Week 3 Protests in Nairobi

Another image from the garden I wrote about last week

Last year there were huge protests in Nairobi to the government raising taxes. They are known as the Gen Z protests and they culminated on June 25 when they stormed the legislative buildings. 60 people lost their lives in that protest. This year to commemorate the lives of the 60 young people that died last year, there was planned peaceful marches all across the country. The problem? Well, just before I arrived a blogger that was critical of the police died in police custody. There have been protests regularly about police brutality since I have been here. Police brutatlity is a thing here. I saw video footage of a couple officers shooting an unarmed man point blank in the head at a protest. It looked completely unprovoked--I mean maybe he said something, but his actions were not threatening--he was walking away from them and he wasn't even one of the protesters. He was a hawker selling face masks. Those policemen have been arrested. So you had this stuff about police brutality simmering already before the June 25th commemoration. Unfortunately, it too became deadly. At least 16 people were killed. There are still roads that are barricaded as a result. Basically it hasn't been safe for me to go to the city centre since I have been here. 

These are not my pictures--just some of the striking images I saw related to this event

My school made me sign up for this International SOS app that sends me warnings any time there is any potential for danger. And apparently sent me messages and  CCed my school's study abroad department. They sent a message of "fatal unrest during anti government protests" and asked if I was okay. They must've texted me, because I never got a message and I have a different number and SIM while I am here. So yeah, l worried my school a little bit. But we stayed in on Wednesday. I ordered food on uber eats and it took over an hour for it to get to us--and I ordered late. We didn't get our food until almost 10:30. And then I was told to stay in on Thursday too. It wasn't so bad for me because I had to spend both days writing the report. I finally got the first draft done and now I have a bunch of things I need to fix. It was pretty hard for me to go back to it, but now I have faced and am working on it again. It feels like I will never finish. But I think it has been pretty boring for the kids. 

Besides working on this report I have been doing work with Mathare Roots. They are a youth-led grassroots organization that operates in Mathare which is one of the many areas of informal housing in Nairobi. I read, while working on my report that 60 % of Nairobi's population lives in informal housing. My first day there, the leader had another girl show me around and take me to her house. That was awkward. It would have been easier with a companion. I can't adequately describe what Mathare is like. On the drive there, you just can tell you are in a much poorer part of town. The streets are so busy with people walking around, others set up at little stalls selling everything, and men pulling wagons--they look like modern handcarts--sometimes stacked unbelievably high with things like potatoes or water. Every now and then on the drive you pass a huge pile of garbage that people are picking through to get plastics that they can sell. Also, there is always smoke and burning.

Mathare itself is an informal settlement so the streets are lined with ramshackle shacks and so many people. Sharon's "house" was in an apartment building, but not like anything you can imagine. I had to duck to enter the building, there was no lighting in the corridor or up the stairs--it was pitch black--we had to use our phones. The house was a small room with a bunk bed where she sleeps with her mom and sister. The walls and ceiling were corrugated metal held supported by rough logs. Her dad sleeps in a different room because there is not enough room in that one for him. I had a little visit with her and her parents and then we walked back through the neighbourhood. People were staring and little children ran up to shake my hand or waved at me. Some men approached to ask for money. And there was garbage everywhere. Plastic is ground into the ground everywhere. There were goats and chickens roaming around and eating the garbage. (goats were eating the garbage not the chickens.)

A big project that Mathare roots is working on is called Mto wangu which translates to be "my river." The mathare river runs right through the settlement and is so polluted. Sharon tells me that raw sewage is dumped into it and it smells like it. On one side of the river they cleaned up all the garbage and built a play ground and a little outdoor community area with a little gazebo like structure and planted trees. They also have started a little urban farm there. It is in stark contrast to the other side of the river which I think the government owns. I have seen the before pictures. I will try to share them on here so you can see. 

On Saturday's they have kids events and I was encouraged to bring the kids, so I did. Yesterday it was just Malachi because Elizabeth had a young women's activity. I showed up with Malachi at the arranged time and had to wait at least a good 15 minutes for Sharon to come. (Apparently that is a cultural thing). We walked down to the community area where they were cooking for the children. There are some women in the organization that cook lunch for around 200 kids every Saturday. They were cooking over an open fire. We waited for a long time for Austen to show up with  some paint. Sharon said this is what happens when she has to work with boys--they are always late. :)

After around an hour Austen came with half a can of paint and one paint brush. Today's event we were to paint picnic tables with the kids. Sharon, by the way is always wearing very clean white footwear. That day she was also wearing what looked to be a brand new white shirt. I thought she was very brave to paint with little kids that way. She told me she was just careful. They did manage to get one more giant paintbrush from a little shop across from the playground that didn't really fit into the can, but they made it work. Many kids gathered around to paint--Malachi got a couple of turns. The kids there treat him like a celebrity. There was a group of giggling girls around him and followed us when we left. He thought they were very annoying and bratty. haha. 

I took this when there weren't as many kids around. And no, Austen is not actually holding the paint can over Malachi's head. Note all the garbage across the river.

Last Saturday we participated in the Saturday library day. The library was built by UFV students. It is a small room with some shelves with books that the children seem quite eager to look at and read. Many children come there to do their homework. Sharon asked me to tell the kids a story so I told them the story of Sambo. Then she told them the story again in Swahili. They were given some paper and pencils to draw from the story or anything else. Malachi quickly gave up and so Lizzie started drawing. Soon she had a circle of little girls around her watching her draw and then trying to copy her. One of the little girls started playing with both of our hair. She had a cough and that was the most disturbing part to Elizabeth. After that we walked to a neighbouring area where they had a big event to give away pads for girls. Many girls can't afford pads. We went there at noon (when it was supposed to start). It didn't start until 2:15.  As part of the event, one of the organizers got up and explained the menstrual cycle and early symptoms of pregnancy. Apparently a lot of girls don't know. We watched a short video about girls in Kenya. 64% of girls in Kenya can't afford pads. In the video it said often their parents don't care and so they go to the shopkeeper who will give them pads if they sleep with him. Teen pregnancy and HIV is really high in Kenya.

I am doing other stuff with Mathare roots too. I had a meeting with them and UN-Habitat about international youth day. I have been assigned to work with some of the other people on the team to come up with a concept note for the event. The UN is hosting it in Kenya this year and they want Mathare to do something in their neighbourhood as well. I am going to be running a workshop where I help them write their CVs and to become more employable (unemployment is really high in Kenya). Aside from the leader of Mathare, who does some work for the UN, all the other people I have interacted with are volunteers. And I am supposed to help them with their urban farm. This needs to happen actually, for them to get some funding (and me as well)

 

I am so amazed by what I see happening in Mathare. There are these people that are living in such abject poverty yet they are doing so much to improve their community. Sharon told me that a lot of the people that I see sitting around in Mathare are drunk and that we passed a place where they were making their own alcohol. The children in the area have so much against them, but whenever I see them, they are lively and cheerful. My first week there I attended an event celebrating the day of the African child. Some classes from the nearby school were there. Children participated without reservation. One class did a skit about the harm of doing drugs that got a lot of the other children laughing. Other classes gave speeches--they were so energetic. One class sang--it was actually such a cultural experience for me. I witnessed some things that I had only seen in documentaries. Every now and then a drunk man would wander into the performance area and have to be pulled away. One man kept approaching a little girl that was doing a dance. He kept trying to give her money but she didn't want it. Finally she accepted it so he would leave. It was cool seeing them dance. I could watch that all day. 

So now you know a little about what I'm doing here. I hope I didn't bore you.