Kibera: Putting on the map to underserved communities

This post is part of a series of reports in collaboration with Global Voices Map Kibera and Mathare Map held during the Global Voices Summit in Nairobi [eng] in July 2012.

History of Leila Nachawati Rego [in].

Kenya will face elections in a few months and there are fears that post-election violence leads the country into chaos, as happened in 2007 [in]. At that time, there was a political crisis, economic and humanitarian, after Mwai Kibaki was declared the victor in the presidential elections held on 27 December. According to international observers, electoral manipulation was perpetrated and as a result, targeted ethnic violence erupted. At first, the violence was mainly directed against the Kikuyu people, community to which Kibaki belongs, followed by retaliatory violence against opposition groups who supported Odinga.

Image courtesy of Map Kibera

Community leaders and Hamza Ahmeda Omondi Tobias working on trying to prevent tribal clashes are encouraged by the political parties in order to win votes. According to Hamza Ahmeda, organization Interfaith Women for Peace, "Politicians from different parties are friends, we see them having tea together all the time. So why do we kill each other? "It also highlights the need to work on a reconciliation process:

"Forgiveness and reconciliation can not come unless the people talking, admit what he did and commit to the real dialogue that can be painful but necessary. It is no use asking forgiveness from God if you have not asked your victims first. God will forgive if I forgive first. "

Omondi, the Orange Democratic Movement, working on the inclusion into society of people with disabilities, trying to fight a stigma that affects more than 4 million Kenyans. According to the Kenyan Constitution, 5% of government jobs should be filled by workers with disabilities, but most citizens do not know this. "There are postulated, sometimes not have the level of education needed for employment, so we are working on it."

Both are trying to raise awareness about the importance of careful choice when they cast their vote and ensure that the party who are choosing to represent and work for your needs. "Politicians of the main paertidos Kibera only come when they want our votes," said Ahmeda. "We want to elect a leader who will listen, work with us. Can you see how we live? How long more will live like this? "

Kibera houses. Image of GV account on Flickr, by Laura Schneider

To raise awareness about these and other problems affecting the population, a group of young kiberianos Map Kibera Trust began in April 2010 with some funding from UNICEF and Hivos. Without any technological experience, formed themselves into the use of flip cameras and began to collect data from the neighborhoods of Kibera and Mathare, using Ushahidi to map them. Information collected water points, public toilets, medical facilities, informal schools, churches and mosques, video stores, community organizations. "We are trying to put on the map to underserved communities," says Kefan Guito. "If you're not on the map, do not exist. Kibera used to be a blank space on the map, then why would anyone invest there if there is anything or anyone? "

Voice of Kibera [in] one of the Map Kibera Projects Trust, is a website where the community shares information about fires, accidents and other emergencies. Users feed the platform through their mobile phones. Text messaging is relatively cheap in Kenya and that is why, according to the project coordinators, this is working well as information and reaction to problems relevant to the community.

The Kibera News Network [in], another Map Kibera Project Trust, working on interviews with community stakeholders and storytelling that make sense of the data. They work in defense and try to create awareness in the community through public screenings of their work. One of his biggest hits is the story "The water situation in Kibera" where exposed water shortages that affected large areas of the neighborhood. Many kiberianos not have access to water and the vendors started charging high prices for selling drinking water. After the screening of the film, the Nairobi City Council organized a forum to discuss this issue and reached a solution: from time to time, water is sold at more affordable prices.

Other projections include Kimbilio forum [in] which seeks to sensitize residents on issues regarding domestic violence and clean-up events [at] to unite people and preach peace.

When asked about resources Kibera News Network, and Joshua Oduor Stephene Ogure the listed quickly: flip cameras 6 and 6 computers. "We are considering to partner with media institutions, we need help if we keep doing this," said Oduor. "The problem is that many people in Kibera have no access to Internet," said Ogure, "so part of our work is the hiring of rooms we need for video projections. These projections are our way of raising awareness, discuss and get feedback on what stories we should cover, on what is relevant to the community. "

Posted by RV at Kibera · Translated by Adriana Gutierrez · View original post [en] · Comments (0)
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