About Kibera, Kenya

Fast Facts

• Kibera is one of the largest and poorest slums in East Africa.
  
   
• An estimated 600,000 to 1.2 million people live in Kibera.
  
   
• Kibera is 600 acres, roughly the size of New York City’s Central Park.
  
   
• Kibera residents have no access to health systems, basic sanitary facilities or clean water.
  
   
• There is one toilet for every 1,300 people living in Kibera.
  
   
• The mortality rate for children under age five in Kibera is almost three times higher than that of the rest of Kenya.
  
   
• Nearly 30 percent of the residents of Kibera are HIV positive

The Roots of Kibera
Kibera is one of the largest and poorest slums in Africa located just outside Nairobi, Kenya. An estimated 600,000 to 1.2 million people live in Kibera, all of whom the Kenyan government considers illegal squatters.

During the 1920s under British colonial domination, the British government decided to let a group of Nubian soldiers (originally from Sudan), who were fighting for the British army, settle on a hillside in Kenya. They called the hillside Kibra, a Nubian word meaning forest or jungle. The Nubian settlers were denied official titles to the land in the area, which is now called Kibera.

Eventually Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963 and the Kenyan government made various forms of housing illegitimate. Since the residents in Kibera were never given proper titles to their land, they were deemed illegal squatters and their land rendered unauthorized. Consequently the government did not have to provide services to the area. Even so, the population of Kibera continued to grow.

Presently the hundreds of thousands of shacks crammed into the informal 600-acre settlement still receive virtually no services from the government. There is no clean water, no sanitation, no health care and no basic infrastructure. Lack of access to these basic needs poses a serious challenge to those who live in Kibera.

Flying toilets: Sanitation and health challenges
There are very few functioning toilets so people go to the bathroom in plastic bags and fling them outside. The bags are referred to as flying toilets. The flying toilets end up littered all over the ground.

Since there is no formal garbage collection service, the plastic bags and other garbage accumulate on the ground. When it rains, brown sludge filled with human waste leaks out from the bags and contaminates the land and water.

Contaminated water is a grave problem causing many children to contract water-borne diseases. Studies by the U.N. indicate that the mortality rate for children under the age of five in Kibera is almost three times higher than that of the rest of the country. This rate would be cut in half if the children of Kibera had access to clean water.

The only way people living in Kibera can obtain clean water is either by buying it or tapping water lines from private companies. At times they have to pay more for a bottle of water than what it would cost in New York. For some people this means a bottle of water could cost more than a day’s wage.

HIV and AIDS
Another challenge for the youth of Kibera is the high rate of HIV and AIDS. The Center for Disease Control in the U.S. estimates that over 20% of the population is HIV positive.

According to the U.N. there are over 1 million orphans living in Kenya whose parents have died from AIDS. An estimated 150,000 youth are living with HIV and AIDS. Few of these people living with HIV/AIDS have access to government health care. The main health care provided for these people in Kibera comes from non-governmental organizations.

What is being done to help the people of Kibera?
One of the organizations working hard to provide health care in Kibera is Carolina For Kibera, co-founded and directed by Salim Mohamed.

Named Hero of Global Health in 2005 by Time Magazine, Carolina For Kibera runs several programs to proactively address the challenges of living in Kibera.

The organization’s flagship program is its sports program, which uses soccer to promote youth leadership, community development, and ethnic and religious cooperation. The group's Tabitha Medical Clinic, treats over 30,000 patients per year. CFK's Binti Pamoja (Daughters United Center), creates safe spaces for girls and young women in Kibera and conducts HIV/AIDS peer education. Its program Taka Ni Pato (Trash is Cash), an innovative waste management program that supports over 100 youth in Kibera by helping them create sustainable, environmentally friendly business enterprises.

In 2001, Rye Barcott, then a student from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teamed up with the late Tabitha Festo, a nurse and widowed resident of Kibera, and Salim Mohamed, formerly of the Mathare Youth Sports Association. Together they established CFK. The organization is rooted in the conviction that solutions to problems involving poverty are possible only if those affected by it drive development.

What can I do?

• Support and tell others about groups like Carolina for Kibera, which helps people in Kibera.
  
   
• Watch and tell others about 4REAL Kenya featuring Salim Mohamed.
  
   
• Read and learn more about Kibera and Kenya.

Created by: Sol Guy, Josh Thome
Executive Producers: Chris Haddock, Laura Lightbown
Executive Producer: Joaquin Phoenix
Produced by: Shoshana Guy, Sol Guy, Josh Thome
Supervising Producer: Natasha Nystrom
Editor: Jesse James Miller

Cinematographers: Josh Thome
4REAL Theme Song by DJ Kemo & Don Cristo For Vanguard
All Music by Vanguard
Music Supervisor: Velma Barkwell

Host: Sol Guy
Directed by: Josh Thome
Written by Shoshana Guy
Production Coordinator Melahnie Moodie
Associate Producer Jade Thome

Produced in Association with CTV
Developed in Association with CTV
Produced with the participation of Government Of Canada

Production Accountant: Craig Stapleton
Additional Camera Operator Johnny A

Location Sound Recordist: Josh Thome
Stills Photographer: Sol Guy
Production Assistant: Christine Walker
Post Production Supervisor: Natasha Nystrom
Assistant Editor/Online Editor: Mark Shearer

Titling: David Robinson
Colorist: Ryan Hogan
Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer: Miguel Nunes
Sound Editors: Gina Mueller, Jeff Shannon Music Editor Gord Hillier
Re-Recording Mixers: Miguel Nunes, Gord Hillier
Title Design & Graphics: Glasfurd & Walker/ Tx Post Production
Video Facility: Technicolor Creative Services Post Production
Sound Facility: Post Modern Sound

Insurance Provided by: Jones, Brown & Associates
Legal Services Provided by: Arthur Evrensel & Carol Horn of Heenan Blaikie Llp
for CTV Executive Producer MTV Ben Rotterman, VP of Production MTV Mark Mcinnis

Programming Administration Coordinator: Naomi Glenn- Baker
Director of Program Administration: Corrie Coe
VP of Documentaries: Bob Culbert
President, Creative, Content & Channels: Susanne Boyce

Stock Footage: Carolina for Kibera Footage courtesy of Carolina for Kibera, Inc
Documentary on Somalia, AP Archive
K'Naan "Soobax" & "Strugglin" videos courtesy of Track & Field Productions
Music Performed by K'Naan, courtesy of Track & Field/Interdependent Media:
The Dusty Foot Philosopher (Goldstein, Warsame) published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada
What's Hardcore? (Eaton, Warsame, West) published by Mawga Dog Inc./Worldwide West Inc./Sony/ ATV Music Publishing Canada
Smile (Powell, Warsame) published by Dem Twinzz Music/Sony/ ATV Music Publishing Canada
Hoobaale (Warsame) published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada
Strugglin' (Eaton, Warsame, West) published by Mawga Dog Inc./Worldwide West Inc./ Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada
Performed by KRS-ONE, Get Yourself Up (Aundriel/Cain/Harris/Parker) published by Zomba Enterprises Inc., courtesy of Koch

Special Thanks: Ina Guy, Ngozi Paul, Rod Beckstrom, Heart Phoenix, Keith Porteus, Dennis & Diane Thome, Leora Gesser, Bobbie Ogletree, Pedro Lacaille, Jarvis Church, Natalie Galazka, Phoebe Salvador, Brian West, Micah Meisner, Salim Mohamed, , Rob Sebastian, Mclean Mashingaidze Greaves, Styling by Janet Han for Get Janet, Hats by Big It Up!, Denim By Diesel, William Richard Guy