A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SLUM CHILD

BY MUKAMI MUNGAI
About 50% of Kenyans live in the slums and this can only be attributed to urbanization as
thousands move to the city in search of a better life. Nairobi County which hosts the capital
city of Kenya has more than six slums. These are; Kibera, Mathare, Mukuru Kayaba, Mukuru
Kwa Njenga, Korogocho, Majengo, Kiambiu among many others. Far from these there are
still other small slums sprouting everyday including in Kawangware which three slums have
already sprung namely Congo, Muslim village and Kamitha.
In 2012, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) published a report titled THE STATE
OF THE WORLDS CHILDREN Children in an urban world. According to the report, every
third city child today lives in a slum and has no access to adequate food, drinking water,
education and medical care.
Brian Otieno (not his real name) is thirteen years. He was born and has spent most of his life
in Congo slums. His parents and six other siblings live here too. He welcomes me into their
humble abode and lets me into his life as a child in the slum. Their house just like the others
in the slum is made up of rusty corrugated iron sheets partitioned into small rooms with
cardboards. So small is the house that I wonder how the nine member family fits into it. But
Otieno with a shy smile tells me that in the slums it is survival for the fittest. His parents are
casual labourers doing menial jobs in the nearby leafy suburbs of Lavington.
Here is his diary. He wakes up at 6.00am to prepare and go to the nearby Gatina primary
school. Brian is in class seven. There is hardly anything to take for breakfast and the meal he
took for supper will suffice for him the whole day. There is no water for washing and bathing
so he puts on his worn out school uniform and heads to school. He walks steadily trying to
avoid stepping on dirty trenches of garbage strewn all over the place. The issue of poor
sewerage beckons.
As we walk towards the school we meet with Brians former classmates. He confides in me
that they dropped out of school. Due to poverty and peer pressure, they have found solace
in drugs alcohol and prostitution. Some of them have been killed after their robbery missions
aborted, he opines.
Brian attends the days classes with no food. After school, he returns home and then heads
out to do menial jobs like washing peoples cars and carrying loads in the market place. The
few shillings he gets, will enable him supplement his parents income to cater for the familys
needs.
As dusk sets in, he treks back to his house barely seeing clearly as there are no street lights
in the slum. Here we do not decide our destiny, life dictates, he says. As we near his home,
we find a couple engaged in a physical fight. From their argument, it seems they are fighting
over money.
Once home Brian, settles to take his super which consists of dry maize and beans. After
which he goes through his homework with the help of a tin lamp whose illumination goes as
far as his nose. Later he goes to sleep on a torn mat on the floor and a light blanket. Hoping
to wake up to a better tomorrow.

That is a day in the life of a slum child. They are exposed to a harsh life yet have got the
grace and will to survive and face another day. Successive governments have failed to
address problems in the slums which are surmountable to say the least. There is the problem
of garbage, broken families, child labour, health problems, gang activities, poor sewerage,
violence, poor infrastructure, lack of electricity and adequate water, sexual abuse and poor
housing.
Also there is education inequality as schools where slum pupils attend are poorly equipped
and lack enough teachers. The constitution of Kenya spells out that every child has a right to
free and compulsory education, basic nutrition, shelter and health care, to be protected from
abuse, neglect, cultural harmful practices, all forms of violence, inhumane treatment and
punishment, and hazardous or exploitative labour.