A beacon of hope in the eyes of Kibera's wretched of the earth

By Alex Kiprotich

When Tabitha Atieno Festo retired from nursing, she went home with little money to survive on.

Though she dreamt of starting a business, her financial position could not allow her and had to live in Kibera slums.

And as luck had it, she one day met Rye Barcott, a student on a research trip from the University of North Carolina USA, and shared her dream to start a vegetable business.

Barcott gave her $26 (Sh2,080) which she used to set up a vegetable kiosk.

Festo ran the vegetable business but along the way she was touched by inaccessibility of medical care by Kibera residents.

- The organisation’s offices (Carolina for Kibera) situated in the middle of Kibera slums.

And having been a nurse, she started dispensing drugs at her house to sick residents.

Tiny path

Two years later when Barcott returned to Kibera, he was stunned by what Festo had done with $26-just enough for breakfast and a tip for the waiter.

This was the beginning of what has been transformed into a state of the art medical facility — Tabitha Clinic.

The tiny path leading to it did not prepare me for what to expect.

As we headed to the facility, I ducked under low roofs, jumping over to avoid mud and filth but soon discovered that this was futile. The more I tried to avoid filth, the more I found on my way.

After about seven minutes, I reached the clinic, a beautifully constructed three-storey health facility that caters for Kibera’s sick.

The facility, according to the manager Hilary Omala, has improved the quality of healthcare in Kibera.

"This is the only medical facility that treats every patient regardless of his or her financial status," he says.

Omala says diseases rampant in the slum like diarrhea, pneumonia, jaundice are treated for free while others are highly subsidised.

But this is only one of five programmes under Carolina for Kibera (CFK), which has changed the lives of Kibera residents.

The organisation an affiliate of North Carolina University in the US saving lives and creating opportunities for the youth through its programmes in the slum.

The organisation tackles Kibera’s problems from the ground up according to the director George Kogolla.

"The organisation is a model of effective participatory development. Kibera youth lead CFK, and the community drives the work on the ground," he says.

From the small compound that houses CFK offices, people stream in seeking all forms of help. Most of them come to seek scholarship for their children while some just come to thank the officials.

Awarded schorlarship

I find Plista Odero, a mother of six, who had accompanied her daughter Alice Auma who had been awarded a scholarship by the organisation at the waiting lounge.

"I was desperate and did not know where I would get money to pay fees for my daughter and son," she says.

She says after the officials visited her home to verify if the information she had given in the application letter was true, they informed her to check after two weeks.

"I did so and to my delight, my two children, one in secondary and the other in primary, had been awarded scholarships," she says.

Christine Kerubo, who had stayed out of school for three years, got a lease of life after she was referred to the organisation.

Kerubo dropped out of school after her father refused to pay her fees. She dropped out of Maono Secondary School in 2007 after first term and Girls Soccer after two terms.

"My classmates have long cleared secondary education," she says.

But she is now happy.

"I came and tried my luck here. I explained my problems and when they called to inform me that they would sponsor me, I though it was a joke," says the elated Kerubo.

Though she has a child, she is determined to complete her education and hopes to one day give back to society just as she is a beneficiary of other peoples’ kindness.

"I want to be a social worker. They are the people who really touch my life because they go out of their way to assist others," she says.

She goes to St Michael Holy Unity Academy.

Francis Obado is also back to school courtesy of Carolina for Kibera.

Obado, an orphan, was a student at Masii Boys in Machakos before his relatives abandoned him.

- Some of the beneficiaries of Carolina for Kibera play football. [PICTURES: ALEX KIPROTICH]

"They stopped paying my school fees and I decided to come to Nairobi to try my luck," he says.

He says his first stop was at the Ministry of Education where he explained his tribulations to one of the education officers who gave him a letter to present at Olympic Secondary School. He says soon after he received bursary from the ministry but only for a year.

Faced with uncertainty in his education, Obado went back to the ministry offices but was sad to learn that the lady officer who assisted him had been fired on alleged misappropriation of funds.

"I knew I had reached a dead end. I went back to Kibera dejected," he says.

However, while passing by CFK offices he saw an advert on scholarships and gave it a shot.

"Am now focusing on my studies not to disappoint the well-wishers," he says. Another programme that has impacted positively on the lives of Kibera residents and specifically the youth is the sports programme.

Darius Isaboke, the educational officer, says CFK organises tournaments where talented youth are offered automatic education scholarships. "The Youth Sports Programme addresses three things violence, youth unemployment, and public health," he says.

Isaboke adds that the yearly tournaments bring together male and female youth of different ethnicities to promote community co-operation and development.

"Each CFK soccer team is required to be ethnically diverse and this helps assuage ethnic tension at grassroots level," he says.

There is also a programme for girls only The Binti Pamoja Centre, which creates and provides a safe space for adolescent girls in Kibera, an otherwise hostile environment to this group.