It has always been my dream to not only change the lives of my people,but the society at large. I had planned to join a college immediately I clear my education,but all this seem to be just a wish. I do not have a sponsor to pay for my college fees and it would have been a great luck if only I would be in a position to get one. My childhood dream will have come to see the light of the day.

Immediately, I get a chance to prosper with my education, I want to change the tainted image of the slums that has been there for countless decades.We have all sorts of problems here in the slums. No water,and the available one is too little to cater for everyone’s needs in the slums.

Outbreak of diseases are sprawling up in the slums every time, as a result of poor sanitation. The young and the old are dying of cholera,typhoid and so on……

Together with my friends, we have always tried our level best to bring some changes in this environment. We as a youth group called,’Tuff Gong,”it started in 2000,with only seven street boys and our main objective was,to start something that will enable us to be self-reliant, live a positive life and to discourage drug use and crimes that had made jail be the second home for street boys.We were registered by the Ministry of Youth Affairs in 2004.

We started a waste management business,which was thriving at that time,we made enough cash to open an account,what started as a small group, rose up to 48 members.

We also do garbage collection in the slums,and participate in other social work activities,like sensitizing the youth on the dangers of HIV/AIDS’s, as well as peer-to-peer education.

With the proceeds we have made, we want to start-up a water tank project within the slums,as we had already approached the Nairobi water tank company and we paid for the installation of pipes what we are waiting for, is the tank.

As youth members of this group,we hope that when disbursement of youth funds will commence, we will be considered, so that we may be self-reliant by being self-employed. In the end, we will be able to make our future dreams come true.

I cannot blame my parents in any way what so ever, for that  is what they could afford. But I blame the government, especially this ministry,they started rationing water, where I live, our taps ran dry a year ago, people are dying as a result of cholera, typhoid outbreaks yet the government has decided to give a deaf ear to our pleas.

It hurts to see innocent children dying as a result of dirt they consume on a daily basis, yet the government is not keen on taking any action. Countless number of lives have been lost in slums and we are yet to lose more if drastic measures will not be put in place on time.

We are tired of empty promises this ministry keep on telling us that soon our taps will have running water or is it a vision 2030 plan?

It is a high time the government came in to issue a lasting solution to this problem.

Madam minister, when should we expect a response to this issue from your ministry?

If luck knocked our doors, we would be lucky to at least receive rain twice in a year, and that is the time we would be in a position to do general cleaning in our homes using the clean rain water.

There was an old woman in the village called Taabu,she was a mother of eight children and always looked miserable. She had tried to use all tricks so that his crops could grow but all her efforts were thwarted by the hostile climate of that area.

Things worsened when this year, only certain areas of the country received sufficient rainfall and the worse hit drought area was our village. She had nothing to count on survival as all the animals she had treasured for sale, all died as a result of hunger.

Her children fell sick, one after the other, as a result of malnutrition,till she was forced to feed them on wild fruits, that she always woke up for, early in the morning to go and pick them in the forest.

I felt pity for Taabu, but there is nothing I could do to assist her.She looked so weary and one would easily mistake her for a grandmother.As days went by, she was unable to persevere any more and she had to stop her children from going to school, as they could not concentrate on empty stomachs.

As the innocent  people continue suffering for the faults not of their own making, the fat cows are busy cashing in more notes and squeezing them into their already full pockets.

Our selfish political leaders have ended up destroying our natural resources for their own interests. Right now, they do not want to move out of the Mau forest,yet people have not only lost lives, but also their source of income,the animals.

Tourism sector, that helps to boost our economy will be affected in the long run, as most animals have been forced to migrate from their natural habitats to other places in search of  pasture, while most of them both wild and tame have died as a result of hunger.

Together, let us stand up and embrace a culture of  protecting our environment from destruction.

We got so terrified and remained as stiff as a rod, with our eyes widely opened, almost getting out of their sockets. My brother gained the courage and rushed out very first to go and check what had happened.

Immediately, he came back to the house panting so hard, breathing halfway and could not construct a sentence. We rushed out of the house, only to see flames of fire that had surrounded what some minutes earlier we would have called houses.

They had been reduced to ashes.There was lots of confusion as we did not know where to start from,as the choking smoke had engulfed the place and it forced people to keep off as we would have collapsed as a result of insufficient air.

Situation would have at least been better, had the fire brigade people responded immediately. The victims were left with nothing to call  property. They spent sleepless nights out in the cold for several days.

Later, the Kenya Red cross Association provided them with tents and bedding to cover themselves with, clothes to wear for comfort were also provided.

Still, some people succumbed to sicknesses related to cold and they were unable to fight them. As a result, they ended up kicking off the bucket of life.

Their leaders are old enough to leave for them the seats,but they are not willing, in return, they give them empty promises,”You are the future leaders of tomorrow,” when is tomorrow?

The police have been put in-charge of offering protection to the wananchi and do away with the voices in the society by arresting the culprits, but they have turned out to be the opposite of what they are expected to be.

Many people have lost their lives in police custody under unexplained circumstances, as more and more innocent people  are being arrested on  a daily basis and detained for no reason, while the culprits walk away Scot- free in the presence of police.

Those who cannot afford to buy their freedom by offering bribe,”kitu kidogo,” stay behind bars for a long time, hence , making the productivity of the nation slow down, as those who would have helped in developing the economy, are denied the chance.

This is a request to the Kenyan government,to kindly ensure that freedom of wananchi is not taken away from them unjustly, for the benefit of selfish people.

As I mention this, tears of sorrow are rolling down my cheeks, for the situation has become more and more unbearable, very soon, I will not have a place to call home.

As a young child, I did not choose to be born and brought up in a slum called ‘Mitumba,’ where I have known for many years as my home.For quite some time,those in power have been shouting on top of their roof tops,claiming, we are living on that piece of land illegally.

These people sound strange, for when we are nearing elections, they give us empty promises, that if we vote for them, they will make sure the incoming government addresses the issue of land. We have elected several of them and up-to now, nothing has yielded fruits, and it is the same lot that wants to chase us away from the small piece of land.

These people have roughed us up for a very long time, making life unbearable to us. During the day, they throw us away, at night, they threaten us that they will set the shanties into fire,why make our lives so miserable?

If only one person in the government will stand up and declare this as evil and inhumane, then it is only God who can be on our side at the moment and  forever.

Joseph comes from a family of ten,five brothers and four sisters, two of his brothers are married, with three children each and they live in Mitumba slums.

One of his married brother’s is a car cleaner, based at Nairobi West shopping Centre while the other one works in a construction site in Mugoya. His other  sisters stayat Mitumba slums while one moved to Kibera slums.

Mwaura’s family have stories to narrate, one after another. Their parents passed away thirteen years ago,since then, they have never lived to know what luxurious life means.

They did not get a chance to go to school, having not had anyone willing to pay for them school fees, let alone something to swallow.By then, Joseph was still young, and as he grew up, he proved to be brilliant, and it was everybody’s wish in the family, that he would have a chance to make it to school. Still, the light of luck has not shone brighter on his side.

Mwaura’s dream, is to have a better education so that he may eradicate poverty their family is facing, that forced his sisters to get married off at a tender age so that they could find someone to feed them.

He is currently staying in one of the rented shanties, but paying up the rent has always been problematic, till he was forced to get engaged in the business of washing cars, so that he may cater for his basic needs.

If one day, God will answer his prayers and help him get assistance, he would be very grateful and make him quench his thirst for education.

1. It was on 22nd August when I left IYF [international youth fellowship]. Vividly so much was cooking in my mind since the memories were still fresh in my mind of imagining what it means departing with my friends that I met with during the world camp at Mahanaim Bible College, I couldn’t imagine! But God forbid! Because I thought it was the last thing I will do?.

photo by jane

However It was one of the world camp that no  youth could  afford to miss. The main objective of the international world camp was to spread the gospel all over the world where university students and college students camp together  annually.
There were lots of fun especially when it reached time for international cultural festival performances . More over,I got to learn a lot of stuff when we met with people from different races. Amazingly they also offer free classes for computer, languages and many others.

The camp was sponsored by the ministry of youth affairs and sports and ministry of tourism which showed that the government  cares for the youths of Kenyans we are the leaders of tomorrow.

photo by jane

photo by jane

Jane at Mutumba slums with her husband Allan aidorl who always works on construction sites around south c and pushes handcart part time. We started living together in the year 2008 around June.

I pay much attention to Sarah because her husband is not a member of Tuff gong youth group and I don’t have much knowledge about him Sarah stopped schooling in the year 2004 as a class seven student and began working as a house girl until the year 2007 when she started selling vegetables  in mutumba slums.

She stopped the business recently since she could not afford the rent for the place. Sarah John is a registered member of Tuff gong youth group,  we have always known her as very obedient person who obeys and respect the leadership of this group. To the best of my knowledge,  since 31^st may 2009 sarah receives support from this group as she has been very concerned with the group at all times, both in sad and happy moments.

 

Names Sarah join age a years with two kids male and female Sarah lives poorly with her two kids at where she sell vegetable because she charged by owner of the house.

Sarah has been involved in saving and loans of sh 100 weekly when she gets some money but sometimes its hard for her to save save for the same she is currently expecting to receiving her share of saving  and start to sell charcoal business.

However the member of the saving and loans she did not contribute to when their turn game will not contribute to her and this means she won’t have enough capital to begin the business she had in mind God forbid life for Sarah her two kids and husband because is more than struggle.

The kind of business she hopes or maybe thinks to begin if God hears her prayer are valued as follows the charcoals business Intial capital.

ITEMS     QNT      P/UNIT   COST    G.TOTAL
Charcoals     3           500       1500         1500
Empty vessels 20        15        300   1800
Nylon paper    2 150 300 2100
Rent             1 300 300 2400
Transport      -  450 450 2850
BRIEF DEAITAIL OF THE IN COME.

Sarah says that the business can earn her ksh 2400 every month since one sack goes in one day earning her ksh 500 net profit and assuming that she works for a month.

After joining whatever her husband may have gathered in the month Sarah is likely to become a business woman since she can save over six thousand in a month after deducting all her expenses over a month.

This business can open doors for other small business like selling paraffin, Also Sarah is very available for any information at any time Sarah hopes that God shall keep them in peace and healthy this is her humble prayer.

Here in Mitumba slums we do not live in good conditions because of the sanitation. There are no toilets, people are dying of hunger, there is insufficient water and water shortages. We have a big tank where water is brought twice a week, but there is not enough for the whole slum. Sometimes people are too old, they can not longer work. In this village, we have no permanent electricity, so we steal it from the transformer. It is really dangerous because if you don’t see the naked wire, you grab that wire, tell ugali goodbye.

About Tuff-Gong youth group, it started in the year 2000 by seven street boys. The main objective was to find something to be self-reliant, to be positive in life, and to discourage drug use and simple crimes that put one in jail. In June 2004, the group was registered with the Ministry of Youth Affairs. In Kenya you cannot work without being registered.

When police are patrolling, if you’re trying to do something as a group and you’re not registered, they can put you in jail. The club started waste management and because this was an income generating activity they needed to put this into a bank. They had to have a group registration certificate to do this.

Now we are 48 members. About 27 are active. Even now we do garbage collection in our slum. We give out paper bins, we collect garbage from houses, and then we dump them. We also do community awareness that is sensitizing the community about HIV/AIDS as well as peer to peer education.

As a youth group, we are trying to buy a tank for a water project. We went to the Nairobi water company, we wanted them to install the pipes for us. We paid for the pipes. We paid for the meter. But they told us to wait for the tank. We have waited for 8 months and we suspect they have sold our tank. We do not have legal means to push them to give us the tank because we are aware around 40 tanks were given for free to slums, but we could not get ours.

For our youth members, we hope that when the youth fund comes, they can have their own business so they can be self-reliant, or those who want to go to school will be able to make it.