A trip into Mathare Slum

We took a short drive from our comfortable guest house in a leafy suburb of Nairobi to visit the work of "Tushinde" in the slum of Mathare. The contrast could not have been greater as we drove along a new four lane highway built by the Chinese taking buses spewing with smoke and laden with people in and out of town every day. We turned off into a busy dusty road leading to Tushinde's modest offices. Here we were met by Marie, dedicated Director working hard to get Tushinde on a good and sustainable development path and by Beth and Rose, two social workers who form the backbone of Tushinde's work in this enormous sprawling slum. Later Marie gave us the following information about Mathare: -One of the largest informal settlements (slums) in East Africa and the oldest in Kenya. -On a former rock quarry that resembles a shallow bowl, 600,000 people live without running water, sewage systems, electricity, roads, or adequate housing. -Imagine the population of boston squeezed into a space 1/30 its size. -There are just 3 government schools. -1 in 3 people are HIV+ and just 1 in 10 have stable employment. They took us to visit the day care centre, a pilot project established by Tushinde which is now run independently by four women who look after around 20-25 six month to three year olds a day, six days a week. The mothers leave their children as early as 6.30 in the morning to make the journey on foot to the nearby neighbourhood of Eastleigh to try to find a day's work... cleaning houses or washing laundry. If lucky they might earn 100 Kenyan Shillings (less than one pound) per day. Of that they pay Ksh30 (£0.30/US$0.45) to the day care centre for taking care of their children, providing them with some breakfast porridge and a good lunch (which is provided free by Tushinde). We arrived at nap time and as a mother of two I was impressed that the ladies actually managed to get all 22 children to sleep at the same time...lying like sardines, one next to the other on thin mats on the floor of a room not bigger than 4m by 2m, covered by thin kangas and sheets. The children had had a good lunch, the only remaining financial support Tushinde provides to the day care centre, and so with full tummies were able to sleep well for about 1.5 hours. They have few toys or materials for the children but are lucky to have a big, safe open space outside where they can play next to a plot cultivated mainly with Sukuma, the local green veg ubiquitous in every meal. The land is provided for free by the local community women's organisation, but the rest of the costs (salaries, utencils, water and electricity) have to be covered by the daily fee the mothers pay. To be able to cover its costs the day care centre needs to be able to attract 30 children a day, although the space seems small for the 22 they already have. Thereafter we drove further into the narrow, litter strewn streets of Mathare, lined with small shacks made of corrugated iron sheets housing all manner of small businesses selling fruits, vegetables, second hand clothes, small utencils and electrical appliances and mobile phones. On every street corner you find an MPesa agent, providing the mobile money services which so many of Kenya's population depend upon to do their business and through which Tushinde's beneficiaries receive their weekly cash transfer. We left the car and walked into a muddy back alley behind the German run Hospital, stepping over open sewers, followed by giggling kids shouting "Hallo Mzungu" (white man). We stepped inside a small compound of rooms constructed of bricks with high roofs held up by wooden beams, an important step above the hot and precarious metal shacks we saw elsewhere. Here we visited Margaret*, a 23 year old girl who lost both her parents and at 15 years of age was turned out of home by the aunt that was looking after her and her sister, having sold their family's land. She came to Nairobi having only finished grade 6 at school to try to find work. Eight years later she has fallen prey to the ills of any urban slum, is HIV positive and already has three children, two of whom also have HIV. A year ago Tushinde was made aware of her case and found her emaciated, very sick with the effects of Aids and living in appalling conditions. Now, according to Marie, Tushinde's Director she is unrecognisable. She is a new person. Tushinde managed to find her this safer and more stable housing where she and her 3 children occupy one of the brick rooms. Tushinde pays her rent of Ksh1500 (£11) per month, pay for her older boy to attend school, have got her enrolled in the local nutrition programme and ensure she and her children access the Anti Retroviral Drugs they need to deal with the HIV virus. "Now", says Margaret, "all I need is to find a job. I have no-one in the world. My parents died, my sister has died, I am all alone. So all I have is these three children, and I must work for them." Without Tushinde, we may not have had the pleasure of meeting Margaret, she may not have survived her 22nd year! Our final stop was the local community school, ambitiously named "Excellence" which does an astounding job to educate more than 500 children every day, from primary up to secondary level. A steep narrow earthen alley led us into a maze of cramped metal shacks in which sat 30-40 children at a time, dressed in red chequered uniforms, five or six to a bench, five or six to a text book being taught the curriculum in English that will allow them to attain their national educational certificates and provide them with the hope of a future. This is one of the partner schools at which Tushinde is able to sponsor children to gain an education, thanks to its generous donors in the United Kingdom. So we make our way back up the winding street, Shakira's "This is Africa" blaring out of a little shop, a far cry from South Africa's shining football stadiums! We meet an older lady selling charcoal, grandmother to three or four children, their mother bedridden with the infections that accompany advanced stages of Aids. Tushinde is doing tremendous work here, for every one of the families they support. The social workers, who are recognised and appreciated by the community, do regular follow ups on all the families supported by Tushinde, providing a lifeline to women like Margaret, who would otherwise be on the streets. But it is a drop in the ocean. The needs are so great and so many and the capacity of the government services simply overwhelmed. Tushinde is working to bring about change in this slum area, one life at a time, one family at a time and is making linkages with other services and organisations and forming safety nets for these very vulnerable families, to allow them to regain some dignity and some hope for them and their children ...., Kenya's future. February 11th 2014 Fiona and Gustavo Trigo, Volunteer supporters of Tushinde, Nairobi, Kenya * (not her real name)

Tushinde helps children and communities protect themselves.

Marie: Tushinde’s in-country technical advisor was selected for a secondment to ECPAT where she coordinated and lead the Nairobi workshop. This sensitised 13 organisations and the government department, all of whom work with children in Nairobi. ECPAT is an international organisation that aims to combat child sexual exploitation. It started in Thailand in the early 1990’s after researchers for a tourism consortium first identified the problem of child prostitution in South East Asia. It has since grown and has offices all around the world. Tushinde was pleased to be involved in this as we have encountered many cases of child sexual abuse and also sense a real vulnerability in the children we work with for a multitude of reasons. The main objective of the training was to reinforce the knowledge of community professionals on sexual violence against children. This is a major issue faced by children and their families in Kenya and worldwide, especially in densely populated, low-income areas. It trained the social workers in a ‘’self-protection’’ programme to share directly with children and their families. The programme the trainees learnt to implement aims to help parents and guardians fulfil their protective roles. Of equal importance it also aims to increase awareness in both guardians and children of situations where a child could be at risk of sexual abuse. Along with all the other social workers, child protection officers and community health professionals, Beth and Ann, Tushinde’s social workers, received training certificates and a set of materials such as training manuals, flash cards and brochures. At Tushinde, we have several cases per year of children sexual abuse and we feel that prevention measures are very important. Our children in the community are vulnerable to sexual abuse for a multitude of reasons. We were very glad to be involved in such training and could see its importance. Our social workers also learned more on reaction mechanisms and how to react professionally to a case. Beth and Anne shone in the training; not only were they enthusiastic and eager to learn, but they could also share some of their prior knowledge and experiences. It was a great opportunity for them to skill share and network with other professionals. This kind of training also helps raise Tushinde’s profile in our area of intervention and allows us to improve our networking at the local level. Following the training, we implemented the programme with a first group of 15 children of Tushinde aged between 9 to 12; the sessions took place in Mathare North primary school on 2 days and both Beth and Ann demonstrated their ability to teach children those useful skills. The evaluation showed that the children learned well and overall they were very participative. More groups of children and parents will be organised in 2014.

Finding Faith

In my 37 years in the UK, despite being a nurse and working in inner city London, I didn't know personally of a single child who had gone missing for days. I didn't know a family who had had a child murdered. I didn't know of any children who had been raped. We all know it happens in Britain as we read about it in the press, but it doesn't regularly happen on a scale where the children concerned are the sons or daughters of friends or colleagues. Since being in Kenya I have encountered first hand three young girls who have been raped, one family whose daughter had been raped and murdered and three children who have been missing for days. The first of those three had a happy ending; the boy had lost his friends walking back from church. After wandering for a while an old lady took him in and eventually, after five days, he was re-united with his parents. The second child was a ten year old girl, she was abducted by a man who took her to his house, but she managed to escape. Her story is harrowing; she describes body parts of children on shelves in the room she was locked in. They never caught the man who captured her and the family have moved to a different part of Nairobi and want to put the whole disturbing incident behind them. The third child I know who has gone missing disappeared a week ago today. Faith lives in the slums of Mathare. Her parents were murdered in the post election violence in 2008 and since then, she and her five siblings have lived with their Aunt and Uncle in an area of Mathare called Kosovo; notorious for it’s violence and insecurity. Faith’s Aunt has six children of her own and all fourteen of them live in a 10’x10’ room. Rent in Kosovo is low, which is why Faith’s family have to live there. Faith’s uncle is a security guard for a local company. He gets paid 7,000 kshs a month (about £60 or $90). The Aunt looks for small jobs every day; washing clothes or cleaning shop fronts. This week though, they have had to go hungry as she has been wandering everywhere with Faith’s grainy photo asking if anyone has seen her. The background to this story is where the injustice lies. On the 24th of April this year, a woman in the neighbourhood tricked Faith into following her to a room where she was raped by a man. Faith told her Aunt who got the woman arrested, but the man escaped. It is well known that men from wealthier areas come to Kosovo and other slum areas looking for sex with children. Someone paid a bribe at the jail and the woman was set free. She triumphantly told the Aunt ‘I have rich people behind me, you won’t get me’. After being raped, Faith was taken to the clinic where she was given all the correct treatment to lower her risk of getting HIV or any other STD. Her family kept a close eye on her, but they let their guard down for a few minutes last Sunday and she was gone. We have been to the police station where they have recorded the missing child. On the notice board in the reception there were handwritten notes on scraps of paper for six other missing children. Two six year old girls and four boys aged 1,2,3 and 9 years. The disinterest of the officer was unsettling. Since recording Faith’s disappearance last Sunday (the family went to the police station straight away) they have done nothing to follow up the case. They haven’t been to the house, or interviewed neighbours. They haven’t searched anywhere. We are trying our best. We have printed out a flyer and posters. Today the Aunt and I put the poster up at bus stops, inside buses and gave the leaflets out to passers by. I left the Aunt heading to a different side of the slums to do the same. I have printed out more, so she can do the same tomorrow. What more can we do? When the justice system favours the rich instead of the wronged and the paedophile above the innocent child, what hope is there for Faith? We will continue and, who knows, perhaps we will find a policeman who will help us with our plight and actually start searching the area and arresting the right people and keep them in jail. Maybe then, we’ll get our Faith back.

Two days until the election.

Last election, Mathare was one of the hotspots of violence. Maps of the area prior to the election and after it bear testimony: Whole neighbourhoods disappeared. The fighting was along tribal lines, many lives were lost. The authorities came in and restored calm but not without further loss of life. Many people lost their homes. Others went missing in that hot and dusty January and were never seen again. Children witnessed disturbing, violent crimes, sometimes against someone they knew. Women and children were sexually assaulted. Matharians refer to the period as ‘The Chaos’. As an NGO working in Kenya, Tushinde has been advised not to say anything about the coming election on the 4th that could be seen as political. The papers have many stories about ‘peace camps’ and peace meetings’. People are really trying. Kenya is still awaiting the trial at the International Criminal Court of those accused of organising the post election violence in 2008, the same people who are running for government on Monday. All we can say is that we work with 65 families, supporting almost four hundred children in the area. Many have left and gone to stay with relatives, at a considerable cost that they can’t afford, whilst also losing their earnings over the period. Others have moved within Mathare to areas that are dominated by their own tribe. We are left with six families we are worried about; families that are the ‘wrong’ tribe in the ‘wrong’ area. These families are too sick, too poor or too old to move. One Mama has fallen on hard times these past few months and in very behind on rent, if she tried to move the landlord would confiscate all her belongings. She has six children, the youngest is five months old. Two other grandmothers both lost their homes in the chaos last time. One had to get her home back using the chief, the other eventually got her one-roomed shack back but it had been gutted. They both have insisted that they want to stay, for them it’s a matter of principal. We have told all these families not to worry about their furniture, if they sense trouble, get out. For the sick ones; get in a taxi, we’ll pay whatever he charges at the other end. We have organised a safe point where we will be there to meet them. We can send money if needed through the mpesa system. If there is no food in Mathare, we will be giving out food parcels to our families at the safe point. In the meantime, spare a thought for our families and hope or pray that the coming week is peaceful.

Back in the slums and it isn't any better.

I have had a busy summer as a mum and haven't really had a chance to do any of the community side of our work. We did, however manage to do some fundraising and two Tushinde events in the UK raised over £3,000 combined. A big thank you to everyone who helped.

The events also generated lots of enthusiasm and interest as well as finding five new sponsors (659 left to be sponsored!).

My break from volunteering in the slums though, had made me less focused and my enthusiasm less fervent. Today I was back though and it only took one house visit to remind me why I care so much.

We are following up children who had scored as 'severely underweight' from our nutritional survey day back in March. It seems that often children go hungry if there are school fees to pay for older children who are at seconday school, but not in Mogra.

Mary is one such child. She is six and a half years old and lives with her parents. They lived in a one roomed house with a bare concrete floor and no furniture; my friend and I were given plastic buckets to sit on. They had a bed but with no mattress. Mary sat on the floor, her little skinny legs infront of her and her head drooped, she appeared to have a real sadness about her. Mary's elder sister, Irene did very well in primary school, finishing with a score high enough to get her into one of the prestigous government sponsored secondary schools. However, her family have struggled with paying the fees of £100 a term and she was thrown out two weeks ago.

Mary had another sister, Jacinta who was attacked and raped last year. Her injuries were so severe that she died at home two days later; the family had no money to take her to hospital. She was only seven years old. It was a real struggle to hold back the tears when I heard this; I pretended to be consumed in writing the details on my sponsorship paper, but I was keeping my head down until my eyes were dry. I know the slums are insecure and children are vulnerable. I have seen posters around with details of lost children and heard various horror stories, but I had never really though about it with empathy - being abducted, raped or murdered was just another risk to children in Mathare.

Today made me think differently; not only does little Mary have to live with hunger and poverty, sleeping on a concrete floor every night, but she will always carry with her the loss of her sister. We can help her with food and education, we will take her eldest sister into our secondary school, so her parents don't have to worry about fees. My friend and I are going to buy them some mattresses. But we will never be able to remove the injustice that was done to her sister and her family.

On a brighter note; the new kitchen in the school is coming along well and will be well and truly ready for the improved feeding programme to start on Monday 4th October. We plan to maintain the porridge programme and to improve the quality and size of servings of food at lunchtime every day. It won't just be maize and beans day in, day out, there will be meat and fruit too. Now we have secured funding to protect our feeding programme for the next two years, we can work on improving all other aspects of the school and further helping the community it serves.

A Flock of Sheep & Some Turkeys

Was at the orphanage first thing this morning, reading through case studies of all the children that have not received sponsorship, putting together each "story" (seems such an awful word to use when speaking of a child's reality) so that Megan can deal with each sponsorship quickly as they come in ...there is a lot for this amazing woman (angel, actually) to be trying to achieve on her own & so hope to help her set up as much as poss before I go home next week.

I still stand in complete awe of these children, seeing their past written in black & white to then walk out of the office into a warm bath of smiling children ...to believe what I am speaking of can only be gained by experiencing it.

I had taken my camera with me to take individual photos for sponsors & some snaps of the children busy with their art ...the children LOVE the camera ...real gorgeous little posers! who then have to see their photo I realised that maybe they have not ever seen their own reflection.

We added another animal to our farm today ...a turkey ...the wall already looks amazing, even though "Old Mcdonald" only owns a flock of sheep & turkeys so far *smile* ...the children asked me if we could give "Old Mcdonald" a wife ...really made me laugh.

I then got out the playdoh ...after quite a cool drum session on the tubs *smile* (mental note to make musical instruments) which after explaining it was not to eat, they got the jist & made incredible little models of people, animals & little babies in cradles ...was a real shame to have to squash them & put the play doh back in the tubs ...I am now on a mission for clay!

And ...yep, the morning did include the good old "hokey cokey" at demand ...who needs jogging when you have the hokey cokey *grin*


Michelle Roberton - Jones

Old McDonald

Was greeted this morning with an abundance of cuddles & smiling faces. The children seem to never stop smiling & are always eager to hold hands, welcome me with a "hi, how are you?" & carry anything I may be holding.

Last week I decided to teach the younger class that stay at the orphanage every day, the song "Old Mcdonald" ...I have broken it down, so last week we talked about farmers, & drew "Old Mcdonald" ...today we took the song a step further by introducing the first animal, a sheep. This was great fun!! I had bought more sticks of glue, (as patient as they were last week sharing only 2 sticks, I decided to buy more) and cotton wool ...well, needless to say they had lots of fun making pictures of woolly white sheep as we went over the song ...I think most of us had as much cotton wool stuck to our fingers as the pictures.

"Brian" who has not yet interacted, made a picture today & held my hand ...felt very humbling.

I have asked the teacher if we can display "our farm" up in the hall, as the walls of the classroom are made of very rough concrete blocks & it is very difficult to stick anything to them. I am looking forward to seeing the children's faces as they watch the song & all their beautiful art build up.

They are all really enjoying circle songs & stories with repetition that they can join in with.

Tonight Megan has made play dough, which I will be taking in with me tomorrow ...something the children have never seen, yet alone played with.

I have a huge feeling I am going to miss these amazing little souls when I go home.


Michelle Roberton - Jones

Mogra's First Volunteer

My time so far at Mogra ...29th of April 2010

Was not sure I would get here ...my flight was cancelled on the 22nd due to the volcanic ash ...I sat at home patiently *grin* not bugging the air flight company to much ...and so arrived here the early hours of Monday morning to be greeted by the gorgeous Megan with a ready made name tag & "wow wee" heat ...this is their coldest season apparently, the locals wearing coats & suits while I am close to passing out *smile*. We drove straight to the orphanage, greeted by shy faces eager to help me to my "home" for the next 18 days...

On the morning of day two I just wanted to run home to be honest, I found myself wanting to help so much and feeling pretty useless, so many children and not enough pairs of arms to give them all cuddles ...to top my low mood the water run out... this is my first time in Kenya, in fact pretty much my first time anywhere ...an adventure now my own four children are old enough to leave for a while...

But how could I stay grumpy for long with so many sun beam smiles waiting for me ...to them the orphanage is paradise compared to the horror stories the children have come from ...beaten, bitten, tied up, burnt, fed as a tied up dog, left on the streets, all suffering from malnutrition & a huge lack of love. Yet here they all are so ready to give love!!!

I spent the morning with the under tens who do not yet walk to school (the children are woken at 430 every morning to have breakfast so that they can walk the hour journey to begin school at 7, come sun or African downpour they walk). I showed them flowers I had picked, we talked about gardens ...I had bought with me tissue paper & crepe paper in glorious colours ...their faces lit up when they saw the paper rainbow before them, spending much time just feeling the texture of the paper ...each child created a garden of flowers... spending so much time in being precise ...I felt it was important that they were shown that I was proud of them & that they were given the opportunity to be proud of their work too ...so together we displayed the work on the bare walls of the classroom ...another magic moment *smile*

That evening after the long walk home from school I was bombarded ...literally *grin* with what seemed to be hundreds of children, I had bought them a skipping rope so we skipped ...yes I skipped too ...played stuck in the mud, hide & seek ...& I taught them the "hokey cokey." I don't think I have ever felt this way ...like being bathed in a warm endless shower of love that demands & expects nothing in return.

The centre is clean, pretty bare, & some children have to share beds ...so much has been done for the children & yet so little, walking in with new eyes I see there are ways in which I can help change a tiny patch of the world ...teaching the staff of the importance of bedtimes & sleep, the importance of health & last but not least how to nurture the children with play, songs, & stories... which reminds me ...their voices when they sing ...Wow ...never before have I heard a sound that reaches deep into the core of me & brings such peace.

The water does not matter anymore, nor does trying to wash my hair in a cold bucket ...I see how I thought I was a certain person to find I am not ...what does water matter, when here I can share all my love with no restrictions or rejection or "British closed ways" ...I can be me, know that is accepted & in my sharing of who I am I am blessed with love a million fold.

I am blessed to be here, I agree with the children this is paradise!!!


Michelle Roberton - Jones