By Joe Kiarie and Kenfrey Kiberenge

After decades living in squalor, most families in the sprawling Kibera slums cannot wait to move to ‘paradise’.

To them, the slum upgrading project is godsend. They see it as an opportunity for a new lease of life from the flying toilets, leaking roofs, stinking and clogged trenches, and all other forms of unhygienic conditions that characterise life in Kibera.

"All I need is change. I have always dreamt of the day I will stop paying to use a toilet and relieving myself in a bucket."

Zipporah Onyango, Kibera resident.

When The Standard on Sunday visited the slum last week, beneficiaries had already packed their belongings ready to move to the ‘waiting bay’. The relocation has been postponed twice this month, but officials say it will be in the next two weeks.

The Great Anticipation

Mrs Zipporah Onyango who has lived in Kibera’s Soweto-East village for the past two decades says she cannot wait to board the truck that will take her closer to her dream house.

"This will be a miracle as I never imagined getting out of this place. It has been so frustrating that even my relatives have refused to visit me here because they say place is inaccessible and insecure," says the 39-year-old mother of four.

Her neighbour, Elemina Indeche, says the new houses will be an equivalent of paradise and will make a difference in her life.

"All I need is change. I have always dreamt of the day I will stop paying to use a toilet and relieving myself in a bucket," says the 49-year-old mother of two.

And after a-14year sting in the heart of Kibera, Joseph Onyango, 34, says he has never believed in miracles, but says one is about to happen.

"Imagine the agony of being rained on while in your house or the shame and indignity of having to use a flying toilet. That is what my life has been like for 14 years now. And when I dared report it to the landlord, he would scream at me, saying I should move to a house with toilets. It was all mockery, but it is now just to happen," he says.

Beatrice Omondi, 37, has already packed her belongings and is now awaiting the day the ministry officials will go with the National Youth Service trucks to move them.

"I have packed them in boxes and I can’t unpack. I am so elated," she says.

The mother of four has lived in the shanties since 1987 and never thought even in her wildest dreams one day she would have the opportunity to live in a stone house, let alone own one.

New life

When The Standard on Sunday toured the sprawling slum, she was ecstatic that finally what once appeared like a daydream is now a reality.

"It’s a new life we are being given," she says. At the moment, she lives in a rented three mud houses at the heart of the slum with her husband and four children. She pays Sh3,000 in rent but her monthly bill go up to Sh4,000 because each member of the family pays Sh3 every time they go to the toilet, Sh5 for bathrooms and Sh300 for electricity.

Omondi operates a small food cafÈ and also imports clothes and shoes from Uganda.

She is optimistic businesses would not be affected adversely by the shifting. She is also hoping her children in primary schools will be enrolled in institutions near the decanting since those in Soweto East will be demolished.

Jerita Nyanguka, 44, has also packed her belongings and together with her husband and five children are anxiously waiting for the D-day.

"I am fed up with living in such conditions. Smelly trenches, muddy corridors, and having to spend money to access virtually all the services including food, toilet, bathroom, electricity and water," she says.