Mega-slumming - A Journey through sub-Saharan Africa's largest shantytown

A recent medical clinic held in Kibera Slums in Nairobi by Sandy Foster of North Bay and her team.

Recently Ronnie attended the launch of a book by Adam W. Parsons entitled "Mega-slumming A journey through sub-Saharan Africa's largest shantytown. The book outlines Parson's visit over a number of weeks to Kibera slum in Nairobi.

Adam describes his initial naiviete at being able to just wander into the slum to glean insight into its inner workings. Instead he learns the need to be dressed correctly (dirty not clean), to have local inside guides to ensure his security and to have access to businesses and organizations working on the inside.

It is a revealing study into a world onto itself. It highlights the extreme disparity between the rich and poor of Kenya and how those seeking a better life in the city have instead found themselves stuck in a life of extreme poverty, living without proper drinking water, sanitation and other basic necessities of life. What I found amazing was that some of those who inhabit Kibera are young people with university degrees but the lack of jobs has forced them into this situation of a vicious cycle of poverty with no way out.

Parson's book also takes a look at the historical factors that have led to the development of slums not only in Kenya but in most of the major cities of the developing world like Brazil, and Mumbai. The really scary part was that according to the UN's conservative estimates, African slum populations will double on average every 15 years reaching 332 million by 2015. That's only 5 years away. How can we in the developed world allow this many people to live in such extreme poverty without government assistance such as health care, policing, etc. (as the government doesn't recognize Kibera as developed lands) and most going without a daily meal? And remember that this is not only happening in Kenya but in India, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala. We need to send a strong message to the governments of developing countries that they need to encourage job creation, social justice and democracy to help lift their people out of poverty.

You can get a copy of this extremely eye-opening book from Share the World's Resources at www.stwr.org.