When frustration sets in

In addition to James wanting money for his part in our project, it seems everyone else in Kibera does too. Bernard and Chris have negotiated to be given an allowance for every day that they basically do anything during construction. The community residents think we are not paying enough for construction jobs, despite the fact that we are paying average wages for jobs in Kibera, and they are upset that we cannot have all 90 interested workers work every day of construction.

Unfortunately, KDI is a small firm with relatively little money for an American NGO. So we just don’t have enough funding to give everyone as much money as they want. Unfortunately, big NGOs have a reputation for paying inflated prices for labor. Because Kenyan, and particularly Kiberan, labor is so cheap by American standards, many groups can afford to pay 400 shillings ($5) a day to unskilled laborers, and 600 shillings ($7) to skilled laborers. But when you multiply the extra 100 or 200 shillings a day by the number of workers, it can quickly add up to a few thousand dollars, and we don’t have that kind of wiggle room in our budget. But I was touched by the older guy who came to the community meeting and stood up in front of everyone to say that he thought we were paying too much – because this project is for the community, and it will improve all of their lives in the long run. So in his opinion, it is up to the community to take ownership of the project and not be angry about the wages, which are still pretty good for residents of Kibera. Eventually, we talked the community around to that idea, however grudgingly.