Word on the street

Before leaving for Canadia the Parsons left me a recorded message. A mission. To explore where we could open another TP centre in Kibera. Then the tape player blew up, knocked my cup of tea over and slightly singed the cat. Next time a piece of paper would do.

So since then Judy and I have been all over Kibera finding out the word on the street about what projects are already around and where are there lots of kids on the street or unable to attend school. It has been a really interesting process and we have met some cool and colourful people along the way.

For example Mary who has lived in Laini Saba (village in Kibera) for decades and made a mint selling changaa (illegal brew) now she owns a lot of property in the area, making money from the rent. What she doesn't know about Laini Saba is not worth knowing. She sat in a big old armchair and answered all our questions while her TV played Nigerian movies and her radio blasted Lingala music. I have no idea what she said but apparently it was helpful.

Kyalo and Hamisi from our Transition Class brought some of their friends who spend their days on the streets to answer some more questions for us. They were also from Laini Saba. The four kids gave lively accounts of stories from the streets. Kyalo couldn't stay in his seat, he had to act it all out. That day we learnt that criminals have different nicknames depending their particular flavour of crime: A Snatcher, snatches stuff from people: phones, handbags, handbags etc. A Poofer breaks into houses and gets away with whatever they can. A Hooker will grab you by the legs and shake you upside down until the money falls out your pockets! Or they just shoot you.

On the one hand we've learnt things about life in Kibera and on the streets which is really horrible but on the other hand we've met some awesome people doing some really innovative stuff to deal with the problems.