Nairobi is one of the most violent cities of Africa and estimates say that more than 2 million of it’s 2.5 million citizens live below $1 a Day. 70% of the ghettos and slums of Nairobi is under 30. Nairobi holds the sad record of having the biggest slum in the world.
Kenya is ranked 4th on the HIV/AIDS infection list and high on the corruption index.
High hopes arose at the installation of a newly elected Kenyan government in 2002. Kenyans were full of anticipation of future transformations Kenya would see. Arap Moi’s 24 year rule stagnated economic growth by corruption, repression and international pressure. Despite Kenyan hopes reality has proven more stubborn, many major changes have not been implemented yet. The country suffered almost irreparably due to bad management of government. Huge numbers of Kenyans live in ghettos or slums and in extreme poverty in rural areas. Many of them have been angered, disappointed and traumatized in the past few years. The changes they hoped for have not been realized. Corruption at government level is still at its level of four years ago and scandal after scandal is being revealed.
Youth have especially suffered the many features of bad government. Unemployment is at record levels. Chances to earn an income in Nairobi coming from these areas are near to nil. Many youth, however, formed youth groups. Collaboration and self employment seem the only answer to the poverty cycle. Youth often fall victim to corrupt police practice trying to fend off ever growing levels of violent crime itself. The current regime attempts to veil the proof that safety drastically decreased during its time in office by renovation of parts of the city and occasional parks. But the inhabitants of the many Nairobi slums and ghettos are daily confronted with armed robberies, car jackings, executions of supposed criminals, rape and murder. Many of these accidents never even reach the press.
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