Slum Tours in Kenya, Kibera Slum Tours, Nairobi Slum Tours

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VSS 65X - Kibera Slums Tour
(A tour of Africa's Second largest slum in Nairobi Kenya)

This is ranked the second largest slum is sub Saharan Africa second to Soweto slums in South Africa. The name 'Kibera' is a Nubian word for 'forest.' The original settlers were Sudanese soldiers who settled there after fighting for the British in World War One. The Kibera Slums is located in an area 5 Kilometers South East of City Centre Nairobi. It is the most populated informal settlement in East Africa, housing about one third of Nairobi's population.

Kibera is divided into nine official villages, each with its own Village Elder. They are: Gatwekera, Kianda, Soweto, Kisumu Ndogo, Lindi, Laini Saba, Siranga/ Undugu, Makina, and Mashimoni. These villages, excludes Raila centre which rest on the northern half of the valley east of the Nairobi Dam.

Kibera is roughly 2.5 Kilometers squared with an estimated population of over 1 million people. There are no permanent residential buildings over a single storey. The average home size in Kibera is 3 meters by 3 meters, with an average of five persons per dwelling. Urban services such as water or sanitation are minimal. There is an average of one pit latrine for every 50 to 200 people, save to the new latrines recently built by donors. A biogas plant is under construction in Kibera which will use human waste as its raw material for the production of gas for both cooking and lighting 200 households once it is fully operational.

Drinking water is sold to the inhabitants in plastic containers after it has been pumped through metal and plastic pipes along side sewage trenches. These trenches carry refuse and human waste to the river at the base of the valley. The river then runs into Nairobi Dam. Both the river and the dam are used for recreation (e.g. swimming) and resource (e.g. bathing; clothes washing). The plastic pipes are brittle and exposed, often breaking, to be repaired without care for sanitation. That is, these pipes are jammed or taped back together often without being cleaned, creating suitable habitat for water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid.

Health Services and Sexual Education are minimal in Kibera. There are several individual and NGO run health clinics within the slum .Health mobile clinics are frequently conducted by the health NGO's and the government. Many people living in urban areas in Kenya are either HIV positive or have AIDS.

Housing in Kibera, it is sad to note that many Kibera slum dwellers are tenants to those living within and outside the slums. 90 % of the residents in Kibera are tenants who are not able to pay for their monthly rents regularly. Thanks for the UN - Habitat for constructing the New 600 units at the Kibera decanting site. The construction is underway. Hopefully, the buildings will be occupied by the Kibera residents many of whom cannot pay their rents currently. They are expected to sublet other rooms in order to meet the monthly rent for the new houses once they occupy them. Good luck.

There are few schools within the Kibera slum run by well wishers. These schools are run by donations from individuals and corporate bodies which occasionally donate items like: food, books, and desks, pens, building materials and teacher's salaries for the volunteer teachers. The case study is the Baraka Za Ibrahim Children Centre which is a school offering education to kids as from pre - unit, primary upto secondary level on charitable basis. All activities are run by donations from well wishers. Orphan children are accommodated within the centre which also offers boarding facility in tiny iron sheet rooms. A small kitchen is in place for the preparation of lunches and supper. The Classrooms, kitchen, boarding rooms, toilets, mud walled staff room, children playing ground are all crowded in an area of about 1 acre of land.

"Imagine that one day you wake up and find that Kibera does not exist and that that the tin roofed mud houses have all been replaced with permanent tiled roofed housing fitted with all basic human amenities including sewerage and sanitary facilities, tarmac roads and it is the same inhabitants of the tin roofed houses occupying the New housing facilities and that Kibera is a New Kibera."

Kibera Slums Excursion Tour - 4 hours

"This is a four hour excursion tour of Kibera slums. This tour is recommended for a business traveler(s), church missionary, a journalist(s), and a business executive who would like to have a quick feel of slum life in Kenya. Or it can be done before or after a normal safari as part of a City Tour. This excursion is famous for those who would like to visit Kibera slums as first visitors and it is preferred for both the foreigners and the Kenyan populace who have never visited the Kibera Slums or those who will want a repeat of the Kibera Slums"

9am - 1 pm - Nairobi City Centre - Kibera Slums

This is an escorted tour which starts  at 9am from your destination/hotel from the city centre and goes through the Ngong road past Uchumi Supermarket, turn left just next to the Nakumatt Supermarket. Pass by the DO headquarters through to Bombolulu stage where you start to decend into the three (3) kilometer Main Kibera slum road. Visit the Soweto Village homesteads, and then continue to the Curio (handcrafts) Workshop where you will witness how those living in the Kibera slums are innovative in making ornaments out of animal bones. Continue with visits of the Nursery schools and pass by to see the Water vender and the Shower shop as you meet other slum dwellers mingling with you as they carry on with their daily chores. Turn right past the roadside fish mongers into the Biogas plant, the only one of its kind in Africa which will use human waste as its raw material in the production of Biogas which will be used as cooking gas as well as lighting about 200 households once it is accomplished and commissioned.

Proceed to the Baraka Za Ibrahim School which is a charitable school, run with the donations from well wishers and caters for lower and upper levels of education starting from Nursery to Secondary level. It has boarding facilities for few Orphaned boys and girls, a small kitchen and a laboratory not to mention a ramshackle over crowded staff room in the centre of  this tiny overcrowded institution.

Proceed to the other homesteads including those of the tour guides and security team members and witness their life styles in the slums. Pass by a popular pub within the slum for a drink, if you so wish, and pass over the bridge unto the Railway line. You may be lucky to witness the train pass on the railway line amidst the tin roofed houses with human beings and animals (goats, dogs, chickens crossing the railway line at the same time). Cross the railway line into the Centre housing the sick and share your moment with these deserving mothers and children of the slum.

End the tour with your decision as to where you will donate the profits of your tour. Our tour manager and tour guide will then hand over to you the profits for you to donate to a deserving project/activity of your choice.

Return to the City Centre or your hotel ready for lunch before your formal departure to the next destination.

End of services. (This Tour can be tailor made and extended as per the requirement of the client)

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Kibera Slum Tours