Nairobi Slum Population Sliding Toward Desperation

Photo: Natalia Cieslik

Displaced children and women from Kibera are waiting for medical assistance in Jamhuri Park.

Nairobi, Kenya/Los Angeles, CA –Despite improved security and a slow return to normalcy in Kenya’s capital, hundreds of thousands remain cut off from humanitarian assistance. During a visit to Kibera, a massive Nairobi slum with at least 700,000 inhabitants, International Medical Corps (IMC) staff found virtually no market activity on usually busy streets. Most businesses have been burned to the ground. Looting, random violence, and fighting between supporters of political rivals and criminal gangs have turned Kibera into a virtual prison for tens of thousands desperately poor and vulnerable people who were unable to flee the violence.

“We are trapped inside our houses without food and water,” says Rose N., a 45-year-old widow and mother of seven, who dressed as a man before leaving her house out of fear that she would be attacked. “Two of my children are sick and we have not eaten for three days but I needed to leave the house to look for food.” A neighbor was slashed in her leg by a machete-wielding man the previous night when violence flared up after President Kibaki appointed several cabinet ministers despite serious allegations of counting fraud.

Lawlessness and the lack of food are now the most urgent problems for people in Kibera. Those who have money and can buy something to eat outside the slum are often robbed immediately upon return. Marauding gangs take shopping bags from people as food has become scarce and extremely valuable.

The response to the humanitarian situation in Kibera itself remains poorly coordinated. Some food distribution has been conducted in Kibera, though in an apparent haphazard and poorly targeted way. IMC witnessed several trucks entering the slum together with armed escorts on Wednesday. Some residents said they were frustrated that the distribution came unannounced and would not benefit the poorest and weakest.

IMC staff warns that the situation will not improve by itself. Most people living in Kibera are now left without any income and food with the vast majority being casual and day laborers who have not been able to work since the elections. They have no resources left whatsoever. The insecurity makes it very difficult for relief workers to go deep into Kibera where the most vulnerable people are now left to themselves and survive the mercy of violent gangs.

Photo: Natalia Cieslik

After fleeing Kibera many children and women need food, and medical assistance.

The desperate situation also has serious long term health effects. Rose N. is HIV positive and so are her two sick children. Their empty stomachs cannot handle the drugs they have to take to survive and they all get weaker by the day. IMC is prioritizing targeted support to Rose and other vulnerable persons in Kibera, as security permits.

During regular operations, International Medical Corps provides treatment for 3,400 tuberculosis patients in Kibera. Services at the TB clinic resumed Friday, but only 20 patients a day come to get their medication compared to the 200 patients IMC staff usually sees. “If TB patients default on their treatment, they will have to restart the course. But people have other priorities at the moment than taking medication,” says McOdida. In response, IMC has opened a temporary TB clinic in Jamhuri Park, where about 5,000 people who have fled the violence in Kibera have either settled or gather daily to receive humanitarian support. Some IMC patients are also displaced and will be able to resume their treatment in the relative safety of the camp.

Western Kenya
In Nyanza and Rift Valley, two provinces in western Kenya that have experienced an eruption of violence and brutal clashes, International Medical Corps is conducting assessments and has sent an emergency response team to the area to help address the most urgent needs in collaboration with the Kenyan Red Cross Society. IMC is also exploring the possibility of providing psycho-social and mental health services as part of a recovery and rehabilitation program. IMC has successfully run similar programs in several countries where people have experienced large-scale violence and loss.

Background
After a week of widespread violence following disputed general elections just over a week ago, close to 500 have been killed, including many children. The UN now puts the figure of displaced people at 250,000 throughout Kenya and says that half a million people are in need of major humanitarian assistance. Many homes have been destroyed and businesses looted in brutal clashes between political opponents and marauding gangs.

Since its beginning in Afghanistan in 1984, IMC has earned its reputation as one of the world's foremost providers of humanitarian aid because of its unparalleled ability to deliver relief quickly and effectively to victims of natural disaster, conflict, famine, and disease. In recent years, IMC has responded to man-made and natural disasters all over the world, including the 2004 tsunami in Asia, Hurricane Katrina in the United States, and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, among many others.