Many of you have already begun asking what we will be doing while in Kenya. We will mainly be stationed in the Kibera slums just outside of Nairobi. As far as I know right now, we will be doing sports ministry, dramas, street and door-to-door evangelism, and generally just trying to build relationships with the people there. Here is a little more information on the situation in Kibera:
Kibera is a slum area outside Nairobi, Kenya and is the same size as New York City’s Central Park, about 1.5 square miles. At over 1 million people, the population density is 30 times that of New York City, and Kibera does not have multi-level housing. Most people living in Kibera have little or no access to basic necessities, such as electricity, clean water, toilet facility and sewage disposal. The combination of poor nutrition and lack of sanitation accounts for many illnesses and deaths. Because of the lack of toilet facilities (1 for every 500-1000 people), two in three residents must use a “flying toilet” to defecate. *A flying toilet is a facetious name for the use of plastic bags for defecation, which are then thrown into ditches, on the roadside, or simply as far away as possible.*
There are also over 50,000 AIDS orphans surviving in Kibera, often cared for by grandparents, over crowded orphanages, or completely unattended. For these and all children in Kibera, schooling is rare and dependent on the ebb and flow of family finances, trapping them in a cycle of poverty.
