First Impressions & Introductions

My first impression of Kenya was mainly how dirty it is. There is no trash collection, so it mostly either ends up by the side of the road, or people burn it. As a result, there is a lot of trash by the road, and some of it smokes. Also, many of the cars are diesel or just really dirty, so there is a lot of smoke from them. Many of the roads are unpaved, and few have actual sidewalks, so we’re usually just walking along the side of the road and trying to avoid being run over. Kibera is extremely crowded and noisy, with many tiny stalls where people sell all sorts of goods and services. It is also overrun with trash to a far greater degree than the rest of Nairobi, and with no regular sewage system, you can probably imagine how it smells.

The first few days of work were extremely busy. On Sunday we went to Kibera to play football with the members of Ushirika wa Usafi (Cooperation for Cleanliness), a community building organization that carries out projects to improve sanitation in Kibera. Ushirika is also a partner with KDI in the second public space project. After that we went to a community meeting at the first public space, where the leaders of each group involved in the site updated Chelina, the director of KDI and my boss, on the progress they have made in furthering their projects since she has been gone. She also introduced the other three interns, who will be working closely with groups from the first project, and me, even though I won’t be spending much time there.

Jean is working with the KiKi Women Weavers, a group of women who harvest water hyacinth, an invasive species, from the Nairobi Dam, which is just a short walk from the site. They then weave the hyacinth into baskets which they sell to tourists and wholesale markets and even online. Right now they are having some difficulty finding outlets to sell their baskets, although they have had some luck selling on Etsy. Jean’s job will be to find fairs and other venues where the women can make contacts with shopkeepers and others who will be able to buy their baskets, as well as to get them more comfortable with using the internet so that they can sell online unassisted.

Chase is working with the New Nairobi Dam Committee (NNDC Group). They are growing produce and making compost which they can sell. Like KiKi, NNDC has been having trouble finding outlets for their products. However, in just the last two days, Chase has overseen the realization on the part of one group member that he could easily sell a large amount of produce to shopkeepers at a profit to the group and himself. With the compost, the challenge will be creating standardized packaging so that it is easy to sell. There is also the difficult of needing a name for their product – although there are tourists and Americans who would buy baskets or produce on the strength of the feel-good story of empowerment, for each one there are probably 20 Kenyans who would never buy something they associate with Kibera, since they do not want to support people who they see as lawless hooligans. So balancing the need to appeal to these two groups will be a challenge for both Jean and Chase.

Aidan is a film student, so his project is to create a documentary of the projects KDI has been working on in Kibera. Much of his job will be following each group around and conducting interviews. Although he will be working mainly at the first site, he will also be coming to the second site to film progress as it is made there.