WUNRN
http://www.ips.org/blog/mdg3/2011/08/dispatch-from-kibera-east-africas-largest-slum/#more-1692
Photo Essay by Aline Cunico
East
Africa’s Largest Slum - Women & Poverty, Violence, Illiteracy, Inequality,
AIDS +
Considered one of the biggest slums in the world, Kibera
is
(IPS/Aline Cunico)
Violence against
women, rape, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, female genital mutilation, poverty, sexual
abuse, unequal access to education and lack of reproductive health care are
some of the issues women face daily in Kibera.
One-fifth of the population of Kibera lives with HIV and at least 50,000 children are orphaned by AIDS.
(IPS/Aline Cunico)
According to the organisation
As a consequence
of the high incidence of HIV in this community, many women like Benta are
forced to care not only for their children, but for the children of relatives
or neighbours who passed away from the disease. Benta currently provides
shelter and food for 32 orphans.
As the world’s population migrates to urban centres in search of employment and better living conditions, settlements like Kibera grow at a rapid pace, making it impossible to accommodate the needs of so many.
IPS/Aline Cunico)
In
“I have five
children to care for and my husband has passed away. I can’t find a job because
I am old”, says one woman. Over 50 percent of the available workforce in
Kibera is currently unemployed.
In Kibera and
other slums, the level of female illiteracy remains high due to gender
inequality. Although primary and secondary schooling is provided in the
community, most education centres are informal and unregulated by the
government.
Many parents
struggle to meet boarding and uniform costs for their children and give male
students priority. As a result, young girls are often forced into early
marriages or low-wage salaries.
Unable to afford education, women are left with few options. Winnie works selling fried fish on the streets of Kibera, earning an average of 10 U.S. dollars a month.
Nationwide
post-election violence in 2008 caused further economic and social insecurity
for
The lack of
sanitation facilities has also contributed to sexual violence, a 2010 Amnesty
International report found, as women have become easy targets when walking long
distances to reach a latrine at night. Afraid of being raped, women have
started using plastic bags to dispose waste on the streets.
(IPS/Aline Cunico)
These so-called
“Flying Toilets” have contaminated the settlement and increased the incidence
of diseases like cholera and dysentery.
The government of
Despite anecdotal
evidence of women enduring violence daily, there remains a lack of relevant
gender-based statistics on Kibera, as the Kenyan government ignores the
existence of the community. With over 50 percent of Kibera’s population under
the age of 15, this means an entire generation struggling to fight gender disparity
and escape poverty is being overlooked.