been left out are the many social and political movements worldwide and large grassroots networks and community based organizations. Angotti then calls for a more positive view on cities as sites where movements can organize against oppression and where there is incredible potential that is not been realized because of policies of capitalism and anti-urban theories and practices (Angotti, 2006).

Slum informality

Bayat and Arabindoo (and many others) have pointed to informality in slum life. Whether informality is approached from the viewpoint of economy, it is an interesting point of discussion in relation to slums. Roy talks about the economy of entrepreneurialism, which can be linked to informality in way that people have to be creative in ‘making’ their own jobs.

Mahmud (2010) states that slum dwellers that are not absorbed in formal markets but still need to provide basic needs try this by exchanging needs and capacities through networks, petty trade and casual employment. This is also called the ‘need economy’ or the informal economy.

Kinship links, social ties and cultural connections are what Arabindoo (2011) calls the backbone of the slum economy. These go into dysfunctionality by slum upgrading into new settlement spaces. Through evictions, slum dwellers are labelled as ‘underclass’ or socially disqualified even stronger. Though resettling attempts at getting formality into their lives, it is unclear how and if this is reached (Arabindoo, 2011). The informal economy of the slum is interlinked to the formal economy and cannot be separated (Geyer and du Plessis, 2012). Also, the informal economy is not necessarily equal to low income, as some people earn decent livings in the informal sector (Beall, 2000). In 2003, a report by UNHABITAT stated that 2/5th of economically active population in the South was active in the informal sector. The report ‘State of the world’s cities’ now even states that slums are economically vibrant, about 85% of new jobs worldwide are created in the informal sector (UNHABITAT, 2013).

People’s Economy

Arabindoo refers to the works of Chatterjee (2004) who makes the distinction between populations and citizens. Here, citizens are those with rights to urban citizenship and within civil society. Populations are those that have to use the political society or political force to catch a hold of any state welfare. Slum dwellers can be seen as populations aiming to move into the status of citizens. Resettlement sites become an uneasy fusion according to Arabindoo; formal and informal. This is defined by the state to what is in their interest and creates new vulnerabilities for the people that are displaced (2011). In a different view from Chatterjee, McFarlane (2012) does view slums and slum populations as part of civil society,

29 in the light of examining urban entrepreneurialism. He sees slum populations and those in informality as providers of interesting sights on entrepreneurialism.

Chatterjee (2004) turned away from the term civil society, by calling those whose livelihood or habitation involves breaking of the law; a political society. This gives them a certain potential as agent of change.

De Soto (2000) sees slum populations or the slum economy as a ‘people’s economy’. He calls them ‘heroic entrepreneurs’, where grassroots rise up from below, going against state bureaucracy. He sees new frontiers of capital accumulation. Bayat (2007) also writes about informal life in the slum. He sees a distinctive type of political agency in the slum, where the struggle for survival and self-development, through flexibility, pragmatism and negotiation is called the ‘habitus of the dispossessed’. The subaltern urbanism of Roy (2011) recognizes this slum habitus as an important feature.

Cities without slums

Under the umbrella of large-scale slum upgrading projects are also slum clearance programs. Here, (parts of) the slum is removed to make room for better housing. The attempts to improve the situation of people through clearance have only made the ‘slum’ problem increase. Where slums have been cleared and people have been evicted, their circumstances only decreased and led to mere displacement erection of slums. One famous example of a failed attempt is that of Murambatsvina (Operation Drive Out Rubbish) where many people lost their homes and UN secretary-general Kofi Annan called the operation unjust with indifference to human suffering (Kajumulo Tibaijuka, 2005). Relocation of people, whether according to plans or not disrupts existing social structures and commercial networks, makes the journey to work longer and the housing costs generally higher (Gilbert, 2007).

The land to build slums on was often informally acquired, where they began building their own housing. The quality of the housing would usually improve over time. As written above, Gilbert (2007) opts for an approach where the slogan ‘cities without slums’ will be deleted. This, because it suggests a world without slums is possible and it thereby justifies slum clearance. Thus it should be replaced by ‘better shelter’. We should produce better housing conditions. The focus should be on food and drinking water, before focusing on overcrowding (Gilbert, 2007).

When wanting to upgrade slums or improve them, there is certainly an aesthetic part to play as well (Jones, 2011). When helping an area to concrete roads, it is rarely solely for the purpose of upgrading, many times also the aesthetic dimension is important; the area will just ‘look’ better. ‘’A favela remains a favela’’ (Jones, 2011; 697) is what one resident in Rio de Janeiro said about upgrading.

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Benjamin (2008) talks about slum occupation as one of three kinds of policy arenas. First, the arena of real estate and finance capital is the official form. Next, the (elite) civil society is an arena of ‘legitimate citizens’ or NGOs working to penetrate the real estate arena. Finally, the third form is that of occupancy urbanism or ‘vote bank politics’, where the urban poor lay claims on lands and territories. He gives the poor their own kind of agency; occupancy urbanism. This agency of occupancy urbanism claims basic infrastructure and services. It denies views of cities as passive, where just a larger aspect is at work. It views cities:

‘‘As consisting of multiple contested territories inscribed by complex local histories’’ (Benjamin, 2008: 720).

Interventions

Cities and city politics need to be addressed as fluid and open-ended (ibid, 2008). An interesting insight that Benjamin puts forward is the position of NGOs. He sees them as opening up emancipatory possibilities, as NGOs often have participatory projects. Benjamin sees this through the eyes of occupancy urbanism as ‘NGOization’, because these organizations are the links to the larger globalization process and the links to mega projects in infrastructure. In cases of unplanned land or ‘ways’, investments are tricky, from capital investments or markets or even NGOs themselves, leading to ways of participation or inclusive politics. This can be done through the elite civil society, for example leading a structured citizens participation in projects. What Benjamin tries to point out is that NGOs can even be in the position of replacing local and municipal debates. NGOs can be building public consent or ‘manufacturing consent’, all with an idea to make these cities and places globally competitive. To strengthen his case, Benjamin refers to Mumbai’s World Bank sponsored project MUTP where his words are that urban renewal evicts the poor and therewith their work and living possibilities. All while the concept of ‘Deep democracy’ (a concept started by an NGO) would be central to the process. With this, Benjamin wants to show that resettlement and slum upgrading are not just technical issues, but deeply rooted ‘developmentalist narratives’ are involved as well. He referred to this term earlier in his article, which was not explained thoroughly, but outlined by saying that ‘’poverty’ is ghettoized via programs for ‘basic needs’ allowing the elite ‘globally competitive economic development’’ (Benjamin, 2008:719). There might be larger and higher-level policy ideas or documents but the territories still have pre-existing settlements, they stay ‘occupied’ and more of these settlements are rising up. Benjamin explains slums as unplanned development, where lack of planning is often to blame for the urban crises. This should be fought against with slum policies and ideas of planned development from city planners, with the terms of inclusions and participation as the keywords for success. The ‘vote bank politics’ or occupancy urbanism are destabilizing this focus of globally competitive and inclusive cities. In his view, we can better keep in mind that one; politics is open-ended, two; the basis of

31 this debate is land and (land) laws and three; city spaces must be seen as both autonomous and linked to the state (Benjamin, 2008).

Mahmud (2010) discusses a part from a housing manifest in Bombay, by activist Das, who is concerned with slums. In Bombay, they found slum oriented NGOs to be diverting peoples attention from their basic human rights, by shadowing these with other things. An example given is begging for favours on humane grounds. Instead of supporting slum dwellers in getting their needs through action in public concerns, they silent them down with interventions away from the larger political debates to local issues. It is even stated that this makes people in slums un-aware which NGO is their enemy and who is their friend (Mahmud, 2010). In a critical light, the NGOization of Benjamin (2008) can be linked to these ideas of Mahmud and Das.

Gulyani and Basset (2007) give their insights into slum upgrading in Sub-Saharan Africa, its past, present and the appropriate way to go forward. In their concluding remarks they opt that slum areas should not be treated as ‘special zones’ in a city, but the goal must be to steadily integrate them into the citywide infrastructure and maintenance. Their stand is to connect slums to the city and that upgrading approaches should be citywide, programmatic and through the government with community involvement on the demand side, to ultimately integrate slums into the city.

To account for the reality of marginality, it is important not only to mention Perlman’s book ‘The myth of marginality’ as cited above. In her more recent work (2004/2006) Perlman writes about her thirty-five years of following families in the favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Here, she shifts from the ‘myth of marginality’ to ‘the reality of marginality’. Before, she focused on opportunities of rural-urban migrants and their positive attitude. What improved for their children is better access to health care, consumer goods and education, but education valuation has changed drastically, and finished education does not lead to secured jobs. The greatest demand these days is job security to lift oneself from chronic poverty. This job can be formal or informal, and issues of land tenure or titles were not deemed as important (Perlman, 2006).

Social exclusion

Social exclusion in cities is addressed by Beall (2002), who first examines different views on social exclusion; not one view is correct or a worldwide standard. She illustrates this by the division of social exclusion on the basis of ‘who you are’ and ‘where you are’. She states that wanting inclusiveness in the global economy shapes urban development in cities worldwide, recognizing those that are left out of the labour force.

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An example of social exclusion on the basis of ‘where you are’, takes place in South Africa. It displays how many families are split between rural (homelands) and urban lives. Those active and fit can work in urban areas and others are in the rural taking care of small children and elderly. The divide in South Africa when it comes to social exclusion was based on where somebody was, very much related to spatial terms. In Johannesburg, those that are in the declining working class, superfluous to the global economy, both black and white, work in the south of the city while those working in the north are more included in globalization and technologies. Here, economic development is the basis of geographies of exclusion (Beall, 2002).

However, in her example of exclusion on the basis of ‘who you are’ she addresses a city in Pakistan, the hindu caste of Churha is socially excluded, but integrated economically in the public sector; with secure work and pensions. Even while the work performed (cleaning/sweeper jobs) is somehow looked down upon, it leads to a situation where exclusion of the group also leads to protection of their work and resources. Here, the social exclusion based on identity can lead to securing livelihoods (Beall, 2002). According to her article, social exclusion is difficult to grasp and operationalize, but a tool for understanding social disadvantage, regardless whether this is persistent or has changing patterns. Opposed to social exclusion, we can talk about social inclusion, but the important matters then are; ‘- inclusion in what, on whose terms and in whose interest?’ (ibid, 2002: 50). Whether social inclusion is linked to the larger global network and global trends or not, exclusion processes are played on a local scale. Still, these micro economic processes affect the global ones. Beall closes with pointing that urban governance will create both social and economic change, from local to national to international levels. In its turn, macroeconomic policies, such as those of liberalization and privatization have their effects locally (ibid, 2002). By demanding cities to be inclusive, local authorities might have their backs against the wall.

Conclusion chapter two

This chapter includes theories and literature to show how slums have been addressed in different ways. It shows how languages and discourses around slums exist on a broad scale, from very stigmatized views as slum dwellers as underclass, till the views of slum inhabitants as creative and daring entrepreneurs. Important notions inherent to slums have to be taken into consideration when writing about slums or researching slums. Important to note is that informal work and economies are present inside the slum, and stretching outside the slum. The second important notion is that of interventions or ways to alter or eliminate slums. This can be done by aiming at terrains, quality of housing or services, executed by the government or presence of organisations or by inhabitants themselves. Different ideas and theories from this chapter will be challenged alongside findings of this research.

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CHAPTER 3. SKETCHING KIBERA

It is hard to describe the average women’s live in Kibera, because many women go through different experiences during their lifetime. Still, there are stories to tell that are typical for women living in slums and specifically to these women living in Kibera. This chapter will give insight through different cultural vignettes, displaying the lives, livelihoods, resources, community and family life and difficulties of living in Kibera. This will give broader insight in the context, this will be helpful to readers not familiar with the country or place and is also useful when more findings will be discussed.

Vignettes

Cecilia is a woman, end-thirties, who is eager to learn and always busy with something. She lives in Laini Saba, in a house that has over time grown bigger. She was born in Kibera and got married in Kibera. She has four kids of her own and adopted two others. She finished secondary school last year, at the same time with her oldest son. This was a big accomplishment for her. The fact that she didn’t have school diplomas certainly didn’t make her idle. When having kids herself, she was realizing the large need in Kibera for primary schools. There were not enough schools and the few that were there were full or had school fees that were too high to be paid by the average Kiberian. She started a primary school, together with other young mothers. It started small, by finding a teacher qualified to teach the lowest class. Starting off with only one class, the school has expanded with one class per year and is now a full grown school with over 300 pupils. The teachers have been educated over the years and the school now even employs people to do the administration and has volunteers from abroad. Next to this she has a business of selling chickens, which was largely overseen by her son while I was there. She also ran for ward representative of Laini Saba, she didn’t win the elections, but it gave her many connections and people know her well. One of her daughter is going to Olympic Primary School and now lives with her grandparents in Olympic area, so she is able to walk to school. Cecilia has three sisters and two brothers. Most of them live in Kibera, some in the slum part and some managed to live in the estates. They support each other where needed and the family is close. When they get together they usually meet in one of the nicer houses in one of the estates.

Another woman that lives in Kibera is called Angel Lera, she is 25 years old and lives in Gatwekera. This is the name she uses when she is performing as a singer in some of the events around Kibera. In her daily life she calls herself a hustler, she is trying to find more ways to make money. Her primary business at the moment is selling socks and stockings. She gets these from Gikomba market, the largest market on the other side of Nairobi. She gets them here in bulk for around 1500 shillings total and sells them per item for a bit higher

34 price in Kibera. She has a small shop where she sells them, but doubts if she should keep it, as the rent of around 800 is a bit high for her. She can also sell the socks along the roadside on the ground, free of rent. Sometimes she washes clothes for people or finds some other tasks to do. She has three kids, and this is the main reason why she is always keeping busy. Most days, the kids get two meals per day. She tells me it’s cheaper to buy some marague (beans) for 50 shillings that are already prepared, than buying charcoal for 50 shillings, and still need the ingredients and cooking oil. Her son is 9 years old and he goes to school. Sometimes he will be send away when the school fees are not covered yet. Her daughters of four and two years old don’t go to school yet. On days that she is working, she takes them with her or they stay in her house together. Angel Lera is lucky that she doesn’t have to pay rent, because her aunt is the owner of the houses on the plot. Otherwise the rent would be 1000 shillings per month, now she only needs to pay the 300 for the electricity. Her house is simple inside, two cupboards, one for the kids’ clothes and the other for some plates. She has two couches and one mattress. The kids sleep on the mattress and she puts the pillows on the ground for her self to sleep on. At nights it does get cold sometimes, she explains. She has two blankets and lets the kids wear more clothes. Inside, she always has some jerry cans with water. She has a TV but it burned through, fixing it would cost 1000 shillings. Her walls have some posters with different prayers and also of different football teams but the team of the football club Chelsea is her favourite and this is also inspired the name of her first daughter. Angel Lera got married when she was fifteen, but recalls that time as the time where she was just a girl, now she is more experienced. The first years of marriage she was happy, and she was having a nice house. Later on, her marriage got bad, her husband started cheating and she felt she was losing him. Now, she says she is happier on her own. She is responsible for her own life, and doesn’t have to count on a husband who might also not bring anything home to contribute.

Pheresian is another single mom in Kianda. I interviewed her inside her house, and her boy of four years is playing inside, while she is cooking. Her daughter of nine is still in school. Her house is small, but she says she can manage well here, the sleeps with her kids on the bed, and the small couch can hold guests. Her rent is 2000 per month, which she is struggling with sometimes. If she makes 100 shilling a day, they will eat half of it and she will save half of it. Washing clothes is what she does most, in Ayani, an estate just across the road. She is happy her house is close to the road, so she can also be safe coming home in the dark, but she says that is also the price she is paying. The dad of her son is living in the same area. Sometimes her son comes in the house holding a lollypop and then she knows he gave it to her. She is scared that someday he might come and claim the son the live with him when he is big. She is explaining it is hard to find a job here and that it is common for women to strip down naked to get a job. ’The boss would want to sleep with you before you get it, and then again they want to be ‘paid’ at the end of the month. That is challenging.’ There are women’s groups (chamaa’s) where women come and save money together; this is women

35 empowerment. Pheresian would like to work for an NGO, because ‘I know this place, I have walked these streets and see the stories’, but she is sad that it’s not easy to get a job there, no matter how much she knows the area. She says that within Kibera, there is no time for loneliness:

‘’You see now I don’t have a TV.. but, at 5:40 there is a program that I have to watch, so my neighbour has a TV; so she is going to make sure that I watch that program.. she is going to make sure! Maybe when she cooks, there is something that I love; mash and beans.. she just cooks and brings a plate for me.. I take a plate from her.. so that is you see, there is no time for loneliness‘’

For now, she is happy being single, life is hard but it makes her strong when she sees her kids happy. She says: ‘‘But maybe one day, I will get a good man...’’

Ann is a women living in the slum part of Olympic together with her husband and daughter. I meet her in the road towards the library where I went to work and we start chatting. Shortly after she invites me to her house. Ann and her husband came to Kibera two years ago. They lived in the village, but she didn’t like it there. She told me many men there were drinking and wasting their day and her husband was joining them. Now in Kibera, her husband is a boda-boda driver, so at least he keeps busy. Sometimes the money is enough for school fees and sometimes it’s not. This is also why she doesn’t want more kids at the moment, life is difficult, it would be hard to feed the children. She tries to work every day by doing washing or dying hair for 50 shillings. She says:

‘’You can’t sit in the house and expect the husband to bring everything, you must do something, when the husband sees that, he knows; this woman is helping me somehow..’’

She hopes to open a salon together with her sister. It would be easy to find a place, but the mirrors and a sink would be expensive. She prefers having her own job to having a boss. Her sister and child are now staying with them in their one room house. The sister hopes to find a job by looking at job advertisements close to Ngong road, though its 20 shilling every time to go there and see. They have a large two-person bed, and now the sister sleeps on the couch. They have a TV that is on throughout most of the day. They eat ugali every day, because it fills the stomach well. They eat it with sukuma wiki (greens). They insist I stay to eat with them. The sister quickly sends her child to get two tomatoes, to give some extra taste to the dish.

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Livelihoods

As seen from the stories above, livelihoods in Kibera can be very different. One thing that comes back more often is the term ‘hustling’; doing different random jobs for small money. Many young women I met wash clothes or braid hair, do cleaning or other non-fixed jobs. Most of the women had mouths to feed, and they say that caring for their children gives them the strength to wake up early every day. Some women have a small business of selling vegetables or work in a shop selling basic items. Eunice, one of the women I interviewed that works in an M-pesa shop twice a week earns 100 ksh per day. When Angel Lera does laundry for other people, she can earn 200 ksh or even more, depending on the amount of work. Women say that it is difficult to find a permanent job; you need connections for that, you will never get it ‘just like that’. Some of the women I interviewed worked for an NGO for some time, for example taking surveys among Kibera residents. Most women say that the best thing about having a job is that you don’t have to be idle. Some women said things such as: ‘Idleness makes people do stupid things they regret later’. Many younger girls look up to older women that are waking at four in the morning to cook and sell their chapatis or leave early to walk all the way to rich neighbourhoods to clean as a housemaid. Kibera is about making ends meet:

‘‘The smallest we get, we eat, that is Kibera’’.

Kibera is also a place to save money. Many of the women I talked to were either born in Kibera, or came from their villages elsewhere in Kenya, what they call their ‘upcountry’. This is the place where they were born and where their parents originally come from. Many see Kibera as a good place to make money, to get a job, to save and to be able to develop your house upcountry so they might live there once they are old. This is what many interviewees explained. Though, it is still debateable how this is acted out, since more youth are now used to growing up in cities and might see rural places as less desirable to live. In the rural areas, living is very cheap; you might just grow your own crops and needs. ’Kibera is a collection of people from different places. We came here to earn income’. Despite the difficulties, many women enjoy living in Kibera. One woman told me: ‘Nairobi is like Amsterdam, it’s a big city and you want to come and see it’ and its lively and there is community. The prices of commodities are low and people are friendly, there are many types of lives.

‘’Living in Kibera is so fun. When I will move out, I will have a lot to tell people about Kibera. I would leave one day because of the kids, the place is small and contested here now’’.

Prices in Kibera for housing can differentiate from 200 to 5000ksh per month for house rent. The ones for 200 are found mostly down in Kibera, far from main roads (with cars) and far from larger pathways in Kibera. The housing is small and not well kept and maintained. The higher prices come for bigger rooms (up to 2000ksh) and houses above those prices are

37 often due to their location or proximity to matatu busses and public transport. Kibera’s prices for commodities are different in the estates and certain areas and get cheaper once you get more down into the slum. I might buy two tomatoes in Olympic estate for 10ksh, but I might buy three for that price elsewhere in Kibera. Some more fixed prices are present when it comes to charcoal and cooking oils. Many different hotels (what restaurants are called) offer different food options, ranging from chai (tea) for 5 shilling, mandazi’s for 5ksh, portion of fries for 10 of 20ksh, beans for 10 or 20ksh depending on the portion, a chapati for 15 shillings and a full plate of ugali and sukuma wiki (greens) for 30ksh. This same plate including beef is available for 50ksh. Taking these prices into account, it becomes obvious that cooking at home is only beneficial when having a family to feed. Many single men and women eat in these hotels or take street food.

The incomes of the respondents are also quite different. Some of them have fixed jobs, working in small shops, having their own small business or working in a community-based organization. Some women claimed to be unemployed while others, certainly with a different attitude, claimed they were hustlers. Many women were interviewed inside their houses; this gave me the benefit to see the inside of the houses and the differences within Kibera. All of the houses had at least a mattress and some cupboard for clothing. Many houses have a small couch. Some of them have a TV, very few have fridges and one family had a microwave. There were also differences in the amount of toys available for the children.

Community life & motherhood

In terms of community and family life, Kibera is a place where many people come together. Because so many different cultures and habits come to live in one place, there is much to learn from others. One of the negatives of having many different people come together is that Kibera is a place infamous for its post-election violence of 2007/2008 and its tribalism. One of the positive sides is that many people came to realize that despite the differences they must all stand together to be strong. When only depending on one’s own tribe it is more difficult to maintain a livelihood and to have opportunities for yourself, since so many ethnicities are living together. Many women say they are able to ask somebody else for something small. They would be able to depend on someone, such as a friend or neighbour to help them out in case of emergency. Mackline, one of the women I interviewed gave a clear description of different people in Kibera that others also confirmed.

‘’There are three types of people; those that want the best from you, that will mentor you and would want to see you improve (..) Then there are those that seem to be your friends, but in reality they are not. Once you improve your life a bit, they get jealous and are not happy to see you move

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forward. And then finally, there are the people that are just there. If I am here they are close and if not, they drive far away.’’

There is a part of the community that is helping each other and some feeling of closeness. One of the women was particularly happy that her neighbours would help search for her little daughter (who has some mental problems) when she ran away. Pheresian even said:

’You know the possibility of somebody sliding, being thieves, prostitutes, its high. So we have to watch each other’s backs, stick together through thick and thin. I’ll tell Ben (a friend of hers), my kids go to sleep hungry tonight, then he has something for me, and other way around’’

A good relationship with your neighbours can also be a huge asset in Kibera. It is important to have a social network or social relations to rely on for assistance, but just as much for the social aspect and sense of belonging. As written before, Pheresian can watch her TV show at her neighbour’s house. Next to that, sometimes she gets up at five in the morning to work somewhere, and then her neighbour will knock the door at 6.30 for her daughter to wake up and dress for school. Your neighbours somehow also watch over you. In case of fire, they would definitely make sure your kids are out of the house. Mackline also explains, when I am not out of the house by 9 in the morning, my neighbour would come knock to check if I am sick or not. Sometimes neighbours are also struggling to provide, in that case they might not directly help each other with resources or assets, but they can share their thoughts and ideas. In one of my interviews I had with Masi; this woman claims that she cannot start selling chips, because her neighbour already has that business. There is thoughtfulness, and of course the conscience that a supporting and safe neighbourhood are somehow crucial for enjoyable living. The differences in poverty in Kibera will also be discussed later in this writing, but it is said there is a difference with richer neighbours. Some neighbours that have more money won’t allow everyone to come in their house and see all their belongings, because you might never know if someone with bad intentions will find out about it. Friendly and helpful neighbours are even mentioned by one of the women as a reason to stay in Kibera longer than what was previously in mind.

Especially the single moms accentuated the need to be arrogant or strong when it comes to raising kids. There are too many influences in Kibera and one of the things that spoils kids is ‘bad company’. Many kids that Pheresian grew up with ended up in prostitution, selling drugs or being killed for being a member of a gang. Domtila, one of the eldest women that was interviewed raised all her kids in Kibera. She claims that when one parent is not there, it affects children a lot and families in Kibera have many challenges. Both Yvonne and Pheresian have to deal with the father of their child living near, but not taking any responsibility for their child.

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One of the tough things in Kibera is finding a proper school for your child, as well as the process of paying school fees. School fees have to be paid in January at the start of the school year. Different mothers claim that they want a good school for their kids, because there are bad schools too. I interviewed the founder of Ghetto Light Academy, a primary school in Olympic. The statistics of Shofco (Shining Hope for Communities), an NGO in Kibera gives the statistics that 43% of girls and 29% of boys don’t go to school in Kibera. The school fees of Ghetto Light Academy are 500 shillings admission fee, 100ksh for a diary, and 2550ksh for a school uniform. Then every term (three months) school fees are 3000 shilling, 750ksh are to be paid for food and water and 100 for exams. This comes down to about 60 shillings (around 50 eurocents) per child per day. For many families in Kibera, this is the same as a meal to feed the entire family. The school fees for secondary school are even higher, which causes even more children not to enter of finish secondary school. Still many women put their kids first. In terms of clothing and dressing, they want their kids to look nice and they put themselves on the second spot. Some have also mentioned the hope that their kids will take care of them when they are older.

Women’s struggles & husbands

Being a woman in Kibera can be tough. Kibera can sometimes be a frightening place at night. Different women spoke about rape as one of the issues girls have to deal with. You can better be inside the house by the time it gets dark. Yvonne, a 22-year-old girl who has one daughter lives in a room with her dad. He was not around because his job was elsewhere, so at night she puts the full jerry cans with water in front of her door inside, to give some feeling of security.

When growing up, many girls are kept indoors by the time it gets dark. Around seven in the night it would still be safe, but after that the chances of being raped are there, depending on the location you live. Estates like Olympic have gates at the houses and at the end of the street, but in the slums of Kibera, anyone would have direct access to the door of your house. ‘’When little girls grow and they are idle, you never know what will happen, they might meet a guy and get pregnant’’. This can be in the context of rape, but also early engaging in sex, mostly from being idle or hearing about sex from friends, which leads to curiosity. Especially the pretty girls are the ones where moms shiver for getting pregnant of falling for some charming guy. One of the women interviewed admitted that she prefers her daughter to stay in the plot with her neighbours and when she is not there for 30 minutes she will go looking for her. Many state that it is difficult to grow up as a girl in Kibera and that young teenage girls suffer most. Another issue in this field is that many girls don’t have access to sanitary pads and this makes their menstruation uncomfortable and as a time where they will not go to school. Linette, one of the interviewees stated that growing up with her mom and sisters

40 she was quite protected, but when she started living on her own she said she ‘never knew life was this hard’.

A difficult thing to deal with is that some girls might be rejected by their family once they are pregnant. Even when this happened outside their will. Discussions with women often underlined that rapes are kept silent for fear of rejection, stigma and the fact that the rapist might for example be your neighbour of uncle. In these cases, the rapist and the memory are constantly nearby. This also makes that many girls wish they could move elsewhere. These are social consequences of rape and this as well leads to the ‘children giving birth to children’ and the many illegal and unsafe abortions. One of the women explained me why girls also get into prostitution. ‘’They might have been raped at early ages and their vagina becomes ‘used’. The pain you feel is less and less, and so you think, I might as well do this for money’’. I found out that prostitution occurs a lot in Kibera, for even 50ksh or in exchange of some food. One older women that has lived in Kibera for a long time explains me:

‘‘When I have no job.. a good way to get money is to visit men, I give them my .. (points towards her female parts) and I take ..’’

Some of the women explained to me, it happens very often in Kibera, but it is not something I want to do, I want to keep my life ‘up’ and shine for my kids. One women pointed to the fact that when the family is going through a difficult time, they might send their oldest daughter to go and look and bring some food in the house, with her ending up to actually look for men. This might not be what they direct her at, but she might find this is an easy way to make money. One of the reasons given is also that your husband might be with other women, so an interesting way of gaining income is having ‘boyfriends’ on the side, these can also be other women’s husbands or boyfriends. They can come to your place, you enjoy each other’s company, perhaps even the emotional benefits of getting attention and a listening ear, and in the end it also comprises an economical benefit. One woman admitted having a ‘boyfriend’ like this, who would always show up with some food for her kids as well.

‘‘I am not going to send him away, he is helping me more than my husband’’.

Next to this, the chances of getting a job without ‘stripping naked’ are small. ‘Here in Kenya you buy jobs’. It seems sexual relations are interwoven with economic benefits and a more common presence in society. This also became clear when I heard about Laini Saba (one of the villages in Kibera) being the place where many porn movies are recorded. Women might perform and receive around 1000ksh, which will feed their family for about two weeks.

When talking to women about being a woman, many comments are tended towards the strength of women while being aware of the very vulnerable position they have in society. Different women focus on strong women within the community; those that wake early in the

41 morning to make sure their kids will eat. One woman says that women in general have been empowered more lately, so they are doing more:

‘’They are the ones showing up at graduation day to see how their kids are doing and show more interest in what is going on in the community’’.

One of the interviewees stated that women work twice as much as men, rising early, selling and helping their kids. Others don’t give a value, but state for sure that life is more difficult for women, or for sure that life is hard but that women try to make it work.

Two of the women I spoke to were very open about their relationship. One of them, Caro, showed me her bruises and admitted that her husband beats her sometimes. She knows that he is seeing women outside. She is saying, there are so many women in Kibera and so many small girls growing every day. She says it stresses her a lot as a women to think about what the kids will eat and also to be concerned with your husband’s whereabouts. Another woman was telling me that she loved her husband once. They have two small kids and are married for about 4 years, but now her husband is cheating and drinking. She used to love him, but the way he is behaving now made her love fade. She could be embarrassed and stay in the house for weeks; to not go through the stress of hearing people talk about her husband. She says, when you leave your husband and rent a house, you are called a prostitute.. And also ‘’where would I go with two kids?’’ Pheresian said that it is good to be single; otherwise your husband might want to use you any moment he wants. Angel Lera is happy without a husband or even boyfriend at the moment. She says too many women are married but live like they don’t have a husband, meaning that he is not contributing (much) to family life.

Discussing with women about women’s lives, it is inevitable that the differences between men and women rise to the table. Statements came that most men in Kibera mistreat their wives badly and that they are self-centred. One woman said that if they don’t control their stress they go do immoral things, and one older woman explained that men don’t love with their heart but with their mind, and that ‘’the mind keeps being fed with other things, so stable love is not there’’. Another woman says she doesn’t like the mentality of men, that if they don’t have a job they will just sit and otherwise do bad things. They don’t show much interest in their community or family, but in larger topics like politics. Of course these are very subjective views, but also some real opinions of women that lived in Kibera for a long time. Some say living in Kibera is the same with or without a husband, because a husband doesn’t necessarily make life easier. Yvonne, one of the interviewees, got a marriage proposal, but she was taking her time because she wanted to get to know him better. He will have to see you are also contributing:

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‘’He might be good, but might also just be adding problems’’.

On the other hand, one of my interviewees was happily married for over ten years and both of them were working on a good family atmosphere together and both brought in money to support their kids. Another husband tried to make money every day with carrying items from the market to people’s homes, to provide food for his seven kids. Out of the total of 33 women interviewed, about nine of them had a husband who was also willing or trying to support the household. This also gives a counter view to the general story.

Milcah, the women who founded her own NGO, explains that all the way from government down it has been a battle with men. She says:

‘’African women have been left in the kitchen for too long and many men just want to look at a women as someone who is just helping’’.

Empowerment programs are changing these mind-sets in both men and women. More on this topic will be discussed in a later chapter.

The discussion about being a woman also rose with Ann and her sister Rachel. Both of them didn’t really recognize Rachel as a woman, because she is divorced. The fact that she has a child doesn’t matter; ‘’she is a temporary woman because she is single, but this can change in the future’’. Once you are married, you are a woman, both of them agree on this. Married women get more respect than unmarried ones. Another women said ‘‘once you are married you are called a women, women have responsibilities.’’ She is proud to be a woman.

Conclusion chapter three

I aim to portray that women lives differ individually and that some issues can lead to similar stories of experiences, such as the topic what is difficult specifically for women in Kibera. This chapter displays that the lives of these women are influenced by their neighbours, social relations, jobs and connections, taking opportunities and fluctuations in life for example through prices of food items. Women know how to talk about their lives as individual; for changes that happen solely to them or their family. Then, also ‘system change’ is indirectly put forward by some women, for example in seeing the need for more schools and education in Kibera. This chapter aims to draw a first-hand sketch of Kibera, to increase understanding of life and to lay foundation for the chapters to come. It can already be seen that internal and external factors intermingle and lives can be viewed from many facets and viewpoints. It is also obvious that both societal and spatial criteria are important in these women’s lives. For example: socially, these women need networks to depend upon or thrive and their spatial distance to markets has an influence on their lives. This first insight is the foundation for chapters to come.

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CHAPTER 4. PERCEPTIONS ON SPATIAL KIBERA

This part will describe findings on the spatial and physical dimensions of Kibera. Overall, this part aims to give a clear picture of Kibera, separating place poverty from people poverty and providing a holistic overview. The spatial dimension is marked as important in the methodology, for understanding lives and marginality within Kibera.

Location

Kibera is a well-known area in Nairobi, but other slum areas are also getting more known and some are growing quickly. To get views of other slum areas as well, Mathare and Kawangware were visited several times. Kawangware is also on the West side from the centre of Nairobi, and very similar in ‘look and feel’. On the other hand, Mathare is situated on the Northeast, next to Eastleigh North, and area that has many Somali residents. It was interesting to see that the ground (mud) in Mathare had a different colour, namely darker, and that many areas within Mathare give the slum quite a different appearance than Kibera. Mathare now has many areas where three-story buildings determine the first view. Kibera is famously known as the ‘chocolate city’, a more brownish colour of mud, but also of the corrugated iron of the houses and roofs, which are already brown in colour, or full of rusty brownish colours due to its history. Already in appearance it seems there is heterogeneity between slums, even in the same city, thus the call to not generalize slums as equal is very valid. Kibera is partly built in a valley, which runs down next to the Nairobi dam. The areas of Langata and the Eastern side are on a higher elevation, which makes it easy to overlook most of Kibera from those sides. This has the effect that ‘the slum Kibera’ can be looked upon, viewed as literally ‘low in the valley’. This is exactly where higher areas are ‘richer’ and the poor are dwelling in the lower parts of the city. This spatial and physical differentiation in altitude with surrounding areas is not present in Mathare and Kawangware as such. Kawangware is split in half by one busy road that is used by many Nairobians, but the first view upon this area as a slum is only present in the first façade of housing seen from the roadside, of which most are actually shops. Compared to those two informal settlements, Kibera’s spatiality feels more like ‘down’, giving truthful meaning to Gilberts (2009) fear of the word ‘underclass’.

Probably the largest spatial contradiction can be found where the Kibera slum borders a large golf course of the Royal Nairobi Golf club. The perception of poverty in the slum area contradicts the upper class of those that can afford to play golf, which is widely known as a sport for ‘the rich’. This contradiction clearly came to the surface when one of the daughters of one of my interviewees came home with her report card. She is in the final class of a

44 primary school in Laini Saba, the area of Kibera that borders the golf club. Her grades are all clearly noted and signed by the teacher on a Royal Nairobi Golf club score-paper.

The spatial location of Kibera has it consequences in use of resources and access to other parts of the city. Still, the proximity to the city centre has to be only few kilometres as for me, a Dutch student, a one-way ticket of twenty Kenyan shilling is a low amount. Still, for people that have a job that needs every-day commuting, the fares are often high and they would prefer to walk an hour twice a day. I noticed that many young people that I have been in touch with actually referred to a place as ‘far’ quite easily. One young women, said since she moved to Kianda, she sees her best friend less often, as she is now ‘far’ in Karanja, another area of Kibera. The actual distance would perhaps be a around 1,5 kilometre. This distance doesn’t seem far to me, and during my research I walked much more on a daily basis, but understanding where they came from, as being very close neighbours, the change in situation does affect their lives. Also, walking in Kibera can ‘feel’ really busy at times, especially when people are commuting to and from their jobs in the morning and evening. Tight-packed roads that are crowded with people can also make walking to a certain destination more of a challenge. In this same sense, others have mentioned ‘Nairobi Chapel’, quite a large church behind Jamhuri, as a place that is ‘too far’ to walk to, though this distance is just a few kilometres away. The spatial location of Kibera is in line with Simone’s (2010) work on peripheries. Kibera is literally a space in-between. It is close to Nairobi’s city centre, but many people from Nairobi will never set foot in this space. Simone calls a periphery never logically understood under the development of the centre. When looking at the rest of Nairobi, where business is growing and skyscraper buildings are rising, Kibera (and the other informal settlements) seem not to fit in this image of a growing economy and metropolis.

Patterns and villages

Patterns in mega slums worldwide have been examined by Zappulla et al. (2014), where Kibera on macro scale is categorized as having a branching pattern. This pattern is similar to slums like Dharavi and Gaza, but different from for example the grid pattern in Orangi, Pakistan or the courtyard pattern in Soweto, South Africa (ibid, 2014). Still Kibera differs again from Gaza, whereas Gaza has more regulated building of structures, while in Kibera this is (was) unregulated. Kibera is also classified as having dense units. In their article, Zappulla et al. (2014) aim to show the complexity and changeability of urban processes, where looking at slums separate from the rest of the city will not give insight into urban ‘morphologies, mutations and pattern pathways’ (2014:262). Slums should not be seen as isolated and solely unregulated, but these have, within a city, much to say about flexible urban tissues, with all its social and spatial potentialities (Zappulla et al., 2014).

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Kibera is made up of different villages and estates. The estates are the somewhat richer areas of Kibera, where the roads are a bit better, a bit less muddy when it rains and some road can even be reached by car. The estates are Karanja, Fort Jesus, Olympic and Ayani. Here, almost all houses have a small common space or plot outside their houses and a gate to protect the entrance. The ‘streets’ that are more on the inside, and further from the main road often also have a gate at the entrance of the street or ‘area’. These gates don’t necessarily have to be locked, but provide some extra sense of security, and some larger ‘areas’ might have a security guard there at late hours. The estates have a better network for water and sanitation, and quite decent housing, some can even be compared to middle-class neighbourhoods in Nairobi. Still, the proximity to the rest of the slum and the name ‘Kibera’ maintain that these areas as not the most attractive places to live. Electricity cuts in the estates occur just as often as in the rest of the slum, because it generally affects a larger area. The ‘actual’ villages of Kibera, what locals often refer to as living ‘down in the slum’ are Laini Saba, Mashimoni, Lindi, Silanga, Gatwekera, Kianda, Soweto East, Soweto West, Raila, Kisumu Ndogo, Kichinjio (or Kambi Muru) and Makina.

Insights in the unmapped

Different organizations have been trying to put Kibera ‘on the map’, because this was never properly done. Up until a few years ago, Google Maps only an empty space mentioning Kibera, but now shows the names of most of the villages and also highlights certain organizations, school and churches. These different organizations also provide different ideas of what Kibera is and is not, by creating borders and by naming estates separately or not. These maps also reflect ideas about spaces in Kibera, and its borders. Map Kibera is an organization aiming to put Kibera on the map by trying to get community involvement with filling in the maps with the correct information.

A very interesting census has been performed in one of the villages in Kibera; Kianda. The findings have been remarkable, especially in estimating population figures from this village and extending it to Kibera as a whole. The Map Kibera Project (MKP) is an informal project that started in 2008, performed by international and local volunteers (Marras, 2013). Their findings estimate that the whole of Kibera holds a population between 235.000 and 270.000 people, drastically different from numbers that have been given by large institutions and organizations. The village of Kianda holds 1.510 structures, with an average of 1.1 rooms per household. Average families have 2.5 people, as Kianda also holds many single people. The average room rent is 1.150 Kenyan Shilling per month, only 4% of the units are owned by residents. 58% of the structures have electricity and one water-point is shared by 132 persons (Map Kibera Project, 2013). The maps that this project has produced of the terrain of Kibera, gives larger understanding of the spatial differentiation in higher and lower areas.

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Source: Map Kibera Project

You know you are in the slum when…

The difference in spatiality between estates and the ‘actual’ slum area is found housing prices, in safety and the fact that estates are close to bus and matatu stops and thus closer to the rest of Nairobi. The houses in the estates are larger, sometimes even two story houses that are safely built. It is said by an interviewee that in the estates ‘you can’t just go and ask your neighbour for salt or oil’, explaining that people in the estates are generally somewhat better off and that closeness to neighbours is physically more distant than inside the slum. Inside the slum, houses are so close to one another, that you will inevitably get to know much of the lives of your neighbours and also see, hear and even smell their way of living. One of my key informants repeatedly used the phrase:

‘’You know when you are in the ghetto (slum) when; you always know when and what your neighbour is cooking’’.

The women I have interviewed agree that people with different incomes and spending are mixed all throughout Kibera. Each of the villages has people in severe poverty and people that are doing well and the people in the estates are seen as better off. ‘’I see that they are mixed, some are poor, some are rich, they are mixed. The places that are more rich are Olympic or Karanja (the estates). We do believe that they are richer because of house rents; they are more expensive. Here on this side (in Gatwekera) you can find a house and the person is paying 600, 300.. But not one that is 1500.’’ Another woman said: ‘’So yes, they vary, the degree of being poor varies very much..’’ Only two women of the total interviewed mentioned the name of one village as being most poor. Mentioned were Silanga, ‘it is most

47 down, down in Kibera’ and Gatwekera ‘people are poor really inside here’. Housing prices are low in these areas and the distance to ‘the outside’ is somewhat further. Still, as an overall answer, the poor are mixed all throughout and prices are different all throughout. Kibera is mentioned as a good place for saving money, due to low living costs and it is also known to have food items available at very cheap prices. I noticed this myself, when tomatoes in Olympic or Toi market (along the main road) were more expensive than in Gatwekera. Kibera is a cheap place to live and this has more than once been given as a reason for settling here.

The ‘rich’ of Kibera were also described by some interviewees. Some people really have made a good income and can afford to send their children to school and to buy nice things for their houses. They don’t want to move out of Kibera, because now they have the possibility to save money and have some respect amongst neighbours. Also, it gives them a chance to spend money on improving or building their houses in the rural village, or what they call their ‘upcountry’. ‘’They are strict in who they let into their houses’’. One of the interviewees said her children are not allowed to go into one of their neighbour’s houses, probably because of some ‘luxury’ items or things they have indoors. She was speculating about this ‘‘it must be like that, because even outside their house you can see they have many wash basins!’’

Spatiality in a slum is also different from other neighbourhoods in Nairobi when it comes to interior of houses. Most families have a one-room house, which is often separated by use of a large sheet into two compartments; one part for sleeping, one part as sitting room/kitchen. I have heard several jokes that slum houses are not self-contained houses, but ‘self-confused’ houses. ‘’It is the bedroom, the kitchen, living room all at once.’’ Many people in Kibera have a sense of humour about their houses. Upon entering, they might welcome you into their living room. The next moment they slide away the sheet that separates their house into two spaces; ‘welcome to my bedroom’ is what is said next. My key informant here said:

‘‘You know you are in the ghetto (slum) when you can give a tour of your house in one second’’.

Walking through Kibera is partly like it is portrayed in the media; muddy, full and crowded, including stray dogs and kids without shoes that are playing and running around without going to school. Also, families of seven people living in a one-room house, rain that falls through the ceiling, school dropouts, miraa addicts and unstable incomes. Then include some drunken men and dirt lying around everywhere and the picture is almost complete. Also, the part of Kibera that is just as present once you get to know the place are the many warm greetings and conversations of people, the laughter, the many businessmen and women trying to hustle for their income, the hard workers and the loud schools, the chickens and overall lively, sprawling environment. Kibera is an environment where

48 extremely poor meet the slightly poor, all the way until they even meet the ones that have a stable income and a refrigerator and television inside their houses. Kibera is an environment where different people come together. Heterogeneity of the slum is emphasized once more, as strengthened by Jankowska et al. (2011) who stated that not two slums are necessarily the same, after research performed through sensing with GIS equipment, census data, fieldwork and geographical weighted regression. Their general conclusion is that:

‘‘One size does not fit all when it comes to the relationship between slums and vulnerability’’ (Jankowska et al., 2011:233).

Space and access

The interviewees’ issues related to space and the physical environments of Kibera are centred around several other issues as well. Women that lived in Kibera for a long period talked about the way that Kibera used to be. Kibera was already a large area of land, but there used to be enough space for children to run around and play in some open areas. There even were many trees, which is in line with the history of the area of Kibera being a forest. At that time, finding or building houses was easy, now it is full. When I was at someone’s place, a young boy came to ask at the door if there were any free houses around for his family to live. The person living there just replied no and went on to his normal business. It is not strange that houses are being sought in this way, it has to be word-of- mouth and through walking around and having connections. Before, Kibera was not that packed, but now it is ‘full’. Kibera is full, seems to be the conclusion of many interviewees. Still, many of them also foresee Kibera even getting more crowded, which will make life even tougher. One woman that lived in Kibera all her life also recognized HIV as a reason why the population is also decreasing.

Another link with spatiality and ‘the slum’ is that of access. As explained, where houses are closer to main roads, the housing prices are higher due to accessibility. The same relation with access exists with prostitution. Whereas the village of Laini Saba is known for recording pornography, the area of Kianda is known for its prostitution. The village is bordered by the main road, very accessible to people whom own cars, to drive past and to pick somebody up. At night, a person can drive from Nairobi town past Kianda in just ten minutes. The women involved in prostitution can somehow hide at and in between houses until a car stops. Many men would not take the effort to stop and walk into Kibera, but driving past the area to pick someone up is a smaller step to take. This spatial feature gives this part of Kibera different ‘opportunities’ than elsewhere.

One woman that grew up in Kibera explained how Kibera had even a larger terrain back in the days, even past Kianda, all the way up to Kenyatta hospital. The size of what Kibera was

49 at that time was larger than it currently is. One woman explained the difficulty with counting the population:

‘’It is hard to control populations, you see, look at it from this point; there are ten people moving out of Kibera and fifteen moving in.. and Kibera is big. There are different entries and exits, you cannot see it, you cannot control it..’’

The crowdedness of Kibera also gives extra insecurity when it comes to threat such as fire outbreaks. One fire outbreak that occurred late at night in January affected not such a large surface area, but still affected over one hundred people directly.

Space issues in slums gave insight into different tangible stories from the lives of women. A throwback into the lives of some of these women when they were young gives some understanding of the way families handled their expansion. When a young family settled in a one-room home in Kibera, they would slowly save up money for expending the house with another room right next to it. Depending on the family structure, this room would for example be for the daughters of the family to share. When the family would get larger, or money was sufficient, another room would be build. Different ethnic tribes could handle the situation slightly different in practice, but it is generally accepted for children of puberty age to receive some more privacy. Some of the older houses in Kibera are houses with indeed a living room and two bedrooms. The problem that is faced in Kibera over the past decades is that the space to build extra rooms is finished. Many parts of Kibera have only small pathways left. Some of the solutions that families are inventing on the spot are building of second floors on their houses:

‘’You can see now, we have this second floor thing now going, because it got so full, we don’t have any place to build. And sometimes it is very dangerous, look at that one (pointing to a house); it is not even build to support, imagine the dangers they pose, the security threats. Those kind of structures are unsafe.’’

Another solution is that several parents get together to rent an empty room somewhere where their older kids can share it together. Also, children have more often been placed to live with other relatives. Crowdedness in Kibera has obviously led to decreased privacy and space to spend some time privately. Another proof of this is increased ‘corridor bathing’. The small pathways in the slum are called corridors. When other family members are present in the house, or simply because the house is too full to also bathe in it, more and more people wash themselves in a corridor. Sometimes, some sheet is used to provide some privacy, but it is also common to cream once to your neighbours that you are bathing, and then hope

50 nobody runs into you. Another story one women told me, is a common joke that is told in Kibera. It describes how a man comes home to his wife and kids, but because he wants some privacy with his wife, he buys ‘mchele’ (rice) on his way home and ‘accidentally’ drops the bag in front of the house. He then calls his kids to come and pick up the grains one-by-one. This will give him and his wife some ‘alone-time’ inside the house. This story is told and received with much laughter and joking. Living in a slum needs resilience and new ways of coping. One friend of the family I stayed with used to say ‘the walls have eyes’ when talking about the slum. Also waking up in Gatwekera one morning with one of my key informants and her children, showed me how ‘the slum’ wakes up around 6 in the morning when it starts being light. It is the smell of paraffin and music you wake up to, the smells of food while you still hear a snoring neighbour somewhere around. It is living with many; space and its division and distribution have large effects on safety, privacy and community life.

Spatiality in Kibera also accounts for changes in programs of NGOs. One example is finding the right spots for making new toilets. In crowded areas these cannot be too close to houses due to smells or dirty situations with heavy rain. On the other hand, making toilets too far from houses leads to insecurity and that many women wouldn’t want to use that toilet after dark. A more crowded (and even over crowded Kibera) gave organizations and projects extra challenges, in addressing population numbers and issues related to spacing.

Conclusion chapter four

The overall results of Kibera as a system can be summarized into the following points. The spatiality of Kibera starts with the actual division of slum areas in ‘the valley’ and richer/estates in the areas that are on higher altitude and also more closely connected to public transport. Still, the rich and poor are mixed throughout. The costs of mobility came back in the interviews as an important part in the lives of women, and as something that is mostly out of reach, making some places ‘far’ to them. It can also be said that the spatial closeness of the slum leads to communal closeness, next to also the adverse effects such as accidents and rape issues. Communal closeness is seen as something positive, for example your neighbours give a helping hand in looking after your kids. In middleclass neighbourhoods in Nairobi, there is the assumption that you won’t even know when your neighbour is dying.

Expansion of Kibera population-wise creates need for new uses of spaces, such as the example of corridor bathing. Whereas Kibera was built horizontally, the expansion now starts to be vertical as well. Kibera keeps growing in number of population but not necessarily in square meters. The slum has its physical borders, because it is bordered by roads, a golf course, a dam, trees and other private properties or lands. The amount of square meters that Kibera is built on might even decrease when houses have to be demolished because they are too close to the railroad.

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The importance of mapping Kibera is also put forward, for example by displaying where the water points in Kibera are located. Though Kibera is densely build, the differentiation between closeness and access is very important. Not everybody might benefit from services raised. This is where indeed the methodology placed emphasis on the social dimension over the spatial dimension. This chapter highlights the difficulties and need for creativity when it comes to the spatiality of Kibera.

A house in the village of Laini Saba next to the railway, December 2013

Houses in Gatwekera village, January 2014. In January 2015 two new houses are inhabited on the left. The entrances are around where the blue washtub can be seen in the picture.

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CHAPTER 5. TRIBALISM AND ETHNICITIES IN KIBERA

This part will discuss tribalism in Kibera. Presence of different ethnicities has its effect on daily life; it shapes community life in Kibera and influences ways of improvement. When interviewing women, the topics came up without even explicitly asking about tribalism because they are so interwoven into life and culture. This topic is necessary to discuss in the light of the marginality framework, especially relevant within the social dimension.

Background on ethnicities

Kenya is a country with forty-two tribes and Kibera presents a melting pot where all tribes are represented. Several women have provided me with an overview of the majority tribes living in the different villages of Kibera. In Laini Saba, the main tribes are Kamba and Kikuyu’s, in Mashimoni it are Kisii. In Lindi and Silanga, the majority are Luhya’s. Luo’s are the majority in Gatwekera, Raila and Kisumu Ndogo. Soweto West has many Luo’s and Luhya’s and in Soweto East is a mix of Luo’s, Kikuyo’s and Kamba’s. Kianda has a majority of Luo and Kisii and the estates of Olympic and Ayani are mostly inhabited by Luo’s. Other research has also included this division of tribes and shows overlap, especially in where Luo’s and Kikuyu’s live. The Map Kibera Project looked at the tribal division within Kianda, From here it showed that 36% is Luo, 11.5% is Kisii, 11% is Luhya, 7% is Kamba, 4.1% is Kikuyu and the remaining percentage is divided amongst other tribes or unknown. Where women stated Kianda mainly has Luo’s and Kisii’s, it seems the awareness on tribes is present. Of course, what the women said is not be a flawless representation, but it signifies the awareness of the majority of tribes in different areas/villages of Kibera and it shows it has some importance in their lives.

Though Kibera is peaceful now, the tensions and underlying thoughts are not easy to understand for a stranger because they are complex. Some of the stereotypes that were heard were; Kikuyu’s and Ukambani (Kamba) talk and gossip much amongst themselves, Luo’s have many kids and are often jealous (explained like this; they want their lives to be better than others) and Muslims (Nubians) have connections to get jobs. Some stereotypes are for example that Luo’s are known to often eat fish and Kikuyu’s are known to do good business, can be adding to the richness of diversity but can also create bridging difficulties. The fact that some ethnic groups were stereotyped to ‘gossip’ is of course promoted by the ability of doing this in a language that is not necessarily understood by other tribes. When talking about tribalism in daily life, many women have friends from different tribes. There are small things from which you can recognize there is some tension in society, for example little things and comments amongst tribes. Most women acknowledge the effects of tribalism in their lives, while religion is said to not give any problems. The practical effects of tribalism are for example that you are looking for a house and the owner of the house will ask you what tribe you are. Most women say they feel safer when living with the majority of 53 their own tribe around them. One of the women didn’t get a job because she was not of a certain tribe and women realize that having many kids would make your own tribe bigger. The woman of the family I lived with would always leave out her surname when she would introduce herself, so people will not judge or recognize her by her tribe. Through stories about tribalism can differ very much from woman to woman, generally women have friends from many tribes.

Some history of tribal conflicts has been discussed by de Smedt (2009). His article on ‘big man politics’ and post-election violence in Kibera shows importance of tribalism to this day. On the 30th of December 2007, the outcome of the presidential elections stated that Mwai Kibaki won the elections and that his main opponent; Raila Odinga had lost. Kibaki belongs to the Kikuyu tribe, the largest tribe in Kenya, while Odina is a Luo. These two tribes are the largest in Kenya, and also the largest represented in Kibera. The outcome of the presidential elections led to violence between tribal groups. The scale and intensity was unlike before, leading to a large political crisis (de Smedt, 2009). From the outcome until 28th of February 2008, when a power-sharing agreement was signed, violence caused over 1.100 deaths and 350.000 internally displaced persons with Kenya as well as an economical loss (de Smedt, 2009). In his article, de Smedt underlines that to look at it solely as an ethnic conflict is an oversimplification, there are also other causes to look at. These can be; the disputed history over resources and land, weakening of government institutions and state, which led to militias and gangs, who in turn have even been used as political tools. Economic exclusion can be another cause, as well as discourses surrounding Kenyan politics, that are highly ethicized (de Smedt, 2009).

Kibera was a hard-hit place, known for main support of Raila Odinga, who was MP of the area for a long time. Shops and houses were destroyed, people got killed and violence between crowds and police lasted for weeks (de Smedt, 2009). The history of Kenya’s politics had different presidents and candidates of different ethnicities, but only Kikuyu and one Kalenjin presidents. When multi-party elections were re-introduced in 1992, ethnicities became the most important feature to find a support base with; not so much other aspects as political programme or policy directions, but promising their constituency their share of jobs, favours and cash (de Smedt, 2009). Their political strategy was ‘political tribalism’, while different researchers such as de Smedt (2009) and Lonsdale (2008) describe that ethnicity is not necessarily disruptive within communities. Even the grassroots level might be against this ethnic hatred but be drawn into it by political strategy (de Smedt, 2009). Kibera had other conflicts in the years of 1992, 1995 and 2001, about rent, rent pricing and disputes between tenants and landlords. Even with involvement of Odinga and president Moi, agreements on rent and rent payments couldn’t be settled and led to deaths and people fled (de Smedt, 2009).

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The violence of 2007 was unlike the disputes before. During the counting of votes, expectations were towards a win for Raila. The moment when Kibaki came out as winner, violence started in Kibera (de Smedt, 2009). Shops and houses of supporters of Kibaki were looted and Toi market, the largest market in Kibera was set on fire. People were beaten, robbed and some were raped or killed. Property of many people was stolen. De Smedt (2009) gives accounts of his own interviews, explaining that mainly youth, but people of all ages were involved, of all ethnic groups. Violence mainly came from youth in Gatwekera and de Smedt explains that many people joined the groups for their own safety. The groups were organized and often said to be connected to Raila’s political party ODM (de Smedt, 2009). In areas of Kibera with high population of Kikuyu’s, the Luo’s were told to leave or beaten. Highly affected areas of the violence were Kianda and Olympic. Compared to other parts in the country, killings were low in Kibera; the focus was on chasing Kikuyu’s (and thus Luo’s in some other parts) and on looting (de Smedt, 2009). Not everybody got involved in the violence, is what de Smedt points out in his article. Accounts by de Smedt and my own interviewees have also given stories and information about more peaceful cooperation between many people and friends of different tribes. Here, de Smedt (2009) refers to Lonsdale’s (1994) term ‘moral ethnicity’ as opposed to the political tribalism explained above. Moral ethnicity; meaning that people stand behind their moral values and are strong enough to defend them even when it means resisting to ‘political tribalism’ and even if it was only on a small scale. According to Klopp (2002), who continued Lonsdale’s work, the violence connected to elections in Kenya, albeit researched before the clashes of 2007/8, was not caused by ethnic difference in itself, but by the politicization of ethnicity. De Smedt’s work of 2009 underlines this school of thought. Until now, it seems Klopp’s (2002) reinforcement of what political tribalism holds is indeed the monopoly on violence.

This short background written above to give some more insight into tribalism and violence. The topic of the violence and tribalism has come up many times during the interviews of this research, because it is impossible to ignore this when talking about improvement of lives. Without giving a judgement call on the happenings, I would like to outline some of the effects and impact this had on women’s lives.

Opinions on the post-election violence and tribalism

Pamela O. explained to me that most structures in Olympic, the area where I lived, were burned down to ashes at that time. Most people were selling their properties and going elsewhere. To make sure her structure (shop) survived in Olympic area, she was there from 5am till as late as 10pm. In the night, she would assign some boys to take charge of it; that is how her structure survived. Abiba is telling me some others would come to her house to feel

55 protected.. About the looting she said ‘’whatever they want, they can just take it..’’. She told me the ones making trouble were mainly young people. When the police would arrive in Kibera, they would be send away, as many youth would say ‘’this is our job, let us handle this ourselves’’. Yvonne is explaining that many tribes lived together in the place where she lives, but since then, many Kikuyu’s went away. Beatrice is recalling it as a dreadful time, many people died and it was a very fearful time. With her family, she did stay in Kibera, but they kept locking themselves in the house and prayed to God to make it to the next day. The shops were all closed; it was difficult getting food to eat. Pamela A. explains they would walk all the way to Jamhuri to get food at a hotel. They could get some sukuma wiki; they would go and eat it there. Some of the women had travelled to be with family upcountry before the violence erupted. I also heard of many stories of people of different tribes coming closer together. I met the mother of a friend I made; She was Luo but hosted about fifteen Kikuyu’s in her house to provide them safety. Ben, one of my key informants explained me that he as a Luhya had just been living together with his Kikuyu neighbour. When walking through Kibera, we met this friend, and the first thing he said to me was ‘’Welcome to Kenya, I am a good friend of Ben, though I’m Kikuyu; we have no problems.’’ A very striking story of this time is how Zahrah survived the violence:

‘’But I’m lucky, because when the people were fighting, they spared me, they said no, leave this one alone – This is not a Nubian, she is not a Kikuyu, she is not a Kisii.. She doesn’t have any tribe. And luckily to me, because I even speak Dholuo.. So most of the Luo's are like; what is wrong with you? Which tribe are you, because you speak our language.. You say your father is a Kisii, mother is a Kikuyu and you are married to a Nubian.. So, which tribe are you? – I don't belong to any; I am a Kenyan!’’.

Upon the question whether violence like this can happen again, the answers are different, but the tendency leans towards a negative response. There was the same fear that the last elections in 2012 could lead to similar results or raised tension, but the calm remained. Yvonne said, it was only some young hooligans that would want it to happen again. All women agreed that people have learned from the events. Someone spoke: ‘’It was bad, but people are changing, people learned a lesson’’. Two women referred to being brother and sisters in different ways; one of them said ‘’everybody in Kibera is a brother and sister’’ another woman said ‘’we need to be like brothers and sisters’’. People came to realize that the hatred was politically motivated, but that at the end of the day, they are the ones being together. One of the women said:

‘’Now we have started to see it was all stupidity. No, it can’t come again; the leadership is the key point that brought all these differences. In the end, everybody lost and made mistakes and we learned a lesson’’.

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Many women see the political motivation of their countries leaders to use tribalism to remain in power. Even the country representative in the government said ‘‘it is a big leaders disease that might catch small leaders’’. This relates to the articles by de Smedt (2009) and Klopp (2002), that politics from ‘big leaders’ or above might bring their influence downwards to local politicians and the citizens themselves. He also stated that tribalism, which he prefers to refer to as negative ethnicity is something that is there and that is being used by leaders to remain in power. He said, as an opposite voice to the women, that:

‘‘Negative ethnicity is on the rise.. You will even find some people not comfortable going to buy goods or recurring services from people who are not of their own ethnic group’’.

Tribes have also been mention in relation to the rich and poor divide in Kibera. Several women have pointed out the Nubian or Muslims to be ‘rich’ in comparison to other tribes. Many Nubian families have lived in Kibera for a longer time period, as the part about the history of Kibera also showed. Then, the three Nubian women that I interviewed had quite nice houses and even a concrete plot in between their houses. One of the women owns chickens in large den where I saw at least 15 of them, showing a certain amount of ‘richness’ that is not present throughout all of Kibera. One woman said:

‘’Muslims have many connections so they can get a job; they don’t have to struggle like us blacks. They even have their links in Saudi Arabia. They are not frustrated like us.. When you are a Nubian you will like it here’’.

One of the Nubian interviewees has also stated a negative aspect where she would hear: ‘‘that is a Nubian, she is not supposed to be here, she is supposed to go to Sudan’’. Despite the fact that Nubians are referred to as Muslims, there are no visible tensions between religions. Different churches, such as Catholic, Pentecostal and Adventists are mixed in all of Kibera, just as Mosques are present. On a daily basis, but especially on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, you can see people going to masses, you hear singing of songs and the mosques callings for prayer time. Obviously, the tribal aspect is creating troubles in Kibera, and the religious aspect is not creating similar tensions. Different interviewees confirmed this.

One of the women talked about the change over time:

‘’Why are you talking about other tribes instead of talking about how you can get out of the slums.. Then they say that I am mad – I say fine, maybe I am mad, but I’m telling you this: I don’t think that people love each other

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too much here, but here we live, all tribes. Yes, but we used to love each other.. We used to be good people, but ever since they said, 'Uhuru Kenyatta president, post-election violence'.. people started to feel bad, like we are living, we are neighbours, we are friends, but we have been living this life, but inside I’m not free.. I’m like in a place that something can just come, death can just come, you see’’.

This quote shows how before political tensions, Kibera to her was a more peaceful place. The three Nubian women, who grew up in Kibera, said it was more peaceful before, now there is too much ‘created’ here, about tribalism. It is interesting that they use the word ‘created’, suggesting there is some forming behind it and it is not accidental. Some women talk about how Kibera is now peaceful, but people are still divided. People are back to normal and living their lives, but people still have wounds in their hearts, when its scratched it will open up again. This can be seen when people prefer to live in villages with the majority of their own tribe.

Since that time of 2008, there are less Kikuyu’s in Kibera. Eunice, a Luo, describes me how she still visits her Kikuyu friends that now live outside Kibera. She will stay with them and stay the night in their place. They will also come to see her in Kibera, but only to come and leave the same day: ‘‘they are not comfortable staying here’’. Some of the women said there is no real tension, we just have to forget and move on. Of the women I interviewed, several were in relationships or marriages with men from different tribes and many of the younger women explained that tribalism still very much lives within the older generations. The new generation is the generation that can take things differently. While walking through Kibera, it is not rare to see young people wearing t-shirts with ‘’One Kenya, one tribe’’ or ‘’Stop tribalism’’. One of the uncles of the family I lived with always repeated:

‘‘There are only two tribes; the rich and the poor; this is what our focus should be on’.

During my stay in Kibera, I have met quite a number of couples with both partners from different tribes and of the women I interviewed, five of them were together with a husband or boyfriend from another tribe. Some younger women addressed that it is mainly the older generation that is used to living in separate tribes, but now more and more relationships are mixed. Through social media I came across this image several times; showing the idea that the youth are and should be the ones to ‘cut down’ tribalism.

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‘Cutting tribalism’ by Mike Mungai (Mwana Mdogo)

The quote by Maya Angelou; ‘’It’s good to remember that in crisis, natural crisis, human beings forget for awhile their ignorances, their biases, their prejudices. For a little while, neighbours help neighbours and strangers help strangers’’ also shows connectedness of people. It is important to also acknowledge this side, which has been overruled by mostly negative views of the violence.

Languages

Alongside tribalism is also the aspect of tribal or ethnic cultures and languages. Many Kiberians speak Swahili, English and their own tribal language. Some even many so speak several tribal languages, which can be an advantage, for example in business. Luckily, the bonding language of Swahili provides opportunity for peace. One other important factor that relates to ethnicities and languages is the language known as ‘Sheng’. This is a constantly evolving and changing language that is mainly used among the youth in Nairobi’s slums and also amongst matatu drivers and conductors. It is said to be originated from the idea that the youth wanted to chat amongst themselves without their parents or elders knowing what it was about. The need for this language might well be related to the communal closeness and ‘fullness’ of slums where lack of privacy exists. Sheng is a language that includes and mixes Swahili, English, tribal languages and creates new words or sayings. The fact that a ‘slum-language’ among youth exists also separates them from the Nairobi working class and is of high influence when talking about Kibera as a system and more even when talking about ways to uplift oneself from the slum. This language might be connecting youths of different ethnicities. One woman explained that whenever she would go for a job interview, she would never mention that she is from Kibera, because her chances of getting the job would decrease drastically. The strength where coming from Kibera has the potential to be an overruling factor and a joint strength; where it does not matter which tribe you are from.

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Conclusion chapter five

This part on tribalism showed that everybody also has friends in other tribes and that the effects of tribalism are noticed in daily life. The idea that violence like 07/08 won’t happen again is generally based on the fact that the elections of 2012 remained calm and many women state that people must have learned from previous actions.

The relation of this chapter to the overall theme of the thesis is that it is important to acknowledge that racial differences and tribalism are bred and influenced by forces outside of Kibera. Kibera is not a place where tribalism stems from; it exists in Kenya as a whole and its diversity. Many have recognized how the government and politicians have used tribalism and ethnicities to create divides in society. The Kenyan government is the large exogenous factor in this, pointing at differences. This influence is external, while during the violence in Kibera, some people have made these views their own. The topic of tribalism and the violence of 07/08 have highly influenced lives in Kibera; the social networks and support, livelihoods, resources and sense of belonging. Many have marked the place as less safe when fewer members of ones own tribe are living around. This social divide into classifications also has its effect on spatiality. While people from many tribes are mixed throughout Kibera, every area is dominant to a certain tribe and therefore attracts more people of that particular tribe. Upon moving to Kibera for the first time, this might be something to keep in mind and a leading factor into spatial location.

The model of this research shows the adaptive capacity as displaying how well the system can cope with shocks or un-expectancy. Many stories have indicated that the post-election violence was a un-expectancy that Kibera was not able to cope with. Many people have gone hungry or had to leave their houses. It seemed that the adaptive capacity was more dependent on individuals themselves and their abilities to find a new place, than to the adaption of the system as a whole. Many people lost their houses and had to find a new place, lost their jobs and many structures had to be rebuilt. Kibera didn’t return to its original state of being, instead it had adapted into a new form and shape.

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CHAPTER 6. PERCEPTIONS ON SLUM UPGRADING

This chapter discusses views and opinions on slum upgrading programs in Kibera. The focus is on programs that are initiated from outside of Kibera. At the moment, the programs of KENSUP and KISIP are slum upgrading programs within Kibera. KENSUP will be discussed below. KISIP is focused on improving infrastructure mainly, doing participatory planning and work out issues of tenure security. Of the two, KENSUP has received much more attention, perhaps because it is a much longer running project.

KENSUP

All women that I interviewed had heard about slum upgrading programs in one way or another. KENSUP stands for Kenya Slum Upgrading Project. The KENSUP project is the most known slum-upgrading project where people from Kibera’s villages of Soweto East and Laini Saba got the opportunity to move a decanting site with new houses on the side of Langata. These new houses are visible from most parts of Kibera, because they are on higher grounds. KENSUP is funded through the UN, the World Bank and the Kenyan government and is a long-term program that started in 2004 and has plans for running up to 2020 throughout different slums in Kenya. The project in Kibera has a central role in KENSUP. The new houses in the decanting site were constructed in 5 story buildings, with flat consisting of three rooms, in total providing 600 flats with more of them under construction. While residing in these houses, the area of Soweto East in Kibera can be upgraded, with the goal of better housing and infrastructure.

A report by Amnesty International from the year 2009 was very critical of KENSUP, both the planned and the executed until then. At the time relocation had not started yet, and interviews with those assigned to be involved in the project clearly showed that lack of information was a key issue. Amnesty international in this document states that the Kenyan government lacks to guarantee against forced evictions, affordable and accessible temporary housing and adequate information and consultation with the residents involved (2009:24). In my opinion, the issue of ‘livelihoods’ is not taken into account well enough. The report also gives the example of a women with a small business in shoe-repairing, who cannot see how she can sustain her business in a new place, especially when at the same time her rent will increase.

Possible decanting sites

With help of GIS tools, Vieira (2012) examined maps of Kibera and a broad range surrounding it, with accessibility to water and sanitation, streets, health and education. He

61 combined these four maps into one overview to identify the optimal spaces for decanting sites. This came as a reply to the criticism on KENSUP where proximity to services within Kibera was marked as important. The result is this map, showing possibilities for decanting sites in the red areas. In the left map, the four categories are overlaid; in the right map Kibera is also shown, and which areas are marked as ‘best’ (red colour) decanting sites close to services.

Source: L. G. Vieira, Tuffs University. Slum Upgrading Kibera, Optimal spaces for the construction of Decanting sites of Temporary Dwelling.

Not all red areas are feasible as decanting sites, because for example the part North of Kibera is already used by Moi Girls High School. A highway borders the red areas on the south and then little space is available before the houses of Langata are present. As this mapping is aimed to connect people to services, it overlooks other important factors. Vieira (2012) recommends that more information on land ownership, real estate prices and land characteristics are needed. I would argue these are also looking around the main difficulty, which is located in the social spectrum.

To look at livelihoods, the web of social networks and relationships needs to be taken into account. Many people in Kibera do not have fixed jobs but ‘informal’ jobs. In case of the shoe-repair shop; this women works from home, and many people have found her business reliable and know where to find her. When moving to a decanting site, even when the aim is temporary, she will lose many customers. Her social web will fall apart, because many people would not know where to find her or cannot find the chance to walk for 30 minutes to her new house, these people would look for a new shoe repairer close to home. Also, when arguing that many move along with this woman, it is impossible to keep the same social structure as in Soweto East. Also, children go to schools nearby and people have gotten accustomed to their neighbours and way of living. When moving, many new opportunities rise for people, also creating new businesses in many fields. We also cannot deny that in five-story housing, there is not the similar opportunity to walk and work from home, to sit in front of ones house. Then, just to make things worse, the government is trying to forbid small businesses in the decanting site; with the aim of making it a residential area similar to other neighbourhoods in Nairobi. Below, the resettlement area can be seen, and the village Soweto East is in the upper left corner.

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Source: openstreetmap.org, standard view; coordinates; -1.31715/36.77992

Corruption and social consequences

Two of the issues that were mostly addressed around this project by interviewees are those of corruption and social consequences. Firstly, the housing prices in Kibera were discussed in comparison to those in the new site. People in Kibera are often struggling to pay a rent of a house ranging between several hundred and a few thousand shillings, while the houses in the decanting site are fifteen thousand shillings for a flat. These house prices gave room for people to maintain their house in Kibera or to look for a new place in Kibera while sub renting their new flat. Many people looked for others that are capable of paying this amount, which is still considered low in the capital. It even gave room for conmen or -women to charge higher prices. I received negatives answers to the questions if it is people from Kibera living there. One answer was, maybe up to 10% is people from Kibera. Many are aware that students from the University of Nairobi are very willing to live in these flats, because they are close to the city centre and affordable. Another woman answered with; ‘’whose cars are those?’’ And another even said ‘’it only helped the big people, not us here’’. One woman was convinced that upgrading is good, but she said:

‘‘If we are supposed to pay something, let us pay something which is affordable, according to our pockets’’.

Another woman is even saying that ‘’the ones who were arranging it are living there now’’, aiming at the hired contractors. These statements are of course estimated guesses on how

63 many people from Kibera now actually live in the new housing blocks. Though ten percent might seem very low, in 2009 the research by de Smedt had informants who at that time estimated 50% of inhabitants to come from Kibera, in July 2010, after people could move in mid-September 2009. In this light, four years later things may have changed even more, especially with enough people looking for affordable housing in Nairobi. De Smedt (2009) also writes how the houses in Soweto East were not demolished (yet) because of court cases. The same rooms that had been vacated had bee filled up again, by the previous owners or by new tenants. During my research, there was still no demolition of houses in this area, and no sign of upgraded houses. The issues of house rents and social consequences come together in this quote:

‘’People were given those houses, then after a while they go look for somebody who has a lot of money, so you give that house and then you go back to the slum again. Now he is in the slums, but at the end of the month he goes to the house to take money. This is because they are used to their own houses; to the slums’’.

Being ‘chosen’ to be resettled to another site, which is kilometres away from one’s original grounds is therefore not necessarily a privilege. One woman remembers one of the first meetings where people were talking about the project: ‘‘then people were crying, they said they don’t want that project.’’ These new flats have been seen as breeding places for social conflict. In some cases, to try to maintain the rent:

‘‘Families would share, one family in the living room, another in the bedroom, then another, then toilet is shared’’.

The people that were moved could choose to rent either one or two rooms or an entire flat. Turner (1978) literally addressed this when he wrote about housing where people should have autonomy. He wrote that when a family is provided with a three-bedroom house that is fully serviced but they are incapable of paying the rent, little purpose is served. Most people that moved chose a one-room house (de Smedt, 2009). In case of sharing, these families suddenly have to cope with other family’s practices and customs and it creates social tension. One woman summed up the impact of moving in a striking way:

‘’Look at it from the people who had businesses. You have been moved, your area of business is destroyed, this means you are now leaving; your status has gone worse than before. Now you have to find a new place to start your business and remember, that area where you have gone to; people already have their businesses because it also borders the suburb. Your children are going to school and they used to walk.. And it is very

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far for them to walk, maybe they have young girls and they have to leave when it is still dark even, it is not safe for them… Or you used to walk to work and now you can’t walk to work, it changes your life completely. I mean, I’m not dis-appreciating the fact that they want people to have better houses, but if I am to have a better house, at the expense of my life, trust me..’’

Some women point out that these houses are for ‘showing donors’. It is easy to show them that new houses are build. Indeed it can be debated at whose interest the new houses were especially when looking at it from the angle of priority. The houses were finished in the beginning of 2008, but it took nearly 1,5 years for people to relocate or move in. During the time that they were empty, there were even rumours that the flats had been on sale (de Smedt, 2009). Then, the ‘moving day’ was when Raila Odinga was available to oversee the move, after a month of waiting (Standard Media, 2010). What does it say about people’s needs when available houses have to wait for a politician to oversee it? Why do people just have to be standby to make any day their moving day? Why do the ‘beneficiaries’ just have to be available at any moment to change the way they live, without any planning or taking into account their livelihoods, jobs, social lives or obligations? In whose main interest are those houses anyway? One interviewee had a clear opinion:

‘’Because the World Bank got the government money to build there; the upgraded houses, and other organizations give the government money, to make houses, (it is) to show the World Bank and others that they are doing something.’’

Whether every person that was promised a house received one, and if the people actually moved in is more difficult to track. By experience, some women said that it made Kibera smaller, because the decanting site was already starting to get crowded with people that constructed their own houses. A key informant said that the KENSUP-project is an attempt of the government to give Kibera fixed borders. At least now, Kibera cannot grow anymore in that direction, and other directions were already impossible. One of the interviewees was actually closely involved, because her dad lived in Laini Saba and was one of the ‘chosen ones’ to live in the new houses. He was registered ‘’with number and all’’ but he never got a house assigned. She even says: ’None of them did’. From other sources it was clear that in fact, people did move. There is still uncertainty and unclarity on how many people made the move, or how many people were thought to be involved but finally did not move, whether willingly or unwillingly. Then even more importantly, how many stayed and how many were content with their move?

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The interviewees have negatively and positively assigned slum upgrading. Positive views are mainly focused on the positive idea behind it. From news paper articles around the time of the occupation of the new houses in September 2009, it also shows that many people were excited about the prospects of the new houses, that would have running water. However, the first months of residing in the new houses, there was no electricity and water connection yet (de Smedt, 2009). Different opinions are outspoken, this can be seen in what different women said:

‘’I would like these houses very much’’.

‘’Yes, better housing than these current ones, better housing, electricity, water; I think it is a good move’’.

‘’Good intentions, bad approach’’.

From a neutral perspective, it has been mentioned that upgrading will take ages and that Kibera’s land is in a beneficial place. Women also had ideas about what would work better, or how slum upgrading should be seen.

‘’This KENSUP, it will take ages, many years for Kibera slum to go down and then even the population is growing’’.

‘’No, no they were not consulted, because if they (the people in Kibera) were involved I am sure someone like me would have said: It is a good idea, but moving people from this end to the farthest end will completely turn around their lives. So move people from this end, because it is only a three-minute movement from them and they can still continue doing their businesses and running their lives. And as you continue building, you move people depending on how close they are. Otherwise, people will leave the houses and go back to Kibera or other areas where they can easily access what they used to’’.

‘‘We start with a small space, and we construct a few houses. Those who are there, they move, then they build that space, others move, like that. That is the only cure’’.

These women address upgrading in a way that it should be small parts of land at once, and only moving people directly next to it, to maintain the social structure in the best way possible. These women see resettlement as a very hard topic that has no easy answers, especially since Kibera and surrounding areas are ‘full’.

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‘’Unless they use force, there is no way they can start building’’.

Also, an interviewee addressed that Kibera has very good contractors. ‘’There are good contractors, good builders, everything, people will build themselves and make their lives better from there’’. She says that what the government should do is bringing in facilities, but the people will build themselves. Another woman addressed the quality of housing. The slum-upgrading project makes high quality housing, but her opinion is:

’’If only, they can construct not very expensive housing, but moderate. No they can even build stone houses, or thibe, or building up stone until halfway. But not very.. yes, moderate, what people can afford’’.

The government representative that I spoke with addressed KENSUP as a continuous process, where the only bad thing is that the budget is unclear. It is not clear if the current (and new) government will assign budget for continuation. It might become a thing of the past, or proceed the way it has been preceding. Upon my question if he sees this project is a good thing, he replies:

‘‘It is a good thing. People should not continue to live in this squally situation, yes; it is bad for human beings’’.

What is written above makes clear that almost all women have not only heard something about slum-upgrading projects but many have also thought about ways that would work in Kibera, while taking the difficulties into account. Women are certainly not ‘mad’ at slum- upgrading attempts, but do have their critical viewpoints. The benefitting of ‘big men’ is not something new to this population group. Next to this, many women have also been subject to rumours and gossip and no actual up-to-date information. Women have heard about new plans, the selling of parts of land of Kibera and they even heard that there are plans to upgrade all of Kibera into the same houses of the KENSUP project. ‘’Have you heard the people saying that they sold Kibera?’’ This makes clear that communication about upgrading and intentions are not reaching the (entire) population of Kibera.

Boundaries & how to proceed

When the topic of the new highway south of Kibera came up, it was clear that some women thought it was to create boundaries for Kibera. This southern bypass (Ngong forest road) was built in a relatively short time, showing some priority to its construction. Also, with the houses being occupied by many others that were not initially beneficiaries the question rises; to who’s concern is slum upgrading? Slum upgrading is aiming to benefit whom? Perhaps from the focus of building and occurrence of events, it can be said that the priority of the

67 government was on creating ‘borders’ to the south-side of the slum; the part that was still open to new houses.

Gilbert (2011) criticizes slum upgrading in his ‘Epilogue’. His argument is against a policy on ‘cities without slums’ because it would lead to many people sleeping in the streets. A sarcastic note is that it would lead to a new UN campaign towards ‘cities without homelessness’ (Gilbert, 2011). Overall, he is against upgrading housing in informal settlements:

‘’Desperately poor people need shelter that costs as little as possible – access to food and work are much higher priorities than housing. If anti-slum programmes were to upgrade every awful settlement, where would the very poor live?’’ (Gilbert, 2011:726)

He recognizes that slum upgrading schemes might be harmful and damaging to people, not just in shelter but also in social and economical terms. The networks that people survive on are disrupted (Gilbert, 2011). Gilberts puts different ideas into perspective in the context of slums, where the most interesting notion to me is the third concern he puts forward. This relates to ‘Cities without Slums’ and that it is build on the idea that improved housing would come from better planning (Gilbert, 2011). It addresses informal settlements as if there is no corruption. The underlying cause of poverty should be addressed, and not slums as such. Marris (1979) addresses slums and change patterns and finds the friction in labor/jobs versus housing. His view is similar to that of Gilbert on housing projects and stems from several decades ago already:

‘’Urban renewal, slum clearance, housing improvement grants, site and services schemes, all, in effect, rearrange the housing stock – replacing one kind of housing with another or adding more of a particular standard. But this makes little or difference to what people can afford’’ (Marris, 1979:430).

Both these views relate exactly to what comments came from interviewees. Upgrading or moving to other or better housing is impossible when the rent is increased. When people would be able to afford more, they would move already.

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Conclusion chapter six

To summarize, positive views on slum upgrading are present, but only when the conditions and especially the housing costs are adjusted accordingly to what people can afford. Then, it cannot be expected from people to move far away from their original place. Resettlement is a very difficult topic to address and to find ways to do this correctly. ‘Moderate’ upgrading might be a better solution. The existing KENSUP-project breeds social conflict and corruption. Perhaps it can even be said that corruption is very interwoven in slum upgrading attempts. Some of the remarks made said that Kibera doesn’t need constructors, but needs the government to focus on providing facilities.

According to the ‘model’, the influence of large-scale slum upgrading is extraneous, coming from outside. In the case of KENSUP, decisions on which lands to use were taken externally, not involving inhabitants of Kibera. However, the decisions of the program have many consequences for individuals and even led many women to have an attitude where they prefer not to be involved in large-scale slum upgrading.

A core issue that is not touched upon clearly by the interviewees is that of slumlords, or the ones that rent out housing versus the tenants of a place. These social structures have come into existence over many years of informally acquired land and ownership. It is impossible to copy these existing situations into a new or temporary situation. The issue of land ownerships is very difficult in the case of Kibera and will be elaborated in chapter 8.

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CHAPTER 7. PERCEPTIONS ON NGOS

This chapter will go into perceptions of women on non-governmental organizations (NGOs), their opinions and what role they have or are playing in their lives. Issues such as briefcase NGOs, nepotism, approaches and tips are discussed. This chapter addresses the extraneous influence of programs and projects that aim to improve Kibera as a whole or to improve certain segments, for example education or sanitation.

Bitterness

To start off, some women pose and agree to the idea that nobody is really interested in finding a solution for Kibera and that NGOs get people from the outside that will benefit themselves and not really the people of Kibera. ‘’The people of Kibera will be kept inside the slum’’. One of the women cannot believe that ‘they’ can do so many things, like making hospitals, but ‘they’ have been unable to ever count the people in Kibera. To her, this just shows that interest only goes a certain length.

‘’They are giving half and this half is not helping’’.

Many women talk about NGOs and the interests of people working in the NGOs. One women doesn’t understand that people come with big cars and have big offices elsewhere and they want to save the world – ‘‘what is their interest?’’ It is said that big people only want to help themselves and that people outside Kibera don’t really want to help but they want to benefit themselves. A few times someone said that they will go and ‘’write a nice report’’ and get the funds, but the funds don’t reach or reach but don’t do what they are supposed to do. One of the women said ‘‘I don’t see money, so I don’t like it’’. It has a lot to do with expectations attached to NGOs. Women in different cases have used the words ‘big people’ to describe people working for NGOs and have even addressed NGOs as ‘so-called NGOs’ who do differently from what they say they provide.

‘‘They come with promises, but you don’t get it. The promise is 1 million but you get 1000, but they write something in the report. It creates bitterness’’.

To make statements like these more tangible, I asked for clear examples of misuse of money. One of the women who used to perform at certain events, for example to raise awareness on issues such as HIV, explains me that she thinks it’s not fair that the stage of the events costs 50.000 Kenyan shilling to be put there, but the performers only get 500 Kenyan shilling

70 each. She claims is should be the people that their support should focus on. Divides like these make it easy for people living in Kibera to become critical of what and how the money is used, because they are all aware that certain things have to be made. She is same women said that those ‘‘who stand like big people’’ will make others feel bad. She is addressing the attitude with which employees of an NGO behave. Another clear example is where a local organization supporting start-up loans to business initiatives got a donation of 100.000 Kenyan Shilling and the chairman within the board wanted to use the money to buy a car for himself. Examples like this are straightforward and don’t lie about intentions. One woman said the only negative thing that she can say about NGOs is that funds come in but they are not channelled and managed well. The mistakes lay with those that are in charge.

The term briefcase NGOs is used to describe NGOs like the cases above. Many times, the organization exists on paper, but puts no action on the ground. Other might receive money but fail to use it all in efficient ways. When looking up issues around ‘briefcase NGOs’; Kibera is one of the often-mentioned places where these NGOs exists, and Kenya as a whole as well. Many women in Kibera refer to briefcase NGOs, that might be registered NGOs in different countries, e.g. in America or Europe that have access to funding but don’t reach their goals. Milcah gives the example that the organization is registered but that they had a conflict of interest and thus became a briefcase NGO. She says:

‘’All NGOs say that they are helping, but this is not the truth.’’

One of the often-mentioned factors of why the goals of NGOs are not reached is that the people that are put in charge have the wrong vision. The wrong people are in charge of the organization. Maybe they are not in line with the vision of the organization, but will pretend to be to secure a job. Very clear statements were made about NGOs and the people running them:

‘’NGOs are good, but people on the ground are bad, not implementing in the right way, it’s the wrong people to implement, so it does not impact. Those people did other things with the money. NGOs; people go abroad and let somebody run it (here), they wouldn’t do as you told me, some people who are bad, eating the money – NGOs are not bad, it’s the people placed on top, they can’t agree and take the money.’’

It shows how they separate NGOs from the different people that could be working for them and they realize not all people will be working out of altruism. The link of altruism and NGOs might be clearer for people coming from developed countries. Women in Kibera seem to

71 acknowledge that people working for NGOs might be there for their own job opportunities and income. It might be ‘these rich people’ that are working for an NGO:

‘’Friends I know, the father works for NGO, they have flat screen, house girl, blender, everything! And the neighbour next to them, he is poor!’’

Some people might get rich because of NGOs, but it only benefits their own family and relatives. One woman says that they have seen it many times, funds for the NGO come in and it’s for the employee and his family. She has even seen books or rice coming in (being sponsored) just to be sold after that. Another women mentioned that the ‘’bad people’’ of an NGO could threaten that they take your child from school, but at the same time they have money; ‘’they are fat’’. You can see there is hesitation when it comes to trust, because somebody could also just use people to make money.

Then, NGOs are also accused of nepotism. Both for getting employed by an NGO and for receiving help, you need to have connections with the people in the organization. Some of the women wished they could work for an NGO, because they have been walking on Kibera’s grounds all their lives, but when it comes to getting a job, you need to know someone. So, in terms of job opportunity, NGOs are not helping because it is mainly about connections. It is interesting that this side of looking at NGOs came up, but it is highly relevant to these women in terms of job opportunities.

Approaches

The approach of organizations has also been criticized. One women admitted that when she was younger, she had been going to organizations that would inform people, just to receive the sitting allowance (money) and that she would focus on that, on how much she would get and not on how she could grow as a person. ‘’I am surely not the only one in this, many people are waiting for hand-outs.’’ She criticized some NGOs that have been giving these handouts and maintain this relationship of dependency that is very top-down. NGOs that have just been giving have been making mistakes. Also, some ideas by NGOs have not been judged as feasible. For example, pay toilets work very well for many people in Kibera that have some income and that want to pay for their privacy. ‘’Still, these pay toilets will never be within reach of a family with many children.’’

Without the intention of shaming certain organizations, it is not difficult to get examples of bad projects executed in Kibera. This is not limited to small NGOs without much experience, but one of the shamed projects was one by AMREF to put flush toilets in Kibera homes. The common reply from women was:

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‘‘How is anyone ever going to use a flush toilet in a shanty? What about sewerage? What about the fact that the entire house is only one room, who would ever want to defecate in this same room where they sleep and eat?’’

This is one of the ideas where the need for toilets is seen, but the idea was not thought through. Another example is the ‘respond to rape’ campaign my MSF. MSF holds an office in the Olympic area of Kibera, where women can report their rape cases. Still, women were acknowledging the fact that many of the rape cases would never ever be reported. ‘’Who would report their uncle or neighbour?‘’ Many of the cases are people very near, and you would not start a case of cause hassle. Maybe ten percent of the cases is reported, when it has happened somewhere in the streets, by someone unknown. This again comes back to the issue, are projects and programs really addressing the highest need in Kibera or only the perceived need and the plausible way of addressing it. The organization Carolina for Kibera is mentioned several times for doing good work, but family members of the women who initially started the organization had the opinion that the organization was always way more effective before they started cooperating with people outside Kibera (Thus in Carolina, the United States). Access to funds is not the key to running an organization successfully, and cooperation is not always for the better.

Women that were neutral about NGOs gave some interesting insights about the work of NGOs. Some of them claim that only ten percent of all NGOs do good work, another women said there are hundreds of NGOs and only ten of those do good work. This is a disturbing percentage or amount, especially when having the viewpoint that NGOs are doing their best. As shown above, not everyone involved in the field of development work/NGOs is working with similar intentions. Also, many people in Kibera are trying hard to get enough for their own families. It depends on the individual if the experience with NGOs is more negative or positive. Women say that there are many good intentions and thus these cannot be denied, but that the approach of the work of often leading to problems. One woman had a child enrolled at a school through a NGO scholarship and another woman did not get help from any NGO; experiences differ.

Positive views

During my interviews I had several women ask me if NGOs could please not leave Kibera because it would lead to bad situations. This means that their perspective on NGOs is positive, that they should surely stay. One woman had actual fear of this, and was hoping I might have an influence on this. Her experience was that many NGOs were interested in Kibera after the post-election violence, and that their interest might disappear in the near future. The added value of the organizations in Kibera is definitely seen. Of course the

73 paradox is that if organizations are really reaching what they aim, they should at some point become superfluous and needless. Some women say they have not been helped by NGOs, but that they are neutral about them because some fail promises, but some make impact.

‘’Even if it’s not for me, then for my neighbour and my turn will come.’’

One of the women is called Linette, she says that it’s not easy to work with poor people, as she has experience herself in taking questionnaires and she respects NGOs very much and understands the difficulties in the work. She states: ‘’Working with poor people is hard’’. Many women are positive about the work done by NGOs in Kibera, especially in the fields of health and education. One woman even said that NGOs initially have saved Kibera;

‘‘They have put Kibera on the map, put schools and hospitals and changed the lives of people’’.

Informal schools that are often set up by NGOs are mainly educating Kibera’s children. Some women said that NGOs are the reason that the situation in Kibera is improving. ‘’They are helping Kibera to become a bit better’’. Also ‘’Kibera is initially saved by NGOs, they changed things, saved lives since the early/mid nineties’’. Another woman confirmed this ‘’NGOs are doing a lot, Kibera improved by NGOs coming in’’. Even while negatives can be addressed, the overall tendency is towards the positive of NGOs:

‘‘It all has merits and demerits, but the merits count more for me’’.

As mentioned a few times above, the presence of NGOs in Kibera has risen much in the nineties, when Kibera came to be known as ‘’the largest slum in Africa’’, where even populist slogans have been used to gain funding. After the post-election violence of 2007/2008, I can even argue it is ‘hip’ and popular for NGOs to work and be present in Kibera, even if it was just to say ‘‘we are in Kibera too.’’

This is for example seen when MFS is still present in Kibera, while the original aim of the organization is to deliver humanitarian aid in emergency situations, they have three clinics as well as a respond-to-rape program offering assistance in sexual violence. According to their vision, they classify Kibera as an emergency situation. I would argue that indeed their hospitals are providing necessary and basic needs to people, but it could be said that this should not be their position. One new hospital has been opened (beginning of 2015) with the aim of running it successfully for five years and in this time gradually handing it over to the Ministry of Health (MSF Kenya, 2015). From these strategic plans it seems that MSF is aware that the government should be taking its responsibility in the field of health care, but that starting op seems like a problematic and difficult issue.

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When asked about what NGOs are doing good work, many of the same organizations have been named; Ushikera for Kibera, Vision Mothers, Care Kenya, Kibera Hamlets, Shahiba Youth Networks, Binti Pamoja group, Kipotec, Children of Kibera and Ghetto Light Youth. Ghetto Light Youth has a broad approach and Binti Pamoja and Swahiba are known to support girls with sanitary pads, school fees and entrepreneurial skills. A few organizations were repeatedly mentioned and these were the hospitals (run by CDC and MSF), Shofco, Umande Trust and Carolina for Kibera. Umande trust has been praised for its biogas projects. The normal pits that served as toilets couldn’t hold it anymore and during heavy rainfall everything would be all over the place. Biogas toilets have a large capacity below the ground and the possibility to turn the faeces into gas, which can be used for cooking. Kibera now has 27 biogas centers spread among the villages. Carolina for Kibera is active in many fields, such as sanitation, soccer, empowerment groups, distribution of shoes and more. Most women are very happy with the services of CDC hospital and the MSF hospital. Both give free treatment and medication to Kibera residents and diseases such as cholera have gone down in occurrence. Also one woman gave credit to the informal schools in Kibera and said they are doing well. Some women gave tips on what would work in Kibera:

‘’Pay school fees for children but keep the parents involved, for example responsible for books and pens’’

‘’Something that works in Germany doesn’t necessarily have to work here’’

‘’If you want to know where things go, be in charge of your own organization, don’t put others in charge’’

‘’It is about training people, sustainability. Remember, with NGOs; cheap is expensive. It is about quality help and involvement’’

‘’Go to the grassroots level!’’

The view from the county representative on NGOs in Kibera is largely positive. It is interesting that he himself starts addressing the side where people might not directly see what NGOs are doing:

‘’They are doing a good job! In as much as there are NGOs that are not very straight, the people in Kibera should understand not all NGOs involve themselves in the process of building schools, hospitals or doing any infrastructural work. A number of NGOs are in business, capacity building, raising awareness for human right matters, economic and social-cultural rights. So, many of these NGOs are more into developing the software component. Many are doing the human capacity’’.

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This quote shows that he puts importance on the differentiation between hardware and software. He also explains that the hardware is easy to measure, but that this is difficult for software. ‘’Because now, people have also been trained in human rights, in peace-building, in reproductive health, these people now have information, let’s not forget’’. He says the infrastructural such as roads, electricity, and water is not the work of NGOs but of the government, where NGOs can supplement. Some women have addressed empowerment as a positive thing coming from NGOs, just like education. More on empowerment will be discussed in a following chapter. Still, much what can be seen from organizations is hardware, for example, NGOs have been involved in many water and sanitations project and these women notice this. Although the government representative says that this (water and sanitation) should be addressed by the government, organizations are seeing needs and act upon them. Where MSF is in charge of clinics in Kibera, it is in line with the government representatives view that the responsibility of one of them will be given in hands of the Kenyan Ministry of Health.

NGOs themselves have also presented the need for empowerment, and especially Umande carried this. One of their focus points is ‘peace and justice’, where every village (area of Kibera) has peace ambassadors and women groups, another one is focused on human rights. Also, schools have been supported in their curricula and what the organization is most known for are the bio-centres as described above; working on sanitation. Overall, one of their key messages is ‘learning’. They have meetings with the community to see where they should improve their projects and activities, also to see what is demanded from the people themselves.

Conclusion chapter seven

To summarize; though many negative aspects of NGOs have been addressed; women are in general more positive than negative about the presence of NGOs in Kibera and exact opinions are often based on personal experiences. Even when NGOs haven’t reached them, it has helped the situation overall. Many women are scared what will happen when NGOs would pull out of Kibera; showing the advantage of their presence, even when some women addressed very low percentages (10%) as the amount of NGOs that actually make changes. Of course this research is not broad enough of generalize findings to the entire population of Kibera, but the ethnographic accounts give interesting insights to the topic, and also provide some overruling views.

Fields that can be improved best to the interviewees are in health, education and sanitation. One important pitfall of NGOs that is repeatedly addressed is ‘putting the bad people in charge’ of an organization. Also, language wise, NGOs cannot be viewed in the perspective

76 where they are coming to you, but ‘you have to go after them’. This step demands an active attitude and willingness. The spatiality of Kibera is also important in this factor; Kibera is not a clear neighbourhood with a good overview. People can be ‘hiding’ and NGOs would never reach them, even if they fit into the profile of their beneficiaries. Important to take into account is that when talking about NGOs, it is impossible to only view it from a (Westernized) view of ‘benefitting’. For women in Kibera, NGOs are also job opportunities. Then, actually gaining access to a job is about having the right connections.

This chapter is very clear in the intermingling of the extraneous and endogenous influences. NGOs in general are coming from outside of Kibera, aiming to improve the place. Women in Kibera look differently at this practice. Some enjoy services of an NGO, such as going to a clinic or having their children receive education. Others see NGOs but are not in direct contact with them, or they might influence their lives but are not fully aware of it. For example, a NGO focused on sanitation might improve a drainage canal without consent or inhabitants knowing it, but still perform an action to improve the hygienic situation in a part of Kibera. It is hard to avoid NGOs when living in Kibera. This chapter also showed how women incorporate the NGOs into their lives by looking for job opportunities. It must be noted that NGOs are not as external as the ‘research model’ displays, but in many cases they are part of the ‘cube’ that is Kibera and part of the community it is in.

NGOs are influencing both the social dimension and the spatial dimension of Kibera and changing the face of the Kibera in many places. The country representative pointed at the social dimension by addressing the ‘software’, where people are empowered and increase their capacity.

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CHAPTER 8. THE GOVERNMENT AND TITLE DEEDS

This chapter will give perceptions of the interviewees on the role of the government in Kibera; on what they are doing and what they should be doing as well as the discussion around Kibera’s title deeds. The issue of land ownership was first raised in chapter 6. This chapter shows the tension between governing a place through law; at first sight from outside, versus the power that comes from inhabitants; from within Kibera. In the second part of the chapter, another issue is addressed that is connected to government decisions; that of the ‘digital television migration’ within Kenya.

Big offices, big cars

When the interviewees were confronted with the topic of the government, many women gave immediate negative reactions. ‘’The government doesn’t want a solution for Kibera’’ and ‘Big offices, big cars’ are well-known statements. The government is accused of not helping, of being corrupt and for giving empty promises. Promises such as good housing, new roads and free primary education are made by the government and not (fully) made true. Also, the government does not give any protection and makes no effort to make the place safer are also mentioned. One women explains where the lack of governing leads to:

‘‘The government rather forgets Kibera and because we have no power you see us rioting in the streets’’

‘’Kibera has structural problems, it is made to be like that by the successive governments and stakeholders’’

One of the younger interviewees, who is twenty years of age spoke about herself and her friends who grew up in Kibera all together. She has the opinion that Kibera is only interesting to people in the government during the campaign period. For her and her friends she explains that local leaders in Kibera are not popular:

‘’Even our local leaders, no, most of my role models are not our local leaders’’

Different women explain that the government has interest in Kibera towards the election periods and say that this is the only time the MPs come in the slum, to gain votes. Once elections are over, they are nowhere to be seen again. One woman says: ‘‘we don’t have structures, we don’t have enough high schools’’ in relation to the government. Here, with structures she means a good education system that should be in place, especially when most of Kenya’s population is under 18 years of age. The woman I lived with during my research

78 had two of her siblings’ children staying with her during their school holiday. One of them, a sixteen-year-old boy, was not returning to his boarding school (secondary) until the next semester. He had to spend time at home for half a year, because the school only has space to take up half of the students each time, the students are in school for one semester; and home for the next. This is showing the struggle in Kenya to keep up with population growth, leaving many young people idle at home. This school is not in Kibera, and many children in Kibera do not have the opportunity to start secondary school, but this shows the situation in many parts of the country.

Women are well aware that the task of education lies with the government, while many schools in Kibera are run by NGOs and the amount of schools in Kibera not enough for all children that live there. The government has officially proclaimed primary education in Kenya to be free of charge, mostly by paying the salaries of primary school teachers. This still leaves parents to pay many other things, such as school uniform, books and fees for exams and food. For many schools, parents are also expected to contribute to some extra teacher fee, because the salary is not enough according to teachers. One of the women commented on free education in Kenya:

‘’How? How? Now, I will just keep quite, because you will not understand how I am suffering. How I have to save (money) to spend’’

With this, it seems women are aware of what task the government could have in Kibera, but they are not fulfilling this task. As research in Kianda showed, the number of person per water point in that village of Kibera is 132. This is in stark contrast with other neighbourhoods in Nairobi, and this number is (somehow) equal to other informal settlements in Nairobi.

The government can also be a force from outside that demands changes within Kibera, in relation to laws and regulations. An example relating to the railway line that passes through Kibera; when an accident happened where a train got off track, it crashed with several houses next to the railway. After this incident, the government increased the amount of meters that have to be empty alongside the railway. This has effect on safety, spatiality and influences the lives of those living near the railway because they have to move out. Involvement of a government in making laws and regulations is not extraordinary, however, it raises questions and resistance when it comes after people are already living their lives in certain ways. Some people in Kibera feel ‘neglected’ by the government, and even when they are fine dealing with their lives, they don’t want the government to come in with rules and only rules.

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Two women explained me how Care Kenya was providing orphans and vulnerable children with education and psychological support. They provided learning materials, desks and different courses and on the governments side they were advocating to get support for the managers and teachers of the school. They then witnessed that the government was proclaiming that ‘we are here for our children’ and some people within the community said ‘we can sustain it’. After Care Kenya pulled out, they have had their challenges. The government can be reached through lobbying and advocacy, but it does not mean the results will always work out positively for the beneficiaries, because in this case the children receiving support were the ones that suffered from the pullout.

Next to this decision-making, it is also important to underline the tension that might exist between what NGOs are doing within Kibera and what they are possibly doing better or different from when the government would be providing it. The many NGOs and initiatives to provide education give the government more space to breathe and focus on other issues. Benjamin (2008) pointed this out, where through ‘NGOization’, the focus might be too much on what they are doing and their links to globalization processes that the NGOs in the end might even replace the local and municipal debates.

To get a better idea of the view on the government’s side, it was necessary to speak to a member in government that has high involvement in Kibera as well. The interview with the elected member of the county assembly in Nairobi gave interesting insights. His responsibility within the assembly is in the legislative body. He is the one that is responsible to have the wishes, views and information flow from the government to Kibera and vice versa. When confronted with the negative views on the government by women from Kibera, he acknowledged that the government lacked in concrete actions to take Kibera out of informality, in terms of schools, water and electricity. Issues addressed by women are indeed lacking. He acknowledges both sides:

‘’The government is not ignoring these places perse.. It is only that, I would say yes and no, but I won’t say they are ignoring Kibera. If they would have been ignoring, these insecurities would be having serious effects on the people’’.

He notes positive sides of what the government provides; chiefs in every village and ID cards. ‘’The government is doing something, in case of anything, any form of insecurity, any breakdown of the law and order, a breakdown in the system, they want to come in handy. The government actually recognizes there is a place called ‘Kibra’ and in as much as it is an informal settlement, it has not been well planned, and resources, money and funds that

80 always have been allocated to Kibra have been a drop in the ocean..’’ He also explains that Kibera is also partly ignored;

‘‘They have not put concrete steps and concrete actions that would formalize this informal settlement … there should be schools, water, electricity and some upgrading’’.

Title deeds

The largest issue that came up relating to the government and regulations is that of Kibera’s title deeds. This topic is not new, but exists since the settling of the first people in Kibera. From the history of Kibera to the current situation with many different people living there, it is clearly a difficult issue to address. Kibera’s land is officially government owned, while the government at this point is also unclear about the exact state of the land. At the beginning of December 2013, the Lands minister Charity Ngilu came to have a meeting with the elders of the Nubian community in Kibera. This has caused accusations where she would give preference to the Nubians over other tribes. The government plans seem to be to give a part of 288 acres (of about 620 acres of the total of Kibera, depending on what source is consulted) to the Nubians, in the areas of Makina, Lindi, Mashimoni and Silanga, between the dam and main road along Makina. Other sources speak of around 117 hectares; this is the same amount in acres. Mrs Ngilu announced a visit by President Uhuru Kenyatta to hand over the title deeds, though the President either cancelled the trip because of violent outbreaks or never had the intentions to come at all. Different Kenyan newspapers give statements about the previous issues and the stories within Kibera that are spread word-of- mouth also differ in amounts, content and thus in trustworthiness. Online forums show different opinions on the land issues. Though the information as presented below, is information I understand to be currently true, after comparing different news reports. In 2013 the tensions rose after Ngilu said that Nubians rightfully own the land of initially 4100 acres, of which now 2088 acres remain. Title deeds will be given to institutions such as the Kibera mosque, cemetery, Kibera primary school and ACK church. After this, the portion of land left will be issued to the Nubian community. This is recorded in KTN news and can still be viewed on YouTube. Ngilu has, in the past, received criticism, even from the National Land commission (NLC). Other rumours are that Kisumu Ndogo, Gatwekera, Laini Saba and Kianda had already been sold, but by whom and to who and nobody seems to know the exact details. Next to this, there have been rumours that that a part of the land might have already been sold to Chinese housing developers. The land of Kibera is estimated to be worth a lot, value amounts up to 60 billion Kenyan Shilling are given.

The 9th of December 2013 was one of the days that had street riots because of the title deeds. Different people went to the main road around Karanja towards Ayani to create some uproar and to burn tires in the street so the traffic couldn’t pass. I was in Olympic at the time

81 of the riots and for safety preferred to remain indoors. The next morning I could still see the tires lying on the side of the road. People had different opinions on what exactly happened. News items covered it as Nubians claiming their title and other groups demonstrating to also get theirs. There seems to be unclarity surrounding the issue, as one of the woman said:

‘’Yesterday people were demonstrating, up in Olympic, because of our leaders, they were giving some people a title deed for the land..’’

During my interviews I received some views of non-Nubians. One of them is afraid what will happen once the Nubians receive a title; ‘’we would be forced to move out and we have no place to go’’. She recalls a dispute between Luo’s and Nubians in 1998, over rent issues, and is scared of what might happen. She also says that leaders cannot easily solve the title deeds case, because Kibera means income of the government, through organizations and tourism; ‘’the slums are getting the government money’’. Another woman also says they are getting threats that some of the places in Kibera were sold.

In this research, three Nubian women were part of my sample and with two of them I discussed the title deeds issue. Both were in favour of having the Nubians receive a title deed, because their grandfathers settled there during the colonial time. They were the ones to give the name and to work in those places. To them, it’s their homeland, where they are born. Nafisa believes that the situation in Kibera will improve for everyone once the Nubians will receive a title deed:

‘’You cannot do anything because the government says it their land, but if we have the title deed, I will not chase my neighbour, I’ve lived with them for 20 years, how can I throw you outside?’’

Nafisa has been in many meetings with the Nubians and according to her, a lot of Nubians are having a similar view as she does. ‘’They are not ready to chase anyone from Kibera, but want to change the face of Kibera.’’ She does understand that others are scared for what might happen once the Nubians get it. Zahrah explains to me that most people don’t understand that the Nubian title deed is only about a part of Kibera. ‘‘A portion for the Nubi’s and the rest will be just fine.’’ These two views from women who are both Nubian and not living far apart from each other show that there might not be one straight line of thinking within the community, or that different opinions in relation to the topic exist.

The country representative of Sarang’Ombe, Kotieno also gave his view on the title deeds. He thinks that everyone deserves to have a title deed, including the Nubians. Only, he notes that the government is using approaches that make certain communities eliminated. He focuses on Kibera being a home to all 42 tribes and that many of those don’t know any other

82 place than Kibera. Only giving a title deed to the Nubians is a recipe for cures and conflict, because land issues are quite explosive, is his opinion. He claims that what is important is the process of giving title is the journey. Does it involve everybody or secludes some from it? It is important to note that Kotieno is a Luo and that within the government there are different views on the title deed discussion. Kotieno states:

‘‘If the titles go to everybody, thus every tribe, it will develop the place, it will change’’

When having titles, people would start to protect the land, sanitation would improve and people would want ‘their’ area fit for habitation. This is what Nafisa also said that will happen when the Nubians get a title deed. The major question is whether title deeds are functioning as a social status symbol or if the title deeds can really be an economic asset in the road to improvement. This question is also discussed in an item by the Thomas Reuters Foundation, where it is stated that ‘giving people land title and passing new land laws fall short in addressing poverty’ (Baquida, 2014). It seems some opinions from interviewees are opposing this. Perlman (2006) discusses the issues of land tenure and title deeds as well and deems them not important in her research in Brazilian favelas. To get people out of extreme poverty, what is needed is work (formal or informal). The important difference with Kibera and the favelas in Perlman’s research is that in Brazil the slum dwellers even oppose regularization of land titles. Avoiding regularization also avoids taxes for property and adhering to building codes. These issues are not frequently addressed (yet) in relation to Kibera’s title deeds.

The way forward?

The question of addressing poverty is important when talking about title deeds in connection to development, but Kibera also has the issue that when land is really sold, it might cause displacement of people in the future. Luckily, the international community has sharper opinions and judgments since the clearings in Zimbabwe and hopefully a critical eye on issues as these.

What is the best and fairest way to work on this issue of title deeds? Keeping the issue covered is maybe causing the least of problems, because any other decisions will always give problems. Even at house level, it will be impossible to assign title deeds; some people are there for long, others for shorter periods, most are tenants, what about the landlords? What will happen if land tenure will be formalized and arranged? These last few years, any discussion about land and title deeds caused uproar and meetings have been postponed or never took place, as the topic is very sensitive. That is why this question might be just as or even more relevant: If land titles are not given, and the government remains owner of the land, what will happen?

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The digital migration

Another issue that rose to the occasion in many interviews is that of the ‘digital migration’ in Kenya. It is one of the current affairs in the country and interesting for gaining more insight into the impact of outside or governmental/legal forces on Kenya as a whole, but also specifically for people living in Kibera. This issue came up more often than expected, showing the concernment of it in women’s lives.

Watching television is an important thing for people Kenya and in Kibera, mainly for watching the daily news shows. Though many households don’t own a television, there might be a neighbour nearby where it is possible to watch some programs. Also, electric shops or DVD stores often have televisions that attract a standing crowd when a movie or TV show plays at night.

Within Kenyan politics, the divide between analogue politics and digital politics has been made, where the digital era stands for improvement and future promise. On the night of the 26th of December 2013, Citizen TV, one of the largest Kenyan TV channels had a written apology on screen. ‘‘As of midnight, services for analogue TV will be shut down and would be switched to digital TV. Buy a digital TV box.’’ A lawsuit was announced on this issue on the 27th of December. Though the step forward to digital television will enhance clearer TV reception, brighter pictures and sounds as well as access to more channels. Still, most Kenyan homes, especially those in Kibera are not ready for this ‘digital migration’. To receive digital signals, the TV needs to be able to receive them or a universal set top box needs to be purchased to enable an analogue TV to receive these signals. There are things to say for this switch to digital television, as now analogue TV only gives room for receiving 19 channels that are currently all occupied.

However, the requirement by law is that analogue free-to-air channels are available at no costs (The East African, 2013) and the exclusion of many households to watch television to receive their freedom of information is even written in the Kenyan constitution. The prices of set top boxes are as high as around 5.000Ksh. Also, television companies exceeded their rights by charging for broadcast fees on subscription channels and only making the free-to- air channels available at subscription.

While waiting with my Kenyan family at home for midnight to fall on the 26th of December, all channels were passed to conclude that none of them was available anymore. Anne, one of the aunties was giving her view to me:

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‘’They are making this country only for the rich; the poor are shut out. This goes against the right to information, now we have to pay for it. If they make Kenya only for the rich; they should open the country and let us out’’.

A sigh from one of the cousins ’we are mourning.’ Anne’s frustration continues: ‘the president and all those rich people’ are shareholders in GOtv (one of the digital servers) and the other digital providers. ‘So those box sales are nice for them!’ The court case on the 27th led to a 45-day suspension and gave us opportunity to switch the TV back on the evening, which was accepted with cheering. But still, everyone realized this story is not finished. The accusation of Anne is also what many other Kenyans are thinking when it comes to the ‘digital migration’. People who are already rich will benefit from sales of box receivers, and poorer people will struggle to get the box and to pay the monthly subscription.

Interestingly enough, I came to realize that the ones that will suffer most from the switch to digital television would be women and children. Women in Kibera love to follow their Italian or Spanish soap series for half an hour a day, and also have ‘empowerment programs’ specially directed at women. Children love watching cartoons and educational programs are broadcasted as well. Television provides a larger view on the world around us. This hit me more than once when family members asked me questions such as: ‘are mermaids real?’ In a place where formal education is lacking, television provides extra education and room for discussion. Men, on the other hand, mostly watch soccer on television. The English premier league and many of the European football matches are shown in bars and in ‘football-dens’. I visited these places more than once, full of men on wooden benches, watching two matches on large screens at the same time. To enter and watch, thirty shillings has to be paid and of course, these matches are already received digitally. Though this is my viewpoint and a generalization, it seems the digital migration will affect women and children more.

Many Kenyans watch the news at 7pm in Swahili or at 9pm in English. Though, they are not too confident about their national news. I heard the TV being called a ‘Tell-lie-vision’ more than once. Anne told me that from 2015 the Kenyan government will be obliged to broadcast international news as well and she is looking forward to this, as she has more confidence in the quality of that news. Maybe she will need a subscription to receive this news by that time?

This story, where the right to information, access to money and resources and exclusion of groups of people all seem to go hand in hand is a reflection of a country in struggle to ‘upgrade’ while a larger part of its population is not ready yet. Women have brought up the topic of watching television and the feeling of being ‘shut out’ often. This issue relates to

85 change in the sense that there is a ‘world’ outside of Kibera; namely the country Kenya, which also continues to develop in certain ways. Though the topic of change happens outside of Kibera, the people in Kibera have no voice in the matter while it does affect their lives. Luckily (and unfortunately), it does not only affect Kiberians, but also many other populations inside the country, so this debate is not yet finished. Issues of improvement and development are not restricted to basic needs only and not restricted to informal settlements.

Conclusion chapter eight

For the title deeds, as written above, it is important to realise what a way forward can look like. Perhaps it is most realistic to see a similar situation as it is now, without giving away of land titles. On very rigid measures, the international community might have its reactions. This is then also exogenous. The issues of land ownership are directly linked to spatiality and space of Kibera, because changes in ownership might lead to changes in land occupation and land development. Where external powers are in control of the lives of others, it is always difficult, but this is exactly the task of the government. Interesting remarks from women were that the government is not looking for a solution, again seeing Kibera as a problem or problem area. The government benefits from the NGOs that are present in Kibera, because in some way they are providing what the government should be doing. Also tourism has been briefly mentioned, but slum tours are rapidly gaining popularity in Kenya, and can be easily arranged to fit any holiday schedule, as many ‘tour guides’ are available. Where the government might see Kibera as a thorn in the flesh, it undeniably attracts help and interest.

Where the government is an external influence, it is within Kibera represented through county representatives and MPs. These are responsible for communication between inhabitants of Kibera and the parliament. This is how people in Kibera can voice their concerns. As many have lost hope that the government will improve living circumstances in Kibera, many have become silent or see demonstrations and uproar as the way to get attention. Attempts to address the title deed situation and visiting Kibera prior to elections do show that politicians see Kibera as powerful.

The issue of the digital migration in Kenya is important to many people, also outside Kibera. It is an unfinished issue to date, and for representativeness it should have involved broader research. However, this story is added to this chapter to highlight how the decisions of higher hand, such as laws and regulations, can influence lives of people directly. Though this topic is not directly about life and death, it does influence the lives of many people in terms of their spending, entertainment and in how they view their government. It does touch their livelihoods and has consequences that are negative turn instead of positive one.

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CHAPTER 9. PERCEPTIONS ON COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

Aside what external sources are improving or attempting to improve Kibera, as discussed in previous chapters, there are also ideas coming from the people living there. Within the ‘research model’, this chapter belongs within the endogenous; forces from within Kibera. Of course, the interplay between internal and external is addressed. Examples of women using their own capacity to improve Kibera are given.

Initiatives

Cecilia Ayot lives in the Laini Saba area of Kibera with her husband and family. She has three kids herself and adopted two other girls in need. About 7 years ago she started a primary school called ‘St Martins’ together with six other women who have children. Their school started with getting their funds together to get one of the mothers a teaching degree and they started educating children with the first class of primary school. Each year, they managed to extend with one more teacher and one extra first class, and even their building has grown one classroom at the time.

Starting this primary school came together because different mothers came together and saw a need, primarily in their own family, but also in the larger community. The school is registered as a CBO; a community based organization. The school has also received external help, for example a Swedish organization that funded the construction of two toilets next to the building. Cecelia herself is proud of what the school has become. Concerning the improvement of Kibera she says;

‘’We focus on education, others should focus on health, hygiene, security, so I think it is a whole approach of handling these problems, addressing them piece by piece.’’

Pamela Atieno started a women’s self-help group called Khasip; Kibera HIV/Aids Support Initiative Programme that was registered in 2006. To start this group, some small funding was given by an individual, not an organization. The aim of the organization is empowering women that are infected with HIV both psychologically and financially. In the beginning, twelve women came together doing craftwork such as making bracelets. Nowadays they extended so much that they support 50 to 70 families monthly with food baskets and support in school fees. Pamela says that she wanted to start this organization after she became ‘empowered’ herself, according to her own words. She realized it is not good to be in silence and to suffer alone, but she had to realize to what level she could raise herself. The women that were in the program are now putting money together from their individual savings, their own pockets. ‘’The women, we have empowered them, the majority of them,

87 through group savings, started up their own small businesses.’’ Her ideas of improvement of Kibera through organizations breaks down to one crucial point;

‘’It depends with the leadership of different programs!’

Also, not all foreign or external offers for help come out of mere goodwill. Her organizations’ website has been started by an Australian girl, but Pamela never got any access to put information on the website and there was no positive cooperation. Pamela says that this website is still up and running, including a bank account number to donate money to. Strikingly enough, she never gets any assistance, neither goods nor money, but her pictures are up on this website!

She also told me about an organization that went broke because the some people started doing funny things to remain their posts in the board, and some ran off with the funding. She said:

‘’That office is now closed down, donors pulled aside. That is why I keep talking about leadership, even here I keep telling my people: if you walk out from here and join another group or organization, please make sure.. Check the leadership, be very keen on who the vision bearer of that project is, why they started it and what they want with it’’.

These were people that were Kibera locals. One interviewee puts the focus on churches when talking about what people in Kibera are doing:

‘’Yes, churches are doing a lot, youth groups; let’s say almost everything. Lets say people are trying to play a role’’

During my stay in Kibera I witnessed some groups of young people walking through Kibera with refuse bags and gloves; cleaning up the place. Many times, youth groups of churches do cleaning actions monthly, but also youth groups of NGOs and community organizations are involved in actions like these.

Another example is an older woman; Domtila, a grandmother, who is singlehandedly supporting young women that are in unwanted pregnancies. I have heard stories where it might happen that a young girl is pushed away from her family because of being pregnant at a young age. Domtila supports these young girls through mentoring them, trying to keep in good contact with the girls family, helping the girls to and from a hospital and providing the

88 first baby clothes. Also, she helps them where she can in getting these girls a starting capital to start their own small business, for example in selling vegetables:

‘‘After giving birth, I really encourage them not to beg, at least to reduce their dependence, I will try to support them in some small scale business.’’

In the past she was being supported by the Catholic Parrish in Kibera to do this work and nowadays people know her for supporting young mothers. People know how to reach her when they have a young girl in need. She supports these girls partly with her own money:

‘‘Sometimes I even use my own money, because when someone comes, what can I do?’’

Also, she gets her help from people in Kibera themselves; ‘’Normally people know what I am doing, sometimes they give me little donations to support the girls, sometimes I then give them money to start a small business’’. The donations she gets are both from people outside Kibera who know her work, but also many people living in Kibera can come to her and give her some money. Domtila is proud to be in this position: ‘’you know, very few people are trusted with things, I am proud that I think I am trusted with my work. Because I would do anything for a needy woman, but there are few people who would do that, especially if you are far, but if you are around, you will see it and participate in it’’.

Empowerment and opportunity

These stories above show that some women in Kibera are well capable of seeing what the needs in the community are, and getting into action when capable themselves. All women throughout their interviews have stressed ‘the need of empowerment’; that a woman needs to be empowered to help her self and then to help others. Another story is that fits this is that of Milcah, a woman who grew up in rural Kenya but decided to move to Kibera with her husband to start a primary school. The primary school is located in Olympic estate and now has several classes and motivated teachers and has been growing steadily. When talking to Milcah, I came to know her as a very strong woman, with a kind and strict spirit. She supports several women groups (chamaas) and explains she has to be tough on them. On one hand:

‘‘You have to empower them’’.

And on the other hand:

‘‘You have to tell them; live within your means!’’

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She says what Kibera needs is capacity building and empowering; making people stand up for themselves. She sees empowering as giving them a spirit, supporting them in work but she also sees the importance of educating them to live within their means; to only spend reasonably. It is interesting how Milca addresses ‘empowerment’ as a need. Also in the chapter about perceptions of NGOs, this term has been put forward. It is important to realize that this term is coming from the NGO-world or development world. In ‘Empowerment: the history of a Key concept in Temporary Development Discourse (Calves, 2009) the author examines the history of the term. ‘Empowerment’ was mainly used during the 80s of the last century by feminist movements and before that by movements for racial equality. From the 90s it has been used more in international terms, for gender issues and within the development world. She sees how the term has been institutionalized and incorporated in political languages by international organizations and mainly by the World Bank (Calves, 2009). Along with ‘empowerment’, other terms such as community, civil society and agency are important for expressing ‘participation of the poor’ in the development world (Calves, 2009). The world development report from 2000/2001 by the World Bank institutionalized the term by using ‘empowerment’, ‘opportunity’ and ‘security’ as pillars in the fight against poverty:

‘‘Empowerment means enhancing the capacity of poor people to influence the state institutions that affect their lives, by strengthening their participation in political processes and local decision-making’’ (World Bank 2001: 39).

Of these three terms, ‘empowerment’ seems to be mostly used by women in Kibera, to express their desires to become more involved and more capable to deal with their own lives. This has been seen in responses from women.

The term ‘opportunity’ is also addressed, in the sense that women hope to reach opportunities to move forward. For example, a woman hopes that her children will have more opportunities than she had; better education and possibilities. This topic has also been addressed where women hope to get some assistance; ‘a push’ in the right direction, this will be discussed further in the next chapter. The third term of ‘security’ is addressed frequently, only indirectly in relation to issues such as rape or violence, but not in a clear demand for security. It seems more like a description of what Kibera can be like and the government has been pointed at for the one being responsible in this field.

Chamaas (or women’s groups) have already been addressed, often this is a group of people that comes together weekly or monthly to deposit an amount of money that has been discussed beforehand, and one of the chamaa members gets to take it home. Chamaas are

90 more common amongst women than amongst men. They take turns in who takes the money home; this can be used for larger purchases, or to pay school fees, or just to have some breathing space when it comes to providing for ones family. Often, these groups also keep a small amount of money reserved each time to create some savings deposit. They are often seen as ‘women empowerment’ and even married women like going to chamaa’s to handle their own savings and to create their own chances:

‘’He (the husband) might be a drunkard, he drinks and beats you, he is never there for you. That is why women who have a husband, they enter a chamaa. It is empowerment, because most women are married, but they want to take care of their children, to be educating their kids.’’

Yvonne told me the father of her child lives close by but doesn’t support them at all. She knows of a women’s group that also deals with these things, with confronting fathers to take their responsibility. She should report him there and he will be dealt with – at least she will get some of his money. She was considering going there in the coming weeks. Looking at the way chamaas work, they are a way of self-organization and support. Within Kenya, national banks are also giving opportunities for chamaas to register and once they are a stable savings group they can apply for a common bank account and loans.

In case of emergencies, such as sickness of a child, the money from a chamaa can be used and paid back later. Two of the interviewees were very positive about chamaas:

‘’Yes, it has helped me, because I cannot sleep hungry when my group is there, I will benefit from the group. We help each other, other women might give 30 shillings and my child cannot be sick’’

‘’Yes, because you go up there if you have a problem, like school fees; they give you money and you go pay and after some time you pay them back’’

Kibera’s philanthropists

Opportunities are important, but not all opportunities that come along are the right opportunities. One of the interviewees explained the story of a group within Kibera that is performing theatre. The ages vary from four to about sixteen. During a performance, they were spotted by an American man who took it upon himself to get them more famous. They would perform in many places around Nairobi, but not be sure how much they have been paid for it and how much he would keep in his own pocket. My interviewee then talked to the leader of the group, the eldest one named Shadree. She told him: ’I don’t know whether you are seeing it or not, but this guy is just using you’. Then the oldest ones in the group

91 opened up to her and explained their suspense as well. She supported the group to get registered, under a different name; Kibera Messengers. Now they perform places. She explains what that group is doing at this moment:

‘’The money now is taking those young girls and boys to school. And each and every month they do distribute sanitary pads to young girls, over hundred girls in Kibera, whether you belong to that group or not’’

This group has started between young people that like doing dance, theatre and acrobatics. It came out of passion and when they found the right way of making money, they are giving back to the community. They have seen needs and are acting upon them. Now, on their terms, they are also getting help from other organizations and individuals. The help that this interviewee has given them might also be under the umbrella of what is termed ‘empowerment’, this is how she also sees and called it by herself.

It is interesting that the environment of Kibera gives many possibilities to be involved in community development. Every one of my interviewees knew of at least a few projects, whether run by people from Kibera, people outside Kibera or organizations. Also, many interviewees were involved in community organizations as a board member or having tasks. What came forward from the interviews is that many women were very passionate and enthusiastic about whatever part of development they were involved in; setting up a school, informing about HIV/aids, selling housing parts, helping young mothers and more. One interviewee dreams of opening a baby care one day:

‘’Like places where women take their kids, they are not such good places here. You see, it is a small room, many kids, not well fed. For me, I want to do that community development, so if I get that opportunity, I just want to have mine here in Kibera, at least to accommodate many of them’’

Even, the line between ‘jobs’ and development is thin. As an example I want to elaborate on one of the women I introduced in the chapter of ‘Sketching Kibera’. The women called Angel Lera has a small sock business. She buys socks at the market in town and sells them in Kibera. I have spend many days with her, looking at the people that buy from her, hearing stories and getting to know her neighbouring shop-owners. She sells the socks at ten or twenty bob (Kenyan shilling) also because she knows that many people in Kibera cannot afford to pay more. She always has a batch of people with money outstanding, who will come to pay when they have the money available. Also, she knows some large families and might support them with socks. The women, who Angel Lera calls ‘old mama’, across from her shop has many children her self, and also took in six orphans. She runs a restaurant and cannot afford for all

92 children to go to school. Every now and then, Angel Lera takes some pairs of socks and gives them to this ‘old mama’. Right here, her business that is providing her with an income is also supporting others. It creates space for taking out loans when people need warms socks for their children, and she is a philanthropist; giving and caring about people that she knows could use some help even though she is struggling to keep her own head above the water. She did never address this as an act of community help or community involvement, but it is interwoven into who she is and into what she does. Initiatives to support Kibera are an integral part of the community, also without external forces addressing or pressing on issues.

Aid as business model

Another interesting interplay between community and ‘the external’ can be explained through the following story that I came across. This chapter and the chapter about NGOs gave insight into how people in Kibera also see that people can benefit themselves instead of benefitting the organization. When visiting CBO Paradise Orphanage this was encountered as well. This CBO is housed in a large house in Kianda, where a woman is singlehandedly running an orphanage of over 20 orphans. When I visited the place, she called the children from outside, to come inside and sing a ‘welcome’ song to me. This gave me an uncomfortable feeling and hearing from somebody I got close to that lives nearby; this is what would usually happen when a ‘mzungu’ would visit the place. The woman of the CBO once worked together with a Canadian who would send money to support the orphans. The stream of money that usually came in had stopped and now this woman was struggling to survive. Any moment a visitor would come, even the neighbourhood kids would be used to come inside and create a more pitiful look of the orphanage and its needs. In reality, the women did not have that many children living with her there. This woman had turned the community initiative into more of a business by using smart ways of attracting income. Much can be debated about the way she is trying to gain money. The bottom-line is that she is lying to whoever is coming to visit and that these children are also seeing this example. Another truth is that she is struggling to support children, and that she is using any means she can. It was actually a foreigner that once ‘taught’ her to be dependable in some way, and now that source of income has gone, she is trying to get money in similar ways.

Some people in the neighbourhood, including my informant, were speaking negatively about this woman and the way she is ‘betraying’ people to get money. On the other hand we can see a woman who is using the classic ways of linking to ‘white people’ to secure money. Whether this money benefits herself most, or whether much also flows to the children, it can’t be denied that she is using ‘developmental’ thinking in her ways of income generation. The ambiguity of her actions is clear, but it shows her responsiveness to development in a top-down way; how help is offered and how this can be put to local benefit, community

93 benefit or personal benefit. In a way it can be said that this woman ‘understands’ and has learned how development works.

Conclusion chapter nine

From the stories at the start of the chapter it is very clear that these community initiatives are intertwined with people that live outside Kibera. In these cases, a Swedish organisation and an Australian girl, whether the ‘help’ has turned out positive or negative, an initiative will have its links with the exogenous, be it outside Kenya, or outside Kibera, linked to other people in Nairobi. Not all help is positive, whether this help comes from people within or outside of Kibera. This chapter also shows that next to the chapter about NGOs, positive influences can come from within Kibera, even from people who have very little themselves.

The mechanisms of development and the NGO world are very interwoven. This is clear from how many women are using terms such as empowerment and grassroots level. Many try to improve the situation in Kibera for themselves, and for others. This can be through money or through actions. It is ‘development’ without it being termed like that. Many women in Kibera know ‘the language’ that NGOs speak, and also know how to translate this to their own situation or lives. This could also be taken the other way around. Organizations and any institution attempting to upgrade the slum could look at what initiatives are undertaken by residents, and copy those to reach similar results. To put this even stronger, organisations, institutions and the government should be looking at initiatives from residents of Kibera to see where and how aid might be useful.

This conclusion shows that it is impossible to see community initiatives only as endogenous. Every person has its links outside the slum. These links can lead to advice, knowledge, a helping hand, a supporting chat, finances, inspiration or know-how.

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CHAPTER 10. PERCEPTIONS ON UPWARD MOBILITY

This chapter discusses perceived upward mobility by women living in Kibera. Initially this chapter falls within the ‘research model’ as an endogenous influence, from within Kibera. It focuses on the change of actors within the system, rather than the system as a whole. As previous chapters have shown, this one will equally address the interplay of the internal and external. It discusses individual dreams, how they prefer to see improvements, where they expect to reach and how upward mobility can be supported. First, displays the story of the women that hosted me and after this about how the women perceive the future. As such, this chapter ends with hope. This final part is thus less empirical, but a good fit to close the chapter, to gain insights in future perspectives.

Success story

Here I will elaborate on two women who found ways to improve their livelihoods and situation, before the period of fieldwork and also during my stay in Kibera. First I want to share the story of Sabina, the woman I lived with during my research. She was born in Kibera and grew up in the Kiberian village of Laini Saba, as the youngest of six siblings. During her primary school years she had the opportunity to go to a public school outside of Kibera on a scholarship, also being the only family member that had that opportunity. She used to walk together with another girl from the slum, being rained on and partly covered in mud, she saw her life as different from other kids who were dropped at school with cars. It was a difficult time for her, also to be bullied in school, but she sees it as a period that helped her as a person. From then, she was exposed to a different environment and explained that it motivated her to work hard to get out of the slum. It also exposed her to speaking English comfortable, more than some other children that went to school inside Kibera. Also, two of her sisters got pregnant at the tender ages of fifteen and eighteen, which encouraged her to make other decisions. She finished secondary school in 2001, but could not find means to continue to college. She managed to get enrolled for a 7- month program run by Canadian World Youth in 2004. After participating in that program, all participants received a small grant to start their own businesses and to put in practice what they had learned. This is where Sabina followed her own path and used the money to enrol herself into college and pay the first instalment. She explains she wouldn’t know how to do business well enough for it to succeed, so she rather got education for herself. For the rest of the college fees she found some small jobs and the priests of the church she went also paid one of the modules she took. She managed to get diplomas in social work and development advocacy. During my stay with her she lives in the estate of Olympic, where she shares the house with her brother who is currently employed in the army. Her brother’s son is also staying with her during his school breaks. Some years ago she started to get involved with an exchange program with an American University and showed students around in Nairobi and found

95 them host families to stay with. This is what inspired her to also host students by herself; those that independently want to come to Africa. She made a website and this is also how I found her and got to stay with her. She provides housing, can take care of providing meals, can act as a guide in Nairobi and can help to find voluntary work; all depending on what is desired from the visitors. At the time of the interview she was telling me she sees living in Olympic as a stepping-stone and would prefer to have a house in another neighbourhood of Nairobi. This mainly because many people don’t dare or are not allowed by their universities to stay in Olympic because of travel advises, who mark all of Kibera as unsafe. Upon returning from this research, I had left Sabina in Olympic, but during another visit to Kenya in December 2014 I reunited with her in her new place in Ngummo Estate, another neighbourhood of Nairobi. The house she lives is larger, can house more guests or visitors and is more secure because the house itself has a private gate and the main neighbourhood gate has a guard 24/7. The neighbourhood is still close to Kibera, which is an advantage to her because she can receive volunteers that can easily reach places in Kibera, such as the primary school that her sister founded. Upon meeting her again, I found out that she is still sometimes struggling with the house rent, but hopes that this house will attract more visitors because the area is safer. Internet is important for new connections, and she finds that friends of those that once came to stay are often recommended to her place. I confronted her, saying, so it is possible to get out of Kibera? She smiled and said; ‘yes, with will-power it is, it just took me nearly thirty years!’

Different views on life in Kibera

An important issue is to establish is the women’s personal view on living and growing up in Kibera. For instance, some women address the fact that the desire to reach a different place than, they first need to know the outside world and their mind has to be beyond what Kibera has to offer:

‘’Once you have been exposed to what others have and what is out there, your mind becomes focused on getting out.’’

Then, finding a job somewhere in Nairobi can be quite difficult when they ask you where you are from. People from Kibera (or other slum areas) are more often seen as people that cannot be trusted. When discussing improvement of lives in Kibera with women there, it is unavoidable to also hear the negative side of the coin;

‘‘Here in Kibera, people are not happy when you are doing well, when you are thriving.. There is that mentality.’’

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‘’They are not happy. I can’t lie, it’s really true. They think like this; if you buy that one, you defeat me. If your kid is good in school, you defeat me. Especially Luo’s they have that attitude.’’

These quotes reflects what many women also thought; that not all, but many people in Kibera are part of a mind-set where jealousy is present and when others are improving, you feel yourself being ‘down’. In Kibera ‘being down’ is common language when someone is struggling at that time to keep their head above the water. The second quote comes from a woman who is a Luo herself. She claims Luo’s to easily be jealous and that they are the ones keenest on teaching English. When kids are taught to speak English, it might even give others the idea that you are training it to have a bright future, a better one than others.

I also heard that when for example an NGO is handing out certain things (such as TOMS shoes have been distributed in Kibera), some neighbours might not even tell each other this, because when they are the ones receiving it will put them higher in the ‘scale’ of life. This phenomena, and this language of thought and speaking became very common to me in the months I spend in Kibera. Another women explained it in the sense that in Kibera, many people like to make it a ‘secret’ what their reason for ‘growing’ (getting richer) is.

One woman is sceptical about improving one’s life in Kibera. She wonders if you can call it life improvement when your small business is still not able to give you savings or security in case you get sick. She says that many Kenyans cannot pay for health insurance, and that in a sense people are not stable:

‘’So, I think, we cannot talk of stability, if you can’t even have the minimum health insurance.’’

She says that the moment you are sick is when you pay. According to her, this example is the best in separating the poor from the rich. She remembers her dad being sick, and all the family had to chip in to pay for the deposit, otherwise they will not even submit him into the hospital for treatment.

Improving life within Kibera

Next to this, it is also important to realize that improving one’s life might not necessarily include moving out of Kibera, but for many it means establishing a stable income to feed and educate their children. Staying in Kibera even gives possibilities of low costs of living while saving money. Different women stress the importance of understanding that improved lives can happen within ‘the slum’:

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‘’Improving can also be within Kibera’’

‘‘People stay here to save money’’

‘‘Some are used to this place, they want to live here’’

‘‘They can improve. I mean, when you live in Kibera it does not mean you life is not improved’’

‘’They are happy. They are poor but happy, that is what I believe’’

When asked about improvement of their lives, many women address their children. ‘’We have lived this as a parent, but hope for our kids not to live in the slum again.’’ Many women want their kids to be well educated. Their education will help them first to find another place to live, and is in the end their hope of getting out of Kibera. Quotes from some women are: ‘’My kids will help me one day’’, ‘’I dream that if my kids are taught well, one day they will take me out of here’’ and ‘’I want my daughter to go school and be educated, her life not to be like mine. She even says; I don’t wanna live here when I grow up, I will work hard and get you out of here, and father too.’’ One of the women says that she had some savings, and a piece of land, but that she had to sell it to pay the school fees for her daughter who is not in the second year of Kenyatta University.

Raising kids in a slum area creates fear that children will join bad company or drop out of school, and the highest goal to reach is thus to get your children out of that environment. One of the women sees the effects of getting education:

‘’My daughter tells me: ‘mom, when I complete school, when I get a job, I will stick to two more children and educate!’ – She has been educated’’

One other important notion is that of slum solidarity. Some women feel solidarity towards their neighbours and a sense of ‘living life together’. They enjoy living life with their neighbours and they are not even looking forward towards moving and settling in a new life elsewhere.

Some success stories of improvement of lives include women who received a small fee or start-up capital for a small business. Or even one woman graduated from secondary school the same year as her 19 year old son. Improvement might take time, but it is not impossible. Unfortunately there is also the other side of businesses that don’t pick up and women stating that coming out of Kibera is a hard task. One of the younger women already thinks about her life once she will live elsewhere than in Kibera, she says she does not want to forget this place, to keep it as a treasure in her heart.

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Upward mobility, improving one’s life and having agency is not complete without an end goal in mind. As stated above, most dreams and ambitions relate to children or schooling. Next to this, I found that many women had dreams of serving the community. Two women dream of one day opening a baby care and helping kids become responsible adults. Three other women wanted to open up a hair salon as a business to get their kids through school and one woman mentioned an orphanage, while seeing many children in Kibera suffer. One women mentions that the future will be better if there would be more permanent jobs instead of unstable and casual work.

Stretching wings

Some women hope of getting some land outside Nairobi and living there peacefully. Many others see the estates (Ayani, Olympic) as nice places to live, or as a first step out of Kibera. ‘’Even it is just a small house in an estate, it will provide security and from there we will grow’’. Some women say they would like to see other places first, to see and compare. Very common in Kenya is to build and develop ‘upcountry’, where the roots of the family are from. Some women hope of building a nice home at their ‘upcountry’ and live there peacefully. One woman stressed that women are especially willing to get out of Kibera. For them it is less safe while men might enjoy low costs of living while saving money. One young girl says it’s important to her, and also friends she grew up with to never forget Kibera. While still living there at the moment, while she hopes one day to get out. She has seen others leave and forever turn their backs on the place; she wants to remember the grounds she played and hopes to do something for the community when she is capable of doing so. To reach this line of thinking, it is important to have enough awareness what is outside of Kibera. This can differ quite a bit for children that have grown up in Kibera. A woman said:

‘’I believe that people should have an eye-opener, not to only stay in the slums in Kibera, but to stretch their wings’’

To reach this thinking, it basically comes down to going outside of Kibera and seeing other places. Also stories and movies and more recently the Internet are means to hear about other opportunities.

Empowerment, opportunity and security

In the previous chapter the importance of empowerment, opportunity and security as World Bank strategy were introduced. One of the women addressed opportunity in this way:

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‘’You know, sometimes you have the motivation but not the opportunity. Also, when you get the opportunity, you don’t have someone to push you, you know, towards the right path..’’

The interviewees are convinced that it is smart to involve women in empowerment and development programs. Two women said:

‘’When you empower a women, she will not keep it to herself, it will affect her home and kids and others too’’.

‘’If you help a woman, it will pass through the community, more than men’’.

While women are known to be gossipers and for chatting too much, in case of good things it will benefit the community, is what one woman stated proudly. In the field of development, this ‘gossiping’ can be seen as positive as well:

‘’Because people say women gossip, but also the good things, like they call you and tell you that there is something that I have heard that is supporting women, lets come and see and go.’’

Women love sharing and delegating, so they will share knowledge to others quickly. They share and share and when they come up with an idea they might also pass it on. Women talk much in the sense that they have to support and help each other to stand strong. Women long to have places to share ideas, give examples and to have mentors that are one step ahead in life to give advice and encouragement. The woman that started the HIV/Aids support group said that she loves sharing and sees that if women are taught, they are good at spreading knowledge and delegating.

Another issue that one interviewee addressed is that:

‘’African women have been left in the kitchen for too long’’.

She sees that women have not been rising to their full potential yet, there is so much more that they can do. Many women describe empowerment as the way forward. Some of the women actually use the word empowerment as shown before, while others use different words but have the same idea behind it:

‘’I need someone to push me down the right path’’

‘’I don’t want money, just a push to a door and let me knock the door myself’’

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‘’I just want someone to direct me this way’’

‘’Women can do so much, they have to identify their strengths’’

‘’Teach people to live within their means, empower yourself.’’

So, next to empowerment, women need ‘a push’, ‘hope’, ‘a direction’, ‘to be taught their strengths’ and also mentoring has been mentioned ‘’someone who can mentor me, with know-how to start up something’’. As addressed in the previous chapters, security is also an important issue for women to thrive and move forwards in their lives.

Conclusion chapter ten

To recap the definition of upward mobility: ‘’the capacity or facility for rising to a higher social or economic position’’ (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, 2014). It includes both, facilitation; which can be provided by others, and rising; which is more aimed at the capability of the self. Mostly upward mobility for women is centred on their children and their children’s education. From the interviewees it is clear that they are not waiting with their hands upheld to receive money, but there is much longing for being guided, mentored and empowered. Upward mobility or agency is never separated from external forces, but can be facilitated. The success story vividly shows one woman’s journey in life and can appease that circumstances are fluid and changeable. It combines capacity and her own motivation, as well as facility, for example through scholarships. The story shows that external aid was found at the core of her success, right next to her motivation to aim high in life. It is also important to see that the woman of success story could focus on her own life first, while many other women have the care of children from a young age and see improving life more as an aspiration for their children. Another important observation here is that Sabina amended the help she received in form of a grant, because she did not start her own business but enrolled for college. She used the money in a way she deemed beneficial to her life, not following the initial goal with which the money was given.

In this chapter, displaying success and hopes for the future, the distinction between improvements for individuals and improvements for Kibera as a whole are overlapping. Many want improvements in education within Kibera, for their own children and Kibera as a whole. Also, with desires for empowerment, it is linked to empowering the community. Chapter nine and ten have both displayed that endogenous change, change inside Kibera, can never be separated from ties outside Kibera and from changing Kibera as a whole.

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CHAPTER 11. CONCLUSION

This chapter will display the findings of this thesis by answering the research questions. It answers how Kibera’s improvement is enhanced internally and externally and what the interplay is between these two factors. Also, their positive and negative influences on life and improvement of life in Kibera will be discussed. For clarity, the theoretical approach and research findings are summarized first.

Summary theoretical approach

Marginality is the involuntary position of an individual or group at the edge of social, economic or ecological systems, preventing access to resources, assets, services, restraining freedom of choice, preventing development of capabilities and causing extreme poverty (Gatzweiler et al., 2011). Marginality is often examined from two perspectives, the societal and the spatial (Gurung and Kollmair, 2005). The first focuses on dimensions such as religion, culture, economy and equality, while the spatial focuses on physical locations and distances.

Changes in marginality can occur through system change; where the entire system changes or through change of actors in the system; where an individuals choices and capabilities take the lead (von Braun and Gatzweiler, 2014). In turn, changes in society can be endogenous; coming from agency and capabilities of inhabitants or they can be exogenous; mainly supported or facilitated from outside the society or system (Gatzweiler et al., 2011). This divide is not static. Changes in a system depend on the change potential, the system connectedness (Gunderson and Holling, 2002) and the adaptive capacity (Holling, 2001). Change of actors in the system happen when an individual improves in a certain area in life, for example food intake. They become less marginalized overall (Gatzweiler et al., 2011).

Summary research findings

What this thesis hopefully displays, first and foremost, is the diversity that is present within Kibera. From the spatial perspective, poor and rich are mixed within Kibera. Kibera’s population is still growing, demanding for creative ways of dealing with population growth, with life and with use of spaces. Kibera’s horizontal expansion has reached its limits, making way for vertical expansion. Spatial factors, such as location and presence of roads, have their links to (un) safety. Crowdedness of Kibera has its merits and demerits, where communal closeness is perceived positively and lack of privacy can be explained as both negative and positive.

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Tribalism is a topic larger than Kibera and ultimately larger than Kenya. To maintain focus on the locality of Kibera, breeding of negative ethnicity, mainly by politicians, has its effects on daily life in Kibera. It creates instability and hostility, while others point out the diversity and acceptance between neighbours. The general thought that summarizes perceptions of women on their government is; ‘big offices, empty promises’.

The government recognizes Kibera and sees its inhabitants as powerful. During elections, Kibera is a common place to be visited. The government benefits from the presence of NGOs within Kibera, whom in some way take up tasks that the government should be doing. Also tourism in Kibera is a growing industry.

Decisions by the government can have its effect on Kibera spatially, for example by constructing a ring road and through clearance of houses close to the railroad. Laws and regulations also have its effect on social Kibera, such as the discussion surrounding title deeds. Without reaching decisions, these discussions create uproar in a usually stable Kibera. More than via voting, Kiberians use their power by blocking main roads around Kibera or the railway line towards Kampala.

Slum upgrading has been criticized in terms of social conflict, misuse of funds and corruption. Many women have their doubts about the successful execution of KENSUP. Core of the problem is that resettlement is almost impossible. How social structures can be copied into another space is not invented (yet). Slum upgrading needs better conditions according to the interviewees, and a participatory approach, not only on paper. NGOs have helped much with the overall improvement of Kibera, especially in the fields of education, health facilitation and sanitation. Important here is, who are in charge of the program or the funds? This will define the success for a large part. NGOs are not only looked at as ‘helping’ only, they are also a source of job opportunities. One important notion is that NGOs are not coming after people, when living in Kibera; you have to go after them by yourself. What NGOs do is easier to see in spatial terms, for example building biogas toilet buildings. This is easier to measure than work on the social fabric of Kibera, the software.

Community initiatives are plentiful within Kibera. Many inhabitants have ideas of improving their community, and often without terming it like it is, they are philanthropists in one way or another. Women living in Kibera know the needs within the community and have aspirations. These initiatives from within Kibera often get help from outside Kibera as well. Finally, individual improvement, or upward mobility, is and interesting topic to close with, because it showed that improving life is not similar to the desire to leave the slum.

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Improvement of life is often family- or child focused. Women stress the need for support in education and (women) empowerment.

Overall conclusion

Looking at the theoretical approach, this research has both addressed changes to Kibera as a whole and for individuals separately. Both the spatial dimensions and social dimensions have created a larger understanding of Kibera as a whole. When looking at the societal and spatial factors, the research findings lead to conclude that indeed the social factors are of larger influence in determining marginality than the spatial factors. This is similar to Müller-Böker et al., (2004) who found that in slum areas of metropolitan cities, both in developed and developing world that the physical distances to services are irrelevant to marginality. Place poverty and people poverty have often been overlapped in writing (Simon, 2010), and can indeed not create one images of what Kibera is, or what an inhabitant of Kibera is.

The theoretical approach divided system change and change of actors in the system. The system change is dependent on the change potential, the system connectedness and the adaptive capacity. These are discussed below.

The change potential depends on different aspects. The largest obstructions in change potential within Kibera are lack of access to education and ‘diseased’ cultural capital; a high degree of racism or tribalism. Luckily, the education environment is improving, with more schools rising in Kibera. Improving social organization can foster the change potential. Kibera has change potential when people work together and when trust can be found in ward leaders and local politicians. Setbacks are more present, but there is a lot of ground to gain when tribalism is addressed by the youth.

The system connectedness shows the connection between what happens in Kibera internally and what happens outside Kibera. It deals more specifically with the question if the system is capable to control external variables. The research shows that control over large-scale slum upgrading programs is low, as lack of communication, confusion and helplessness were terms coined. Slum upgrading is more something that ‘overcomes’ inhabitants of Kibera. The internal control within NGOs and (local) organizations depends on the organization that is dealt with. More and more organizations want to include residents in their plans and have participatory approaches. For example, Umande Trust holds an open meeting in the area where they are planning a certain project (e.g. sanitation) and ask from input from those that live there. However, many organizations have not given these opportunities, failing to meet residents’ needs. Internal control over governmental decisions is very low, hence the rioting and looting after important political decisions. Internal control is higher when women were involved with setting up a project or organization from the start, and have a say in who else will be involved.

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The adaptive capacity of a system is high when the vulnerability of a system is low. This means the system can deal well with shocks and un-expectancy. The main shock, which came from the interviews, was the post-election violence of 07/08. This showed the vulnerability of Kibera, where many people have lost their houses and belongings. It has to be noted that after the violence was over, many houses were quickly rebuild and currently, many women hold a positive spirit, giving them a positive outlook on life. Another un- expectancy that Kibera can be subject to heavy weather conditions. Many shacks or houses are not capable of holding heavy rains or storms and the floodings of the ‘horror rains’ of 98’ have left the lower parts of Kibera soaking in knee-high water for weeks. This shows vulnerability to natural causes, because those living in slum environments are simply unable to better defend themselves.

These dimensions of system change show that the potential of system change in Kibera is low, but slowly increasing in internal strength. It has to be noted that people within Kibera are highly resilient and adjustable to situations. This personal resilience is a stronghold within Kibera, and on personal level coping mechanisms are high. This leads to the following theoretical point.

Change of actors in the system was based on individual choices, capabilities or termed as agency or upward mobility. From different interviewees it became clear that there are differences in how capable people are of changing (part of) their lives positively. To give the best account of lives in Kibera, it would be best to give an overview of each woman separately. Again, it is too difficult to draw one larger picture. As the results show, improving lives does not equal moving out of Kibera. Of the interviewees, twelve had lived in Kibera all their lives, many came at marriage and seven women were just on the edge of an improvement, such as moving to an estate or getting a job. This is the only abstract detail I will sketch.

Overall, system change and change of actors in the system have been separated theoretically, but again and again it has been confirmed that these are overlapping in many ways. Also, to see system change as primarily from external forces and change of actors in the system as primarily internal is skewed. Reality shows these two are inseparable. Kibera is changing and the environment is improving step by step. An unplanned event might create a setback, but eventually, Kibera is moving to be a more attractive environment. This is both coming from forces and individuals within Kibera as initiator, or from forces outside Kibera as initiator. The internal and external forces aiming to improve Kibera are a constant dynamic. A woman with a local organization finds foreign visitors who are willing to raise money back at home. An international NGO that gives workshops to youth will create stronger adults who are more aware of their capabilities.

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Marginality and changes of actors in the system are subject to an understanding of what the ‘mainstream’ is and how far one is distanced from it. Change can happen in different dimensions; culture, economics, politics, inequality and exclusion. Larsen (2001) measures these by looking at improved livelihoods options, participation in public decision-making, sense of community and sense of self-esteem. All these are touched upon in the findings. To highlight some; the sense of community is often high in Kibera, when being close to neighbours. Exclusion is elaborated upon through the topic of tribalism. A cultural aspect that has been mentioned several times is that of jealousy or not wanting to see others thrive as a mentality within Kibera. In sense of self-esteem, an important findings is that ‘coming from Kibera’ is often a setback in finding a job elsewhere, and something not to be mentioned. In most parts of Nairobi, coming from Kibera is still looked down upon, not boosting the self-esteem of those living there.

It is important to note that upward mobility or improvement of life in terms of financial situation and a focus on the individual are very Westernized ideas. Improvement of lives meant, for many women in this research, a better life for their children. It is less individualistic and more family focused. Also, saving money while staying in Kibera is a very valid idea coined by several women. Some enjoy the environment of Kibera and see no need to move. Living is as cheap as it gets within Kibera, thus it is the easiest place to be without fixed job. Improving a life within the slum, thus, change of actors within the system, is a very relevant way of approaching life. Other theories address improvement as if it can only exist from within the slum, the internal, towards the external of the slum; as if going out is the primary goal. This thesis proves that this line of thinking is skewed.

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CHAPTER 12. DISCUSSION

The discussion will give more insight into the interplay between the internal and external influences and aligns findings next to literature.

Poverty pornography

One important finding is that women acknowledge the negative images that are created by the media and even by NGOs. More funds can be gained from a despaired situation, and fundraisers know how to play into this. Kibera has very often been mentioned as the slum of one million people, even by renowned newspapers. Latest estimates are between 200.000 and 300.000, quite a difference. Also, media stories are often exaggerated to gain more publicity. When a sad story is portrayed, it is often one of the saddest to be found. Just as Gilbert (2007) stresses the negative connotations about slums.

Slums have been termed as ‘urbanization without development’ (UN-Habitat, 2004). Although the description of low or no economic growth, unemployment, weak authorities and governance and lack of urban planning policy are indeed true and the description of poor agricultural performance is almost irrelevant, to term slums in Africa as ‘urbanization without development’ is in line with negative thinking of slums and large generalizations. Kibera is not only an area of unemployment; many find resourceful ways of gaining an income. Informal economies have been praised as economic forces as well (Beall, 2000; UN- Habitat, 2013). Thus, it is difficult to catch informal settlements in terms that do justice to the whole and negative language seems to easily take overhand.

The same negativity continues in language that speaks of ‘finding solutions’ for the situation in slums. Also some women in this research have talked about the government or NGOs as ‘not wanting to find solutions’. This implicitly means these women have made it their own to also address Kibera as a problem. Maybe this also has consequences for the way people view themselves or they feel justice is not done, as the people in Dharavi did after being called ‘slumdogs’ (Roy, 2011). He called this poverty pornography. The way that Kibera is shown to the outside world is very often ‘poverty pornography’ as well. Both external parties (the government, funding of organizations) and internal parties (the beneficiaries of projects) can gain from poverty pornography. The downside of the coin of poverty pornography deals with negative self-images of those living in slums and wrong ideas of what living in slums is like for those outside. Ekdale (2014) describes a woman from Kibera who was in a radio interview. Afterwards, the presenter did not believe she was living in Kibera because ‘you

107 didn’t look like Kibera’ and the women replied: ‘I don’t know how Kibera people ought to look like’ (2014:101).

Not easily getting employment because one lives in Kibera is one of the examples where this poverty pornography takes a negative turn for its inhabitants. There is still stigma attached to living in Kibera. Also, upon meeting with Kenyans that I know from studying together in the Netherlands, I found out that they are highly surprised that I live in Kibera. One of them even said that she is surprised that I ‘make it out there alive’. Even some Kenyans themselves can have blurred visions of what life in Kibera is like. Hence, the result of only the most negative images that are portrayed of Kibera. Ekdale (2014) puts is stronger and says it marginalizes those that it objectifies. These perceptions can be countered by presenting narratives of those living in slums (Karibu, 2011).

Kibera’s discourse

Slums have been exoticized (Jones, 2011) as never boring or ‘normal’. However, in Kibera I experienced many women and youths talking about idleness and boring days. Especially Sundays can be ‘slow’ days, where some women prefer to be indoors with their family, because there is less business that day. Also, some younger girls have mentioned that they prefer to sleep when there are ‘boring’ days, for example when it rains much or after some days of holiday. Challenging slum discourses is important because public interest in slums has grown over the past decade.

Kibera’s discourse and media representation have been put forward by Ekdale (2014), where he calls Kibera ‘maisha mtaani’. This translates as; ‘life in the neighbourhood’. Ekdale researched the representation of Kibera and how inhabitants looked at the slum. One interesting note is that he found that inhabitants of Kibera: ‘’did not deny many of the hardships that are central to the Kibera discourse, yet they also discussed many features of Kibera that were ‘favourable’ to their present situation.’’ (Ekdale, 2014:100). What they described Kibera like is complex, diverse and contextual. Similar to the findings of this study, his findings were not all despair and misfortune. He calls the stories he found as nuanced and varied as the Kibera discourse is singular and narrow (Ekdale, 2014). Upon asking inhabitants of Kibera about the way ‘their’ slum is represented in the media, many argue that it is one-sided news and that they never heard about the positive things happening in Kibera. This is partly why many community media initiatives have risen in Kibera, such as Pamoja FM, Kibera Journal and Hot Sun Foundation. These want to give a different (and real) voice to Kibera. Residents of Kibera reject Kibera’s discourse according to Ekdale and see it as ‘dismissive, unenlightened and disconnected from how they experienced daily life’ (2014:105).

Kibera’s discourse is continued by NGOs and journalists, as both this research and Ekdale’s (2014) prove. Ekdale also calls residents partly responsible and this can equally be seen in

108 the story in this research in the part that writes about ‘aid as business model’. This showed an understanding how aid works, and securing an income by ‘presenting’ an orphanage with many children in a worse state than what is the truth, also keeps the existing discourse alive.

Throughout the past years an increase is seen in attempts to estimate the total population of Kibera. The chapter about spatiality also showed some insights in mapping of Kibera. All these work towards the general discourse being questioned, because ‘suddenly’ Kibera doesn’t have a population of millions, but of a few hundred thousand. These new insights come from numbers and figures, which worldwide have done more to create unrealistic images of slums. Still, these numbers can help to change the overall picture and discourse of Kibera to a more realistic one. The research in Accra’s slums (Jankoswka et al., 2011) used spatial patterns and classifications to develop a model to see the relation between vulnerability and slums. Their ‘slum index’ can give insight in some measures, but most of all displays complexity within slums and that no two slums are the same (ibid, 2011). Mapping of slums can be seen as attempt to gain insight in these ‘gray spaces’ that outsiders know nothing about. Discourses can only change when they are named and recognized as something other than common sense (Gamson et al., 1992). At least, with more literature focusing on the changing discourse of slums in general and stories coming from Kibera we seem to be on the right track in portraying a correct image.

Social exclusion

Beall (2002) addressed social exclusion on the basis of ‘who you are’ or ‘where you are’. It seems both are present in Kibera. As written above, people from Kibera can be denied jobs because of living in Kibera. They are seen as less trustworthy, because most of what comes out of Kibera is ‘bad’. They are excluded on basis of where they are. The chapter about tribalism also shows social exclusion on basis of ‘who you are’. Belonging to any tribe can be a cause to be less welcome in a certain area or to live under tension during election times. In the light of gray spaces, we read about areas that are attempted to be laundered by control over them (Yiftachel, 2009). The way inhabitants feel about Kibera, through its discourse and the persistent image of poverty pornography, it is easier to say that Kibera is not laundered, but rather blacklisted.

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Trap versus springboard

In the chapter with literature, the article by Marx et al. (2013) is also put forward. This article focuses on providing an economical view on slums and the article suggests that slums are more of a trap than a springboard for people living there. So far, it had been mainly economists that had put forward the economic benefits and opportunities of slums. The article gives three main recommendations; improving enumerations of slums would lead to better insights; project and programs should be looked at from the point of returns and cost effectiveness; and a big push policy direction is suggested. Mass investment programs appear to be successful (Marx et al., 2013). Important is than to look at governance dynamics, such as the presence of slumlords. This final suggestion of taking into account social dynamics is similar to what this research stressed, but besides that, these suggestions are surely debatable next to the findings of this ethnographic research.

The article seems to answer a large question and to include a generalization of slums worldwide. This is not possible according to other authors and the findings of this thesis research. More problematic even is that using the terms trap and springboard, the assumption is drawn that everybody is aiming to leave ‘the slum’. Looking at slums as either one of these categories is giving way to defining what people’s lives are presumably like and creating narrow categorizations. Why would a slum be a trap if it creates a good environment for somebody to save money? Why would it be bad if a slum is not a springboard but lives can still be improved? After this research in Kibera, it can be concluded that the question if a slum is a trap or springboard is simply the wrong question to ask.

Rite of passage

Very important to note is that some women have addressed NGOs or the government from the perspective of ‘finding solutions’ for Kibera. Why do these women request solutions for Kibera? Using the wording with ‘solutions’ implies first that a problem exists. Slums are indeed often addressed as a problem. With MSF actively involved in Kibera, they address needs according to emergency, but this need lasts already over a decade. The overall question to NGOs should be; should slums be addressed as a crisis? Are slums crisis situations or ‘normal’ situations?

The overall question here is thus; in what extent are slums in a crisis situation or are they in a situation that is just part of life and not easy to change? One of the women had a clear opinion on slums. She is born in Kibera and has lived there all her life. She says:

‘’I think it is impossible to completely do away with slums; people will go to the slums, for the same reason they come to Kibera. But once they move, they leave the slum. The slums do not grow people but people pass through the slum. It is a way to better themselves.’’

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Her line of argumentation is supported by authors such as Gilbert. What if slums are a rite of passage on a quest for a better life? Unfortunately, the ‘rite’ is taking more time than desired. Should we then perhaps focus on making this ‘rite of passage’ easier and more comfortable to pass through instead of trying to eliminate it? De Smedt (2009) writes that Kibera is here to stay. Gilbert (2007) sees that a world without slums is impossible. We can focus on improving the situation however; improve food, drinking water, and then overcrowding. No matter how ‘apocalyptic’ the work by Davis (2006) is called, the quote he used by Jeremy Seabrook (1996) from his book ‘In the Cities of the South’ is one that I can fully agree with:

‘’It would be foolish to pass from one distortion – that the slums are places of crime, disease and despair – to the opposite: that they can be safely left to look after themselves.’’ (Seabrook, 1996:197)

For NGOs and other involved parties is should then be clear that aid should be sustainable and that involvement in informal settlements should not be taken lightly, but should only start when it is for the long haul. NGOs should however be reflexive of their positions; reflexive of whom their presence is benefitting most; inhabitants or the government. The theory of ‘NGOization’ by Benjamin (2008) should be taken critically and should be familiar amongst NGOs. Are organizations reflexive enough to see where the government could grow and take more responsibility? Processes that will go forward step by step and will depend on communication. Gulyani and Basset (2007) also call for not treating slums as special zones in the city but to integrate them with citywide infrastructure and maintenance. Not a special treatment, but citywide integration. This implicitly points at governments to make inclusive policies.

A positive note

It is only fair to point out this way that inclusive policies might be beneficial to informal settlements. The Kenyan government implemented a new initiative in Kibera. Kibera is often a testing ground for new (governmental) ideas, but in this case it might be a showcase for a solid example of governments involvement in community employment and development. The National Youth Service (or NYS) has been in Kenya for along time, with nationals serving (a year) in different positions. It has been re-launched in 2014 and a Slum Upgrading Initiative pilot started in September, to include the youth of Kibera in sanitation and infrastructural projects. The aim is ‘to change the face of informal settlements’ and will also be implemented in other parts of the country. NYS employed over 3000 community youth from Kibera and for example involved them in road construction, sack gardening,

111 construction of sanitation blocks and police posts. The daily wage earned per person is 471 ksh per day. Youths have also been saving 30% of their daily income in saving groups (Kenyan Government, 2015). Considering that the initiative only started in 2014, it is clear that many goals have been reached or will be reached in the near future. Upon visiting Kibera again, it was easy for me to see groups of youths in green NYS t-shirts, constructing or picking garbage from sewerages, streets and rivers. One of the big differences I have heard from inhabitants were the stadium-pole lights in each of the different villages of Kibera. These stay on throughout the night and are positive for the safety within Kibera. Fihlani (2015) writes for BBC news that the changes that the NYS is making in Kibera are very positive.

Simon (2011) wrote about resident initiatives and pointed that it is often overlooked that shelter construction and upgrading are also a livelihood and source of income of many people living in the slum. Through NYS, the Kenyan government employed people from within Kibera, which was spot on; putting people at service of their own environment. This is also in line with Perlman (2006), who prefers jobs, whether formal or informal over issues of land tenure, so here it seems the Kenyan government is, aware or not, following her appeal.

Improve the lives of slum dwellers

Improving the lives of slum dwellers is a Millennium Development Goal. How will this be reached? We like to explain the world in easy and overall terms, what if this is not possible. What if measuring poverty in a poverty line is not working? Statistical analysis still decides much when it comes to funding. How to measure the need of aid? What of agreeing on less measures and just acknowledging that there is still a long way to go forward. Or what of just realizing bureaucratic decision-making will not easily change, or only change in small steps. Perhaps the best way is spreading the word of what slums are really about. It is the hard task of explaining the unexplainable and using more than a few numbers or words, but putting effort.

Arabindoo (2011) sees slums as social, economic and cultural complexities in layered multiplicity, pressing more on the empirical than the theoretical. He calls for detailed topology of urban poor, social relations criss-cross intricate set of connections and flows stretching multiple spaces. When thinking about what this thesis produced and the theory alike, it can’t be denied that Kibera in this respect is similar to so many places in this world. The stories of lives are also like many in this world. Let’s try to get these stories closer and keep thinking of ways to go forward. My favourite description still remains:

‘‘Large slums are complex, contradictory and contrasting places, with diverse mixes of people, not at least in terms of livelihoods and disposable income. Life and death, violence and community cohesion, exploitation and social capital and solidarity, relative wealth and

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absolute poverty all overlap and are juxtaposed in tangled webs of dense population and meagre resources in individual slums.’’ (Simon, 2011: 681)

As Simon (2011) also puts forward, speaking of slums as alienated spaces is very abstract and distant. In this thesis it was the theoretical framework that led to this, but ethnographic research that showed what life in Kibera really is about. Rather, what I will be doing as I speak about Kibera, never speak of it as a generalized space, but paint it as a unique place; a place full of homes.

Close-up of picture of view over Kianda village, Kibera, taken in December 2013

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CHAPTER 13. RECOMMENDATIONS

For future research the main recommendation is to keep looking beyond generalising stories of slums. When a research is focused on quantitative results, it would be better to not shy away from some personal stories as well, broadening and portraying the image of Kibera, or any slum. More narratives are needed and initiatives in fields of (social) media, photography and news should be supported. Worldwide, the effects of pages and initiatives from people living in slums are catching attention. From within Kibera, ‘Slum Photography Kenya’ is getting more attention on social media, portraying images of scenery and people from Kibera. More research could focus on the images of slums, whether these are changing or not.

This research had a focus on females. Other research should take both genders into account. This would be interesting when the issue is ‘leaving the slum’. From several women I heard that women are more likely to long to leave Kibera. For men, the environment is less ‘dangerous’. Maybe there will be less desire of ‘moving out’ amongst men.

This research in a way started to touch upon evaluating aid. This could be done more extensively, by doing aidnography. Instead of the distinction recipients versus deliverers of aid, as in this thesis, and speaking of successfulness of programs, there could be more focus on narratives and social complexities that development aid brings to life (Gould, 2014). The slum upgrading programs by the Kenyan government have been evaluated many times, mostly by the Kenyan government themselves. On the other side, there are initiatives such as HAP (Humanitarian Accountability Partnership) whom help organisations to seek accountability from the side of the beneficiaries. Aidnography perhaps tries to call for an unbiased picture. It would be interesting to look at slums as less divided into internal/external and to speak of slums without the distinction of giving/receiving.

Overall, more research in slums and comparing slums worldwide could show that slums are in no way homogenous. As a small example, many parts of Dharavi have access to water from their water points for three hours per day (Pool & Corstius, 2012). In Kibera, water points are connected to water 24/7. In Dharavi, many houses have an individual electricity metre (ibid, 2012). In Kibera, these are nowhere to be found in houses and residents pay a fix amount for (illegally) being wired to electricity, whether there are power cuts or not. This small example already displays differences in ways of living, which prioritizes different needs. More (research) attention should be given to uniqueness of slums worldwide.

When taking the uniqueness of slums into account, it will provide ways of dealing with slums; not one general method towards ‘cities without slums’. Cities will not be without slums, and the best ways of improving a particular slum are to be found locally.

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