Voice of Kibera

It’s Tuesday, 28th March 2023, a day after the Anti-government protests rocked Kibra and escalated to community conflict that left a Mosque along Karanja road, PCEA Kibera Church, a school and several business outlets go up in smoke’

Religious leaders from SUPKEM, NCIC, NCCK, Civil Society and Police representatives are in Kibera to bring together the warring sides and restore peace.

Raila odinga had earlier met with Nubian leaders as a way of restoring peace and reconciliation in Kibra.

On Monday 27th March, It all started with tension brewing after the motorcade of Azimio party leader Raila Odinga and his team led protesters along Kibera drive. There were reports of muggings and daylight robberies, where Citizen TV journalists fell victim to.

It is believed that a group of unidentified youths later on set ablaze the mosque along Karanja road, and this allegedly attracted a revenge act from a different group who, according to a number of eye witnesses, decided to burn down the PCEA Kibera church.

Small road side businesses lining from Karanja stage all the way to olympic were reduced to ashes, leaving residents counting heavy losses.

“My leather-sewing industrial machine worth 150 thousand, plus chairs and beds were all taken away,” narrates Gordon, a business owner at Karanja stage who had a furniture and an M-pesa shop, that were all robbed.

Several leaders across the devide have all come out to condemn this inhuman act.

Monday 20th March, Azimio coalition leaders and supporters took to the streets to protest the rising cost of living and the purported 2022 election malpractices.

The first day of the protests saw police clash with Azimio supporters nationwide, with Azimio strongholds being the most targeted.
In Kibera, teargas smoke clouded the air, with stone-peddling youths engaging the anti-riot police in a day-long running battles, even as they burnt tires and carried anti-Government slogans.

There hasn’t been any report of loss of life so far in Kibera, even as a big section of business remained shut for the better part of the day.

Azimio leader Raila Odinga announced that the protests will be taking place every Monday until the Government bows to their demands of lowering the cost of living.

Ramadhan is the most special holy month that Muslim try to make most of. It’s also believed that it is the best time to break some habits that are not bringing you closer to Allah, it’s also a month of worship, sacrifice and charity.
The unique part of Ramadhan is that all Muslims fast for 40 days except expectant mothers, nursing mothers, sick Muslims, at least children under the age of 8years and ladies who are attending their menstrual period of which are considered unclean during the days of their menses, but later required to fast for the days they missed during their menses.
I noticed that Ramadhan and Eid interchange every month in a year, and this year’s Ramadhan started on 2nd of April on Saturday 2022 and will end in the month of 2nd may 2022. During the day, fasting starts from 5:30 am and ends when the sun has set completely in the evening, at that time most Muslim like to break their fast in mosque for prayers, and later have their Iftar together as brothers and sisters so that those who don’t have anything to eat back in their houses can share and even carry some for their neighbors too.
May Allah bless all Muslims and everyone in the world especially during Ramadhan, with his forgiveness, mercy and peace, that will bring us all closer to Him and live as our brother’s keeper. AMEN

blog written by: Evelyne Awuor.

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today. We not only go to school to learn but also to get knowledge on how to see positivity in life from different angles.
If you educate a woman is like you educate the whole community and if you educate a man, he will only concentrate on his family alone. Says Director Richard Teka.

The role of the school is to shade light to the lives of these particular students by providing a quality education that will make them not only citizens in future but responsible citizen. says Principal Samuel Otieno.

We try very much to make the learning process an all inclusive process that makes it as enjoyable as possible. In order to understand the children and their challenges, to meet them at the very point of need thus helping them with the challenges that they face, we first try and understand them, and then from there we will know what will be the best thing for them. Says Principal Geofrey Ongaro.

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.
Written by; Evelyne Awuor.

The mind of a creative genius is a strange and wonderful thing. Not only have great artists created great work of art that have shaped culture and the human experience for centuries, they also have interesting insight as to why they do what they do. Most of them could say things in shapes and in colors that they couldn’t say it in any other way; these are the things that have no words to explain them better than art.

“What drove me into drawing was when I was in biology class, and my teacher noticed my drawing on curves. From that he created an art club and that’s how my journey started. Most of the time when I draw I focus on the social life, being that am born and raised in the slum. I have been attached to the social life, how people connect, how they do their activities and how we grow as a communities, I try to bring these special moments with figures into my pieces. Art is a skill and I believe it has an energy that can bring change to the community. I am an evidence on what art can do in someone’s life” says Faith Atieno.

“I have done different drawings on the wall and my favorite is the one I did on broken Kenya map while someone’s hand trying to fix it, the story behind it, is to show no matter what happens here in our country, will always find a way to fix it and as local citizens, we should not let other people take advantage of us, lets stand out and speak for ourselves, it is time to stop corruption and tribalism in our country. Drawing is just another way of keeping our diaries” says Faith Atieno.

Creativity takes courage because it enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

blog by : Evelyne Awuor.

By empowering a woman we empower a child, by educating a girl child we make it possible for her to grow up to become an empowered woman, and through this we are able to change the mindset of “what a man can do a woman can do it better” .We are in the century where competition among gender equality no longer exists in the society today. Despite everything that is going on, girl child still faces several challenges that cannot be avoided, girls should never be afraid to be smart.

“The girl child should not allow pregnancy to start a family for them, they should still focus on education” says Abdul Ali the current Mr. pads in kibra. Through this we are able to reduce teenage pregnancy in our community especially from informal settlement.
Girl child faces a lot of the challenges in accessing sanitary towels, more so in terms of the cost, one goes @50 kshs and in a day most of them need more than one packet. There have been need to have sanitary towels that can last longer, in order to meet the needs of the girls from informal settlement to overcome all odds in the slum and to educate girls on how to use reusable sanitary towel.

“Clothe pad is going to last for a long time and it will help to keep a girl in school, the same way the government have put condom for free, I suggest they should also put sanitary pads for free at any angle either in slum or rural area”. Says loreen Atieno
Girl child should be empowered through Education, Economic, political and psychologically, they are the pillar of the society continuation of life will not be possible without them if we kill a girl’s dream today we will not have a loving daughter, sister, mother or a president in future. “GIRLS ARE GOLD THAT SHOULD NOT BE SOLD BUT TO BE TREASURED IN LIFETIME”.

Written by: EVELYNE AWUOR.

Content creation is currently a thriving industry that has seen the emergence of content creators from almost all corners of our country.
But being a content creator in Kibera comes with a number of challenges that the current players are doing their best to get through and succeed.
One of the main challenges that Kibera content creators face is the fact that they come from Kibera
“People stop taking you seriously when they realize that you come from Kibera as if they don’t expect anything good to come from Kibera,” says Mc Maulee, a comedian and parody artist.
The other struggle that the content creators face is finding a godfather to hold their hands and guide them in their journey, most of them are left to do trial and error which at times is difficult in an already competitive market.

Bosire, who comes from Kianda village in Kibera and apart from comedy, also doubles up as a gym instructor, has been among the lucky few who have been able to make a small breakthrough. He was able to land an advert with infinix, after being spotted for his viral contents on Whatsapp and Tiktok platforms.

Mc Maulee is currently able to get a few local shows in Kibera and is looking forward to performing in even bigger stages nationally.
They both appeal to Kibera artists who have been able to make it, to come out and hold the hands of the up and rising content creators.

In Kibra youths have woken up, for they are the gift of nature but age is just an art of work. Recently youths are often more open to new ideas, and they like learning new skills and keeping the necessary information. The most interesting part is, they are sensitive and are susceptible to a lot of things happening around them. The energy around them shows that they are optimistic and not ready to give up and defeated no matter what comes on their way.
Young tusk, a Kibera based group that helps youths to eradicate poverty among them, is one of the successful group that has kept youths away from vices such as crime and are essential for building a bright future in the country.

“The most important thing is change and transition, if someone is ready to transit from one stage to another, why not? Every youth has a future and if you don’t make your future today, in future you’ll lose your future” says Morgan.
Our leaders today tend to think that the most challenges that the youth faces today are just materialistic things, but to my study have come to notice that most of our youths suffers from depression which is making them to live a fake lifestyle, they are challenges like an identity crisis:{WHO AM I?}, lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem:{I AM WORTHLESS}, A sense of hopelessness:{where am I going?}.To have more reform youth groups like young task not only in Kibera but in Kenya at large, the government needs to work together with the police and the local citizens in order for us to have a peaceful and friendly environment without having the feeling on the state of belonging in one’s country.

The word flood reminds me of gushing waters and it all started just with a single drop, drizon turned into rain and rain turned into our biggest fear, “THE FLOOD” I believe water will be the defining crisis of our century from drought, storm, and floods to degrading water quality. On 14/5/2021 in kibra lindi the rain floods inside and washed away people’s homes, cleaning the dark slate the worst of all some lives were brushed away.

According to the residents of lindi, it is the second time they are experiencing the same case and the main reason for the tragedy is because of the blockage in the bridge that prevents the water to overflow hence causing the flood to happen.

Titus Mulwa and Stephen Oluoch bodaboda riders were two close friends that happened to lose their lives at the same time during the heavy rain while trying to save their motorbike that was stuck in the bridge but unfortunately instead they were the ones that fell into victims.

“I only came to know that have lost my son after picking him up so that I can take him to the mortuary” said Lucia Mutemi his father. Grief is painful, especially when it comes at unexpected time, no one can explain the kind of pain it endures until you put on the same shoes. “Oluoch was a good son He has never shouted at me” said Peris Adhiambo her grandmother
Unfortunately, a property is not going to knock at your door, you have to physically make time to search for it, and put in the effort to thoroughly sweat for it, however in life you need to take some degree of risk to make the greatest gain, and it is even more heartbreaking seeing what you worked hard for, being swept away in a flow of water, something needs to be done in order to prevent breaking news in our motherland home.

• by Everlyne Awuor
  

The Thrill the Drama and chaos that was in the bedroom derby.
The much anticipated and hyped Kibra derby was back! After a year of no football in 2020 due to Covid 19 restrictions, fans and organizers could not help, but outdo all other sporting activities in the city on that day. Termed as bedroom derby, the game pitting Gogo boys and Kibra united, always promised thrill, Drama and chaos and as usual, it has never disappointed.

Seeing that the game had not been played for a while, the date 6th June was marked on every football fan calendar. Weeks of online promotion, banter and conversations saw fans engagement was too high and organizers of the event had to change venue a couple of times to focus on security crowd control and revenue generation for the home team.

What started as a rumour that fans will be charged 100 /= for entry, had set the stage for the first-ever printed Division 2 matchday tickets, which were totally sold out by 1pm on matchday. Fans had gone to various club offices and sale point but no ticket was found with rumours of over 2000 already sold out. At the gate, long queues of stranded fans, willing to pay cash were forming and at times the security was overpowered by those pushing to sneak in free.

With a full packed stadium, the game started a quarter to 4 pm on the nicely mowed lawn of Impala grounds. Both teams presented their star players with Gogo lining up with Obed and Roro while Kibra had Alolo and Oba. Fireworks were promised and that was exactly what was delivered. The first half had Gogo dominate the play, with Roro running the wings and Obed marshalling the midfield. A quick ball lobbed over the keeper set the pacy winger for a flick of the ball over the on-charging goalkeeper and headed home to an empty net, scoring the first goal on derby day. Gogo boys took the lead through Roro with a well-assisted ball from Obed.

After the break, the teams took off where they had left it. This time around it was Kibra united dominating play. Oba and Alolo were the Orchestras, with the talented Midfielder controlling the flow of the game while Oba was giving the defenders a run for their money. It wasn’t long before the ball was crossed from the right-wing after a nice dribble by Oba to be headed home by Aluong for the equalizer. The remainder of the game was a nail-biting affair but no more goals were scored sharing the spoils between the two teams.

As usual, the Kibra derby has always been a day for ‘Luku’ fresh and family day out. The fashion was on point the crowd was peaceful and the mood was festive. To the organizers thank you for a top-notch sporting event.

– Narrated By George Waweru, Pictures by Bencho Sports