Kibera.

This is probably one of the hardest posts I will write- but I find it’s importance incredibly significant to not only put online but to also share with all of you.

Friday I started my internship with the Makina Community Development Project (MACODEP). MACODEP started in 1999 as a community self-help group aimed at improving the lives of the Makina Community. They now have a clinic, laboratory, help deliver babies, run an orphanage, and have a home-based care program bringing assistance and medicine to those who are unable to seek it themselves.

Makina is a community of approximately 200,000 people living in Kibera.

Kibera is thought to be the second largest informal settlement (or slum) in Africa with population estimates reaching 1,000,000 people. Yes, that’s a million people. While I can say “a million” I want everyone to take a minute to look at the number. That’s hundreds of thousands of children, hundreds of thousands of women and men, hundreds of thousands of elderly individuals living in these communities.

I cannot describe what it was like to be in Kibera and Makina. The best I could tell my mom on the phone was “it was like out of a movie”. The clinic and laboratory at MACODEP are some of the best in the area, but the chemistry laboratory at my high school had more equipment and space then they did.

The clinic at MACODEP is the only option that some people have, and they have even had people give birth in the clinic because 1) they can’t make it to the nearest hospital and 2) they can’t afford the hospital. They have created a maternity area which consist of two rooms, with two beds each. These rooms with two beds are the size of a single room at most of our hospitals.

Going on a tour of Kibera was an incredibly interesting experience. As we walked down the streets it appeared to be store-front after store-front but we soon realized those store-fronts were also the entrance to people’s residence. With small rooms, and a maze of alley-way type areas the cramped space was shocking.

The running water that I saw was water in a bucket with a spigot on the bottom – who knows where it came from and how clean (or dirty) it is.

The market was built upon un-even dirt with a ditch in the middle of the walkway. This ditch was filled with waste, both trash and animal.

People were selling things they had spread out on carpets. These carpets were resting upon piles of trash and dirt.

Beyond food and clothing, people were selling electronics including old TV remotes and cell phones as well as miscellaneous cords. They are doing everything they can to make money.

We walked by what appeared to be a primary school. Along the wall of the school were just bags, and bags, and bags of trash.

As we were waiting to leave I heard a door open, this door was next to the clinic and I figured it to be a store-room but sure enough it was another house. A small child came out. He played with three marbles for about twenty minutes.

We heard a story about a patient from the home-based care program MACODEP runs. They had given her medication and instructed her to take one pill after every meal. They returned three days later to find she had not taken any of the pills. When they asked why, she responded “because you said to take them after eating. I haven't eaten.”

These are real stories and these are the way people live.

Out of all of this, there emerged something that is hard to articulate. Despite these conditions people had joy.

Kids were happy. A few even sporting Kenya Scout Uniforms.

People enjoyed seeing people they knew and enjoyed talking to us.

People would dance along to the music that was playing in the street.

There was not a feeling of depression.

There was a feeling of hope.

People are doing everything they can to make their lives better.

These are things I will continue to see, but I hope I never get used to seeing them.

I want to be shocked.

I want to be amazed.

I want to learn how I can help MACODEP and this community.

I have a minimum of 200 hours dedicated over these next four months to working with MACODEP. I want to make every minute count.