Kibera Slum Water Shortage

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Kibera Slum Water Shortage

Posted by Kibera Slum Community Outreach Program on Saturday, March 31, 2012

Its now a week since the Kibera Slum water supply was cut by the Nairobi City Council who blame the cartels operating water kiosks in the slum for interfering with the water supply to the 3rd Battalion of Kenyan Army Barracks

which is adjacent to the slum. On my walk in and around the slum, i met with people moving up and down looking for the precious commodity, most taps are dry and no signs of the supply resuming soon. With water no life and it has interfered too with the operation and services in our program. But we pray that God will make a way.

Report by PrinceKagwetha Daniel

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Kibera Slum Community Outreach Program

Nairobi

Kibera Slum Community Outreach Program (KISCOP) was birthed in the year 2006 in the sprawling slums of Kibera in Nairobi Kenya. This was after we realized that a great number of children and the people of Kibera slum community were not enjoying their basic human rights as spelled out in our national constitution such as the right to education, food, shelter, health and sanitation among other related basic rights. This is as a result of high level of poverty and illiteracy. The program has been operating under the banner and affiliation of the Nairobi Christian Outreach Center for the last six years. Beginning this year the program has transformed into a fully operational community based organization(CBO) and has applied for registration with the relevant authority under it's own constitution and rights.

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http://kiscop.yolasite.com/

Kibera slum is located in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest and the poorest African slum with a population of around one million covering about some 250 hectares of land.The name “Kibera” is derived from kibra, a Nubian word meaning “forest” or “jungle.”

The slum originated in 1918 as a Nubian soldiers’ settlement in a forest outside Nairobi, with plots allotted to soldiers as a reward for service in the First World War and earlier wars. For some reason, though, the British never gave the Nubians the title deeds to their new land. The soldiers built homes, and set up businesses. But they were squatters - with no legal rights.

After Kenyan independence in 1963, however, various forms of housing were made illegal by the government, rendering Kibera unauthorized on the basis of land tenure. Essentially, since the early 1970s landlords have rented out their property to a significantly greater number of tenants than legality permits. Since the tenants, who are extremely poor, are unable to obtain or rent land that is “legal” according to the Kenyan government, the slum-dwellers find the rates offered to be comparatively affordable. The number of residents in Kibera has increased accordingly despite its unauthorized nature.