Hopping through Kibera slums

From a far, at the top edge of Kibera slum, thousands of corrugated roofs look like the dull brown scales of a giant snake.

And even before you enter the biggest slum in Kenya, smell of excrement, rubbish, fried fish and wood fires greet you.

In this end, people no longer walk-they hop through the narrow pathways to avoid stepping on raw sewage all over the place. And this could be energy sapping for the weak.

The paths are also misleading as they unexpectedly lead to more open spaces, then to narrow paths again.

There is one thing that accompanies anyone getting into Kibera, the stinking smell, which waft through the air.

But the way residents go about their business portray a people no longer bothered with the adulterated air. It seems they no longer pick around the smelly puddles, it has become part of them.

But amid this hopelessness, the residents strive to make things work-at least to have live like other Kenyans do.

Children brighten the area as they joyfully engage in childhood games without a bother in the world.

Any open space is thriving with business. Everything is on sale, ranging from rusty old nails, screws, second hand clothes, shoes, milk, chips to stinking cow’s hoofs being barbequed.

Along the walkways one comes across men pushing carts or wheelbarrows weighed down with scrap metal or charcoal. To warn the multitude on the pathways to keep way, they whistle.

Even in such circumstances, the whole place is buzzing with activity and no one seems to have given up, they hop while hoping for a better tomorrow.

— Alex Kiprotich