The Slums

From Kibera

 
This afternoon we visited the Kibera slums with Ishmiel and his family. It was much worse than I could have ever anticipated or imagined, but I was not nearly as uncomfortable or worried as I had anticipated either. Ishmiel, a friend of our professor, and his family live in the heart of Kibera with their two children Fidel (6-years-old) and Donna Barnes (4 months old). They live in a one-room home for $25 US dollars/month. They both work 16 hours a day and have just enough money each month to cover the rent. Although it was absolutely shocking to see how little people can live on (no plumbing, no electricity) I was touched to see the sense of pride and love Ishmel and Linda had for their family and their home. As we walked through the slums the children would call out “Mizuru” (white person) and smile and wave. There was sewage everywhere (yours truly stepped in it… Thank goodness I wasn’t wearing my TOMS), garbage piled high, children running around and adults wandering.
Overall today was completely overwhelming. The joy, and love that the children at Humble Hearts have touched me so deeply and I feel so fortunate that I am able to spend the next 2 weeks working with them and hopefully filling them with the love and hope they have filled me with. The slums was the most devastating thing I have ever seen. I have tried multiple times to write about it, but somehow my words cannot describe how little these families have. What everyone in the slums did have was pride and welcome, and that is something I was not anticipating.