Looking past “Kianda,” (one of 13 villages in Kibera) we see green fields and forests. This is government land. The slums are also on “government land.” Very little, perhaps none of the land in this picture is permanently titled to any individual. Even the land lords lease from the government and charge rent to residents. Issues of land ownership and utilization of land is one of the major factors that led up to the recent political crisis in Kenya. There are literally 100,000’s of children in these slums who have no green space near their home where they can play. People live on top of each other surrounded by open sewers while only a few hundred meters away are many acres of good unused land. Why? This is the pressing question in Kenya today.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
On the Edge of the Slums
Looking past “Kianda,” (one of 13 villages in Kibera) we see green fields and forests. This is government land. The slums are also on “government land.” Very little, perhaps none of the land in this picture is permanently titled to any individual. Even the land lords lease from the government and charge rent to residents. Issues of land ownership and utilization of land is one of the major factors that led up to the recent political crisis in Kenya. There are literally 100,000’s of children in these slums who have no green space near their home where they can play. People live on top of each other surrounded by open sewers while only a few hundred meters away are many acres of good unused land. Why? This is the pressing question in Kenya today.
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