2009-05 Slum, Kibera (Nairobi, Kenya)
Ministry in the Slum of Kibera – Theresia Sinaga – A Personal Reflection
Table of Contents – Summer-Fall 2009 – CTF-SOS DRS Newsletter
It has been seven months now since I came to Nairobi, Kenya. I arrived on April 16, 2009 with Fr. Scott Binet, the Coordinator of the CTF and President of SOS DRS. I have started to learn a little about the people here, the culture, the political situation, the language, etc. One thing that struck me is that in the middle of the big city of Nairobi there is a giant slum. Yes, Kibera is the biggest slum in Nairobi with a population of around 1 million.
I started my work in Kibera on August 20, 2009. We collaborate with Christ of the King (CTK) Parish as a part of a Camillian network working in the slum of Kibera. I am collaborating under the supervision of Sr. Benta who is a Camillian sister from Kenya. Sr. Benta is a nurse by profession. She is working in a small dispensary that CTK has provided. As a member of CTF-SOS DRS I am very happy to have this opportunity. I have had many good experiences. And these came to my mind recently and made me reflect. I would like to share with you “what we can do as CTF-SOS DRS to take work in this slum and as such to do the Lord’s work”.
I remember my first day of work in the slum of Kibera. I attended a women’s group composed of those who are infected by HIV or have AIDS. There were around 15 people. This group meets every Wednesday from 9 AM – 10 AM. They come to the parish to share what they have done in the previous week. They come also to pay back their loans. The parish gave them each a small loan.
The history of this group started last year. Some women came to the Parish who were HIV/AIDS positive. They felt very vulnerable. They shared their problems with a priest of the Guadalupe Fathers. His name was Fr. Pieter. They said they wanted to continue with their lives, but they had been rejected by their families and society because they were HIV/AIDS positive. Many were mothers with children who needed support for schooling. After this sharing Fr. Pieter decided to help them. He gave them some money through the Parish office. Now these people have started small business. And now they are growing. They are able to continue their lives. They are able to pay the school fees for their children.
After I listened to the history of this group I was surprised. I learned how to bring the Lord’s Work to these women. They have been rejected by their families and society because they are HIV/AIDS positive. But they are accepted here at CTK. I remember what Jesus said to St. Camillus “ THIS IS MY WORK NOT YOURS”. I hope we can also do like what Fr. Pieter has done through accepting these women even though they are HIV/AIDS positive. We are all same: we are all human beings. And Lord has created us together.
I had another experience in Kibera when I went to visit some families. We visit families who are sick and vulnerable. They are not able to go to the hospital because they don’t have money. Even to buy food they don’t have money. I remember when I visited a young woman who suffered burns last February. She was very sick and had to be in the hospital for 4 months. But she left because she could not pay the hospital bills. Now she is getting treatment at home from CTK parish. When I visited her the young woman was happy. She said “no one likes to visit me. But you have come to visit me. Many thanks for coming”. I was very touched by her words. I pray a lot for her.
I also visited another woman around 65 years old. She just lay in her bed. No one was taking care of her. I went there with a social worker from CTK Parish. The woman said she felt pain throughout her whole body. I took off some of of her clothes and massaged her. The lady could not speak English but instead spoke her native language. After we finished our work the woman was very grateful for our coming and for the massage. She said she had no pain anymore. She was very happy. The woman was laughing. She was very happy, and she asked me to visit her again. The next day I sent this lady some food through the social worker.
I also visited a man who is HIV/AIDS positive. He is blind because of HIV. I went with a lady who is a volunteer. She is a member of the Good Samaritan organization at CTK. We went with some food that I prepared after I heard his story when he was at CTK Parish. The man told us that he knew he was HIV positive in 2004. After he knew he was HIV the man wanted to commit suicide. He was rejected by his family. He said he felt alone. I listened to his story. It was painful for me. I was asking myself why the family and society had rejected him. I asked myself “Where are you Lord? Why did they reject him? This man is a human being”. Many questions came to me. I began to reflect on these. And in my prayers and when I went for mass I started to reflect on these situations.
To be honest, I don’t have the answers. But what I know is that the Lord has granted me many graces. Jesus wants me to be here. He wants me to be with these people who are suffering, who are rejected, who are poor, who are sick. He wants me to be with them to witness to His merciful love. The Lord wants me to show His love by being with them, visiting them, listening to them. Sometimes it is very difficult – very hard – to do it. It is not easy to do the Lord’s Work. But I believe with His support I can do it. I remember what Jesus said – “When I was hungry you fed me, when I was a stranger you received me in your home, when I was naked you gave me clothes, and when I was sick you took care of me, and when I was in prison you visited me” (Matthew 25).
The mission of CTF- SOS DRS is “to witness to the merciful love of Christ for the poor and the sick in word, deed, and sacrament through serving the medical, pastoral, and humanitarian needs of people affected by man-made and natural disasters regardless of race, religion and ethnicity”. Through this personal reflection I would like to encourage all of us to be effective witnesses to the merciful love of Christ through our prayers and actions to those people who are in need, rejected, sick and poor.
Please keep the people I mentioned and those in the slum of Kibera in your prayers.
Thank you,
Theresia Sinaga
CTF-SOS DRS Kenya
Nairobi - 10/31/2009
To support the efforts of Theresia Sinaga and others of CTF-SOS DRS Kenya in the slum of Kibera, Nairobi – click here.
Table of Contents – Summer-Fall 2009 – CTF-SOS DRS Newsletter
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 6 so far )CTF-SOS DRS Kenya in the Slum of Kibera – A Personal Reflection
Alice Sarry – from Nairobi, Kenya
![Alice_4877[1]](http://sosdrs.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/alice_48771.jpg?w=544 "Alice_4877[1]")
CTF-SOS DRS Kenya has been serving in the slum of Kibera in Nairobi for more than a month now. The slum, a man-made disaster of some 750,000 people , is home to many who often lack the basic necessities of life. In fact, their physical, material and spiritual health is threatened by poor sanitary conditions, high prevalences of infectious disease (HIV, TB), poverty, violence, corruption and other social ills. It is not a pretty picture. There is hope though. And CTF-SOS DRS wants to carry out its mission to help sustain this hope.
The members of CTF-SOS DRS – Alice Sarry, Theresia Sinaga and Fr. John Mosoti (the director of Servants of the Sick Pastoral Training Center) witness to the merciful love of Christ for the poor and the sick. They collaborate with the Kenyan Delegation of the Camillians and Sr. Benta, a Kenyan member of the Ministers of the Infirm who works at Christ the King Parish in Kibera. SOS DRS in the USA financially supports their efforts.
Alice offers a personal reflection about her work during the week of September 29-October 3. She has been a member of CTF-SOS DRS Kenya since May 2009. Alice started with SOS DRS by working at its headquarters in Milwaukee,Wisconsin (USA) in December 2008.
Alice writes, “I thank God Father Almighty, the author of life, who has given me this opportunity – a call to attend to the poor and the sick. I normally start at 9.00 am, which gives me a great opportunity to start the day first with daily mass at the Holy Family Basilica before going down to the village to work. On Tuesday and Wednesday I was working in the Holistic Care Health Clinic at Christ the King Parish under the good guidance of Sister Benta – the Camillian Sister in charge of the clinic. I am learning to measure the weights of babies, and I am applying my knowledge in foods and nutrition teaching mothers how to provide a balanced diet for their children and also themselves. Most of the afternoons I go to counsel people (patients) who normally are home-based. I recently finished a unit of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) so I have had some training in that. Fr. Scott asked me to do that before I started working in the slum. In addition to listening to the people I take the opportunity to teach them about the importance of prayer.
I also introduce the Divine Mercy Chaplet and inform them how to pray the daily rosary as a family while listening to our local Catholic radio – Waumini (Kiswahili for “the faithful “) at 8:30 pm. For the non-Catholics, I teach them about Divine Mercy; how our Lord wants us to live on this earth. I am providing spiritual nourishment because, after counseling the patients, I realize their hope in life is very low and they think they will only get poorer. They want to pray after I share my experiences and listen to theirs. We are both uplifted in faith. On Saturday, the Good Samaritan group that was formed by Father John Mahone and tends to the sick and the poor, gathered to celebrate mass at Christ The King Church. I had the opportunity to read the 2nd reading. The mass was wonderful!
CTF-SOS DRS was fully represented: Father John Mosoti read the Gospel; Theresia Sinaga was actively taking pictures, and she also participated by preparing the altar. Father John preached afterwards introducing the Samaritans on what works we do at SOS DRS, and it blended so well with theirs. On Tuesdays at 10.00 am the Good Samaritans hold their weekly meetings at Christ The King in the African Hut. I have participated twice in their meetings. I am looking forward to Tuesday this week to go out and help the poor and the sick, to give them hope and courage to use the resources and talents that God has given them in life, to listen to them and to show them that in the eyes of God we are all equal. Our souls are no different – one from another.”
Alice Sarry
CTF-SOS DRS Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Kibera Slum in Nairobi, Kenya – AIDS, CTF-SOS DRS Kenya and Sister Monica Mukui, ASN
Fr. Scott Binet
I first went to Nairobi, Kenya in June 2004. I was there to sensitize my fellow Camillians in East Africa to the existence of the CTF. I was also on my way to Uganda and then Sudan to do some work in refugee camps.
Kenya in East Africa
While in Nairobi Fr. Paolo Guarise, MI (the Kenyan Delegate at the time) gave me “a tour” of Kibera Slum – an experience I will never forget. I had never seen such horrible living conditions: sewage strewn through the streets; children with tattered clothing and no shoes who had obviously not bathed in some time; a terrible stench, and mud and more mud. It had just rained and Kibera – always a man-made disaster – had just become a natural disaster as well.
Kibera Slum, Nairobi (Kenya) - From Within
Kibera made such an impression on me that I decided to go back a second time during my visit in Nairobi. It was then that I first met Fr. John Mosoti, MI – the director of the Servants of the Sick Training Center (Camillian pastoral center) - and Sr. Monika Mukui, a nurse by profession and a member of the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi by vocation.
Sr. Monica was working at St. Mary’s Hospital in Nairobi, a magnificent facility that sits on the edge of Kibera Slum and is run by the Maryknoll Fathers and the Assumption Sisters. Sr. Monica and I talked at length during which time I shared the vision I had of one day establishing a Camillian Task Force presence in the slum of Kibera. Sr. Monica indicated that she was eager to be a part of that vision. As I walked through the slum for the last time I knew that I would be back. I had to be patient though. And so did Sr. Monica.
I returned to Nairobi in April 2009 and soon after my arrival arranged for a meet with Fr. John Mosoti, MI Theresia Sinaga and Sr. Monica. Sister and I had been communicating via e-mail for a time, and it was good to see her again. Our conversation soon turned to how we might collaborate in helping the people of Kibera. Sr. Monica told me that she was studying for an MA in Public Health and that her thesis would be related to a study of the prevalence of HIV in Kibera and associated risk factors. I was immediately intrigued and offered my support – professional and financial.
The AIDS pandemic marches on in Kenya and elsewhere despite significant progress in providing retroviral medications and some promising vaccines. The Camillians are at the forefront of providing primarily pastoral support but also some medical care for HIV-infected people in places like Thailand, Vietnam, Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Brazil.
The AIDS pandemic is one that affects in a particular way those who are poor and live in overcrowded situations like slums and refugee camps. Thus the Camillian Task Force whose mission is to provide medical, pastoral, and humanitarian assistance in man-made and natural disasters also serves those with HIV/AIDS. CTF-SOS DRS Kenya’s work in Kibera is an example of this. Collaborating with Sr. Monika’s work in Kibera and her religious congregation could be an excellent expression of the mission as well.
So on this day, December 1, when we celebrate the World Day of AIDS, I would like to post the following background information about Kibera. It was provided in large part by Sr. Monika in light of her thesis and our planned collaboration. It will help you as a reader and an interested supporter to better understand the context of the mission of CTF-SOS DRS in Kenya.
By Sr. Monica Muklui, ASN
Kibera Slum – Informal Settlement (Nairobi – Kenya)
Kibera is the largest slum in Kenya, which lies astride the equator on the eastern coast of Africa and covers an area of 583,000 sq. km (225,000 sq. miles). The country is bordered on the north by Sudan and Ethiopia; on the east by Somalia; on the southeast by the Indian Ocean; on the southwest by Tanzania; and on the west by Lake Victoria and Uganda (see image below).
Kibera is known as the second largest slum in Africa. It is located in the Kibera division of the western district of Nairobi {Google Map}
According to the Nairobi City Council, the Kibera informal settlement covers an area of 5.5 kilometers squared (km2). It is southwest of the city center of Nairobi.
Facts about Kibera
i) The Kibera slums are very densely populated and resources are wanting. The Central Bureau of Statistics census in 1999 confirmed that Kibera is the most populated informal settlement in East Africa. It houses more than one quarter of Nairobi’s population. The population density is 68,030 persons per km2. This makes it one of the most densely populated slums in Kenya. Recent estimates state the population to be nearly 1 million inhabitants.
ii) Kibera is the largest slum in East Africa and the second largest in Africa. Kibera hosts many people who are poor. Many of them are also sick (TB victims, etc.), uneducated and unemployed. UNAIDS/WHO (July 2007) estimates that 58.3% of the 34,256 Kenyans are living on less than US $2 per day.
iii) The census of the Central Bureau of Statistics in 1999) confirmed that the majority of Nairobi’s urban population (1.9 million) lives in the vast shanty settlements that surround the central business district. The number of people and the corresponding percentage seem to have increased leading to even great er crowding (figure 3).
Figure 3 - Aerial View of Kibera
Overcrowding and high population density in Kibera is also described by Alioune Badiane, the director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) regional office for Africa and the Arab States who points out that:
“Kibera is said to be Africa’s largest slum. Kibera has 3,000 persons per hectare; I do not see any other place in the world that has such a density. Kibera is roughly 2.5 kilometres squared with an estimated population of 1 million people” (UN-HABITAT Report, 2007)
POVERTY AND HIV/AIDS
It is widely accepted that HIV/AIDS has a major economic and social impact on individuals, families, communities, and society as whole. In Kenya, as in other countries in sub – Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS threatens personal and national well-being by negatively affecting health, lifespan, the productive capacity of individuals; and critically, by severely constraining the accumulation of human capital and its transfer between generations. Research across many severely affected and low-income countries clearly demonstrates that HIV/AIDS is the most serious impediment to economic growth and development in such countries. (This is a real disaster!). Consequently, the epidemic’s dynamics need to be explored in human development terms.
OTHER HEALTH CONCERNS IN KIBERA
The population of Kibera lacks food, water, fuel and access to health care, which are all risk factors for disease.
Risk Factors for the Increased Communicable Disease Burden
1. Due to an interruption in the access to safe water and a lack of sanitation facilities, the majority of the people in Kibera are at immediate and high risk of being affected by outbreaks of water-borne and food-borne diseases due to reduced access to clean water and a lack of sanitation systems. These include diseases like cholera, typhoid, hepatitis and amoebiasis (entamoeba hystolytica) and dysentery (shigella dysenteriae type 1).
2. Due to malnutrition and the ease with which communicable diseases are transmitted, one significant public heath concern is the well-being of infants and children in Kibera. Malnutrition compromises natural immunity leading to more frequent severe and prolonged episodes of infections. Severe malnutrition often masks symptoms and signs of communicable diseases making prompt clinical diagnosis and early treatment more difficult.
3. Due to poor access to health services and the deterioration of security and the degradation of the health infrastructure – the health of the population of Kibera is compromised on a routine basis and in particular at times of crisis [e.g. the presidential elections of 2008] .
4. The lack of security within Kibera can leave women and children vulnerable to rape and sexual violence. Poverty and single motherhood can then lead to women to commercial sex work and to increase their risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Much more can be said about Kibera. I believe much can and should be done to change the situation as well.
Sr. Monika Muklui, ASN
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