Slum Life Part I

From its inception Nairobi was a well-planned city—in a perverse sort of way. The resourceful British placed a tax on all adult African males, and in order to pay the tax, the men had to come to the city to work.

The Brits then imported Indians to run their businesses, and planted the Indians in between to buffer them from the Africans. Ta-da! Free land, free labor, and beautiful, luxurious estates to the west and north of town.

But where will all the men live, after they leave their farms to come to the city to work, sweeping the city streets by hand, and cutting grass with machetes? You can only build so many houses.

Just give them some empty space and they will figure it out.

Thus is born the eighth wonder of the modern world—the slum. The demographic trends continue—people moving from the rural areas in search of cash or a new life. Currently, three-quarters of the population of Nairobi lives in a slum.

And still they grow bigger.

And the sewage trickles down the footpath. And the trickles join and flow into the rivers. And “economic growth” clogs the highways with new SUV’s from Japan, and fills the air with clouds of diesel smoke. And NGO’s pump in money and medicine and advice.

And the slums grow still bigger.

And charcoal flows in from the forests, and less rain falls each year, and more people flow into the city because the crops have failed.

And the slums grow still bigger.

Sometimes good planning can backfire.