The Kibera Slums

Student:
Professor:
Curse title:
Date:
The Kibera Slum
Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, is rated as Africa’s largest slum. It has an approximate population of 2.5 million dwellers in about 200 settlements. That population represents 60per cent of Nairobi’s population and only occupies 6 per cent of the land. The Kenyan government owns this land but the people own the shacks or rent them from other slum dwellers CITATION Int14 \l 1033 (Fund, 2013/2014). The slum is congested and housing is poor. Roads are impassible and narrow paths between houses are flowing with raw sewage. Needless to say, security is poor and the rates of crimes are on the rise every day. Living in this misery, are the residents of Kibera, among them many orphans and widows.
In Kibera, children have been orphaned due to various causes, prevalent among them, HIV and AIDS. They have lost both or one parent and others are abandoned. Little children are forced to fend for themselves and take care of their younger siblings. There is an increase in the number of children headed households. Heavy responsibility is placed on an underage child who should be under an adult’s care. They plunge into the unknown world with little or no survival skills CITATION Wil111 \l 1033 (Williams K. L., 2011).The young ‘adults’ have little chances to succeed. They feel lost and alone with no desire to reintegrate to the society.
Where women have been widowed, they are left to take care of their families on their own. The work of raising the children and working to get a source of livelihood may become too much for a single parent. Many are unemployed and old...