Our children in kibera face several challenges in life

Among the challenges they face are:
1.The children live in violent neighborhoods.
2.Lack of basic services such as tap water,toilets,electricity or heat.Many homes lack furniture.The children sleep on folded card boards.
3.Parents often lock their children in the home when they leave to find work.
4. Impossibility to keep living spaces clean.Lack of soap or cleaning products and very limited water.Walls and floor are often made of mud or materials such as card board.Insects,bedbugs,rats and mice are common.
5.Because of dirt skin conditions are frequent especially among young children.
6.Cooking is done in an open flame.Many children suffer burns.This causes indoor pollution that can lead to respiratory problems,other health issues and death.Such flames may sometimes end up burning the entire house.
7.No clean water is available.Families are supposed to boil water for 10 minutes but firewood is expensive.
8.Rooms are small and many adults and children live in one room.
9.Families pile up used clothing for warmth.Blanket if owned are thin and dirty.
10.Nights are dark and scary.Few families have electricity.A family may have a kerosene lamp that burns for a short time during the evening.
11.Crime rates are also very  high and this puts the life of the children and their parents at risk.

 

Flavian Anyango from St Mary´s Lwak High School located in Nyanza

Our school motto is "In pursuit of excellence and integrity".
Here the pupils get all their basic needs in school and there is high
level of discipline from both the pupils and the teachers. The school
has facilities which makes it a better place for learning. It has also
a well equipped laboratory for experiments. There is also a well
equipped library in Nyanza and water supply is in plenty. We also have
clubs and society which enables us to go for school trips and
associate with other pupils from different schools.

The school has two buses which enables transportation. We also have
four slices of bread daily in our school which is a rare thing in
other schools in Kenya. The school also has a canteen where you can eat
additional meal using your own money. We also have students meetings
where we express our problems which are facing us within the school
then they are being solved.

Generally I like my school.

Author: Flavian Anyango

 

A voice from Olympic High, located in Kibera slums

The good thing about our school is that there are good structures and
the pupils are willing to learn under low supervision because of good
learning materials. Pupils are able to perform better because teachers
are trying to accomplish the syllabus on time.

The disadvantage of Olympic is that the compound is filled with
structures which leaves no space for playing due to high population of
pupils.

The pupils also don't go for education tours making the school
monotony high. The school is also poor in games thus its hard for
students to discover their talents. The school has poor services, eg no
toilets and poor water supply and few learning materials.

Author: Moses Owuor