-2nd most populated town in Africa (1st is Jo'burg)
-featured in the movie "The Constant Gardener"
-1 toilet per 100 people
-over 20% of its population has HIV
-4/5 residents are unemployed
-2.5 square kilometers which has 1/4 to 1/3 of the population of Nairobi
-density = 300,000 people per square km
Today was day #2 of orientation where they director of our volunteer program -Joe- takes us into the Kibera slums and to an orphanage. The other volunteers were very honest in that it is not a day that settles easily on your mind. However, naively, i felt confident that my previous travelling experiences had prepared me and I was aware of the living conditions I was about to see. This all could not be further from the truth. I find that some of us are so desensitized to hardship and poverty etc. because we do talk about it. however the conversation could go something like this "do you know there are starving kids in Africa... yeah its so terrible... so what are you doing tonight?"
I had tremendous issue with the nature of this visit in the first place. The Lonely Planet says its best I think in that "go to see humanity living in depressed conditions has a zoo like quality to it that is impossible to dismiss".. This is exactly how I felt as we drove along the "main highway"which is a dirt road with massive bumps and pot holes more fit for a quadbike course then a car...
We 1st wen directly to Tunza's Children home where we were greeted by Mama Tunza. The orphanage houses nearly 90 children in 3 bedrooms with no more than 30 beds. The 2 or 3 10x20 classrooms are what 304 children call school. Small children sleep 3 or more to a bed and older children atleast 2 to a bed. The bedrooms are wall to wall bunk beds that smell of urine and other terrible odors.
After the initial tour we were then escorted to a sitting room where Mama Tunza told us "the history" of the orphanage. While I try hard not to be hardened by the attempt for donations here, this was clearly a rehearsed speech filled with attempt to largely stretch the truth to ellicit an emotional response and therefore a donation, which I have a very strong belief will never actually make it to the children. After we were awkwardly shown a donations book which "tracks" cash donations and showed how they were spent (with pencil and no reciepts). I walked out of the orphanage clearly affected and bothered by living conditions but turned off from giving a donation based on the way it was set op.
To not make this take away from the expereince is challenging when clarifying the facts with other volunteers. It was so unfortuante and shocking that this women appeared to be exploiting orphans for her own financial and personal gain. Perhaps I am wrong, but when 20 people walk away feeling the same way after seperate visits... and all are unwilling to give a dime to the organization because of the amount of distrust... something is not right.
After leaving the orphanage we drove through Kibera for about an hour staring at children running in the garbage filled streets with no shoes and houses made of four slabs of sheet metal. The children were adorable, each smiling big yelling "how are you?" as we drove by. The adults were understandably less welcoming.
After we had a fabulous lunch and returned back to Zambezi for the evening. That evening we ironically watched Slumdog Millionaire. The movie gave a story to every face I had seen earlier that day and was very difficult for me to watch. While I truly enjoyed the movie, I found myself tieing the story line to the children in Kibera and was genuininly unsettled. I would hate to attach the cliche of how this day made me appreciate my life etc but it certainly ellicited a far greater emotional response than I expected or was prepared for.
