Time for Change - A week in Kibera
Kibera is an overwhelming spot on this earth. With estimates of over 1 million people, and little or no sanitation, water, or other public services, it is often frightening or revolting. But it is also home to dear men, women, and children who desperately need justice and encouragement. Our last week was spent in these slums and we learned so much from our journey.

Today we woke up early and met with members of the Kibera Youth Self-Help Group. They provided tools and outfits for our team, and we went to work dismanteling a stinking trash heap just off one of the main streets in the northern corner of Kibera. The slum is unrecognized, so the government generally ignores the population - instead providing services and support to the other wealthy neighborhoods. Recently the city informed the people that the one garbage truck in the area had broken down - so the already trashed slum was teeming with refuse.

We were spending our week with Mama Margaret and the team of Tenderfeet Children's Center, and she suggested that we do the service project on our final day with her.

The photo above is of Anya Holcomb helping scoop the trash onto the rolling carts that are everywhere in the slum. The photo below is of the trash heap when we started a little after 9 in the morning.

The photo that comes next is when our work was done at about 1:30 PM - several hours later and many water bottles and sodas later. The work was very exhausting, and somewhat humiliating carting large loads of foul smelling trash through the streets to one of the dumping sites.

The local population at first made fun of us and shook their heads in amazement. But by the end of the day we would get encouragement all along the way to the dump spot. Somehow the word got out that we were involved in the project, and on the last run Doug, Anya, Dana, Nick, and a few other Kibera locals were stopped by the Municipal Council of Nairobi. They threatened to arrest the team for picking up trash without a permit.

Doug and Nick argued that this was the responsibility of the local government, and that they needed to come pick up the trash - the people were suffering. Doug then offered to be arrested for picking up the trash and was ready to board the vehicle. The council members realized how rediculous their position was, and drove off. At that same time a garbage truck finally arrived!

It was a good realization of how the people in the slum are mistreated. They have little or no rights, and the city and government ignore them except to tax them and to take bribes for the illegal industries that thrive in the winding mud streets. Our interviews opened up this world to our team and we began to feel the pain of the injustice of the system.

We ended our time in Kibera praying for the team there and that God would break down the corruption and bring hope to our new friends there who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. Despite being trapped many continue to give thanks to God who is in control of each person's day to day lives. It was very inspiring being around the faith of the Kibera locals.

We walked around a large chunk of Kibera during our past week, but after checking the area maps we realized that we only were exploring a tenth of the slum. Kibera is huge, and each little rusted tin roof is home to dozens of people with so many sad stories of unemployment, AIDS, lack of education, corruption, and other illegal activities.

When we were in one of the homes we were interviewing a lady who sold an illegal brew out of her home. She attended church and prayed at times, but reasoned that it was better to sell this brew than have her family go hungry. Several customers came by while we were there, and eventually a plain clothes policeman stepped in for his regular bribe. It was so powerful seeing the whole situation unfold before us.

We walked many miles with our good host Mama Margaret.

We also met the young and energetic Shadrack who is in need of brain surgery. Dax Mitchell, a friend from Texas, is heading up the effort to see Shadrack have a successful surgery.