Corruption Corruption Corruption

Today linsey took us to see a different kind of slums. These are the housing developments that were actually built by the government. The first set that we visited is called Kaloleni and are housing settlements that were built by the british for male workers to live in while they were building the railroad. You can see the british style in the way that they are built. Most of the houses provided by the british were never intended for families but these are actually ones that were. It is interesting because now they run for about 1600 shillings a month while kibera rooms run for around 1000 shillings and these ones are so much nicer than kibera. The issue is that the people that live here have lived here for generations so getting a home here is difficult. Another problem they have had is that they are owned by the city council that is of course CORRUPT so little has been done to make the places better and you are not allowed to own them no matter how many generations you have lived there. The next area we visited for the life of me i cannot remember the name but it was also built by the british but a little bit after kaloleni. These buildings were not as maintained as the kaloleni ones but they actually had paved roads and street signs. But they were one room and much smaller. (of course these people do a lot with the space that they have). These places were also nicer than kibera because they had more space and trees etc but were cheaper at 900 shillings! The last area we went to is called Jerico and these were houses built by the city council after independence so they were africa built and they were by far the worst. Notice how weird that is, the first ones built were the nicest ones! But they had running water and once again space, trees, yards. I can't remember how much they were but I do not think they were far off from Kibera either. One last thing i want to mention about all of these areas is that they had nurseries, schools, social halls (community centers complete with gyms, sewing lessons etc). Well here are my pictures now!

This is the home of josephine one of our tour guides. She was born and raised in this home and now lives there with her 2 children. This place has a bedroom/living room. Then across from that room is the kitchen, bathroom and an added on sitting room. It was actually quite nice. notice how they look extremely british with the roof tiles (that were from 1918! the city council has done a poor job fixing roofs of these places) and the shutters and square shapes.
More of Kaloleni an example of how far about homes are
This is a field in Kaloleni. It is a soccer field and further on is a bread factory
More of Kaloleni as you can see the city council wont pay for trash to be picked up. Naturally sanitation and trash in the streets is a big problem.
The home that Tom Mboya was born into!! It is now a library i believe.
More of Kaloleni
This is the social hall. There is a library, nursery, gym etc all in it. It also used to be the place of the agriculture fair!
The city stadium or the first stadium built in Nairobi!
A view from a walk over of some constant nairobi traffic. See the colorful buses and the matatus!! (PLEASE youtube matatu)
I just find this advertisement hilarious especially when right below is a shoddy market.
Some graffiti on public bathroom walls in Jerico. A group runs these bathrooms and charges to use them but keeps them clean and maintains them.
A graffiti picture of the current parliament member.

Some more of the graffiti on the bathroom wall.

well enjoy it was an excellent day!