Dandora Dump Site
I am a 16 year old boy who lives in Kenya. They call me Michael. I live with both parents in Dandora, Nairobi, and have three siblings, 2 brothers and a sister. I just want to write about how we live as an example of millions of families who live in Kenya and also Eastern Africa.
So, both of my parents try so much to make both ends meet. My mother works as a cook and cleaner at a local school and my Dad does not have a job. What they both earn is not enough to take care of all needs that we have as a family, ranging from school fees, house rent, clothing etc.
Talking about school fees, I am in a high school, my siblings in a private academy. If you combine the total fees required for a term, it can mount to something even 4 times what both my parents earn.
We have to pay rent, we have to cloth, but how?
That is how many people in the whole of Africa live.
I once talked to some kids from USA who came to our church and they were talking about how life in Africa seems to be enjoyable with wild animals all over, forests, i.e. it is adventurous. On my mind I was like “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kenya is a wonderful country to live in but at the same time a bad place to live in due to some circumstances in Kenya. In Eastern Africa and the whole of Africa, poverty reigns. People are very poor, to the extent that, someone have no choice but to live in a dumping site, eat real nasty food, wear very bad clothing etc.
You know that Africa leads in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS. Do you think it is by choice? Of course not a person wants to have this dreaded killer disease. They are forced by the circumstances they face.
One of them being poverty.
Poverty, in that, a person lack money to provide the basic needs of any family.
So what is this person opts for? Prostitution.
There according to what I heard when one of them was being interviewed, sometimes one is so desperate for the money, when the customer see how desperate you are, they decide to take advantage of you, i.e., they want to do the act without protection. You have a choice to refuse but when you think about the situation at home you just accept. She said she was HIV + and had three children, two of whom were of the same status as her. She added, she had done three abortions.
The same poverty has led to high crime rates in Africa. Youth takes up the risk of doing criminal activities so that they can help their families. While in other continents, I do not think that people turn into crime because they don’t have, but because they have and want more. I think this way because their economy is far much better than Africa’s.
With good economy there are employment opportunities. I just hope that Africa and particularly Kenya will attain that state of economy and I believe that life will be as many wished it would have been.
This thing about employment opportunities, it’s not like people in Africa and Kenya are not learned, they are! My Dad went to University of Nairobi, but why doesn’t he have a job? They are very scarce and the competition is very high. My Dad lost his job something like nine years ago. He has been searching but one thing is proving to be an obstacle, corruption.
Again, Kenya, I guess is one of the World leading countries in corruption. To get a job, sometimes you are told you have to pay something small, but my Dad being a Christian know that not right.
Maybe you have seen pictures of the famous dumping site in Dandora. There are people living there. They keep up with the harsh conditions there. It is not easy. They are exposed to dangerous risks like diseases, chemicals etc. About chemicals, there was a place in the site where some chemicals reacted in a marshy place. Since then the place has been like a boiler. After some time it was covered with papers and then a very unfortunate boy accidentally fell into the boiler. The result, the boy was burnt real bad. Imagine seeing sagging flesh and bones. Luckily he survived but has never gotten better that is 2 years after the accident took place.
People who live there are forced to eat the things that are edible there. They get sick, can not meet the hospital bills, some die. It is sad because the people living around the dumping site are also helpless, they are poor.
So people in Kenya, they say “Kaszi ni Kazi” meaning a job is a job. They don’t care about the risk the job entails. All the care about is that one at the end of the day has something for him/her and family to eat, to wear and to have some roof over ones head. That is why some people get into activities like unblocking sewage without even the right equipment and tools. The risk in this job is that one can drown, you can get water-borne diseases, the sewage may contain object that can wound you badly and many other risks.
Another risky job is quarry mining. Just the other day a quarry collapsed killing 12 people and leaving others crippled and seriously wounded. The quarries do not use machines but use human labour. People do not have enough capital to use machines so they do not have any option that to use their bodies. These quarries can also lead to mudslides which are very dangerous. Also the quarries may harbor water which may be a breeding ground for mosquitoes thus malaria. The same water can lead to infections like bilharzia, typhoid and cholera. Other people, especially women, they offer to go into peoples homes to wash clothes or dishes so that they can get money.
It is also a pity and also very sad that some peoples venture into pastoral activities not because they want to spread the Gospel but because they just want to have something to put in their mouths at the end of the day.
I think there in the western countries 95% of the homes have things like Play Stations, XBoxes, PS-P’s and computers. What for? For Self entertainment. But What about in E.A.? and especially Kenya? They are used as a source of income by the few people who have them. It is not abnormal to find kids and young people having to crowd at a place to get a chance to playing Play Station and the sorts, I being one of them. These accessories are expensive for ordinary Kenyan families like ours. How can one think of buying those accessories while there is school fees to pay, house rent to pay, you have to buy food etc? It is so hard. As much as we like them we have no option but to bare with the thought that you’ll never get one. If only Kenya had been industrialized we could have been far, as there would have been job opportunities for all. The economy would have been stable.
Maybe you did not hear about this but in 2009 more than 1000 people died in one night. Why? You may be asking yourself. A tanker (oil) had an accident and split the oil. The people, being ultimate opportunists, went to tap the oil so that they can at least use it to get money. Unfortunately the tanker caught fire and all the people in about 1km2 died. They wanted to feed their families.
In Africa and especially Kenya, there is a lot of untapped talent. There are so many young people with a variety of talent that goes untapped. As much as we are told in the bible to use our talents well unless we want to answer questions, sometimes we have no choice. Where and how are we going to use our talent? That is the question. As I watch T.V. i see America’s got talent, American Idol and America Best Dance Crew. You see for example, Americans has established this programs so as to tap talents. The results? Very positive. The people and young for that matter, get a chance to showcase their talents. The country is developed and has a steady economy and that is why some people volunteer to use their time and capital to establish programs. Well, in Kenya, having unstable economy and many problems, how can someone think of coming up with such a project? Maybe an organization can but an individual, I just don’t think so. In for instance, USA, these projects are established by individuals. Talents, the few that have been put to proper use, are feeding families in Kenya and all over the world.
The likes of Denis Oliech and McDonald Mariga have helped raise standards of living of their families through their talents.
Well, we can say they were lucky although I think the worked hard on their talents for them to go so far.
Now another problem affecting the youth is coming up, DRUGS. The problem started out at the coast and is now spreading real fast. The youth addicts can do anything to get the drugs. What shocks me and many is that drugs are not the cheap ones but the expensive ones. The likes of cocaine, heroine etc. I believe this problem is not only in Kenya but a global problem. The youth who get into drug, specifically Kenya, are the ones who have lost hope in life. They lose hope because of many difficult circumstances they meet in life. But I thank god that the government is determined to fight this problem.
The bottom line is there are many problems in Kenya. I’ve only mentioned a few that we , as Kenyans, are trying to make right. I hope now, you who will read this piece of information, will know that life is not easy as many tend to think. It’s not that easy, to put a smile on your face and say life’s fine, cool and easy, not in Kenya and Africa. However we have to arm ourselves with the right attitude, work hard and look forward to make life better in Africa. Hey, God Bless you very much.
So, both of my parents try so much to make both ends meet. My mother works as a cook and cleaner at a local school and my Dad does not have a job. What they both earn is not enough to take care of all needs that we have as a family, ranging from school fees, house rent, clothing etc.
Talking about school fees, I am in a high school, my siblings in a private academy. If you combine the total fees required for a term, it can mount to something even 4 times what both my parents earn.
We have to pay rent, we have to cloth, but how?
That is how many people in the whole of Africa live.
I once talked to some kids from USA who came to our church and they were talking about how life in Africa seems to be enjoyable with wild animals all over, forests, i.e. it is adventurous. On my mind I was like “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kenya is a wonderful country to live in but at the same time a bad place to live in due to some circumstances in Kenya. In Eastern Africa and the whole of Africa, poverty reigns. People are very poor, to the extent that, someone have no choice but to live in a dumping site, eat real nasty food, wear very bad clothing etc.
You know that Africa leads in the number of people living with HIV/AIDS. Do you think it is by choice? Of course not a person wants to have this dreaded killer disease. They are forced by the circumstances they face.
One of them being poverty.
Poverty, in that, a person lack money to provide the basic needs of any family.
So what is this person opts for? Prostitution.
There according to what I heard when one of them was being interviewed, sometimes one is so desperate for the money, when the customer see how desperate you are, they decide to take advantage of you, i.e., they want to do the act without protection. You have a choice to refuse but when you think about the situation at home you just accept. She said she was HIV + and had three children, two of whom were of the same status as her. She added, she had done three abortions.
The same poverty has led to high crime rates in Africa. Youth takes up the risk of doing criminal activities so that they can help their families. While in other continents, I do not think that people turn into crime because they don’t have, but because they have and want more. I think this way because their economy is far much better than Africa’s.
With good economy there are employment opportunities. I just hope that Africa and particularly Kenya will attain that state of economy and I believe that life will be as many wished it would have been.
This thing about employment opportunities, it’s not like people in Africa and Kenya are not learned, they are! My Dad went to University of Nairobi, but why doesn’t he have a job? They are very scarce and the competition is very high. My Dad lost his job something like nine years ago. He has been searching but one thing is proving to be an obstacle, corruption.
Again, Kenya, I guess is one of the World leading countries in corruption. To get a job, sometimes you are told you have to pay something small, but my Dad being a Christian know that not right.
Maybe you have seen pictures of the famous dumping site in Dandora. There are people living there. They keep up with the harsh conditions there. It is not easy. They are exposed to dangerous risks like diseases, chemicals etc. About chemicals, there was a place in the site where some chemicals reacted in a marshy place. Since then the place has been like a boiler. After some time it was covered with papers and then a very unfortunate boy accidentally fell into the boiler. The result, the boy was burnt real bad. Imagine seeing sagging flesh and bones. Luckily he survived but has never gotten better that is 2 years after the accident took place.
People who live there are forced to eat the things that are edible there. They get sick, can not meet the hospital bills, some die. It is sad because the people living around the dumping site are also helpless, they are poor.
So people in Kenya, they say “Kaszi ni Kazi” meaning a job is a job. They don’t care about the risk the job entails. All the care about is that one at the end of the day has something for him/her and family to eat, to wear and to have some roof over ones head. That is why some people get into activities like unblocking sewage without even the right equipment and tools. The risk in this job is that one can drown, you can get water-borne diseases, the sewage may contain object that can wound you badly and many other risks.
Another risky job is quarry mining. Just the other day a quarry collapsed killing 12 people and leaving others crippled and seriously wounded. The quarries do not use machines but use human labour. People do not have enough capital to use machines so they do not have any option that to use their bodies. These quarries can also lead to mudslides which are very dangerous. Also the quarries may harbor water which may be a breeding ground for mosquitoes thus malaria. The same water can lead to infections like bilharzia, typhoid and cholera. Other people, especially women, they offer to go into peoples homes to wash clothes or dishes so that they can get money.
It is also a pity and also very sad that some peoples venture into pastoral activities not because they want to spread the Gospel but because they just want to have something to put in their mouths at the end of the day.
I think there in the western countries 95% of the homes have things like Play Stations, XBoxes, PS-P’s and computers. What for? For Self entertainment. But What about in E.A.? and especially Kenya? They are used as a source of income by the few people who have them. It is not abnormal to find kids and young people having to crowd at a place to get a chance to playing Play Station and the sorts, I being one of them. These accessories are expensive for ordinary Kenyan families like ours. How can one think of buying those accessories while there is school fees to pay, house rent to pay, you have to buy food etc? It is so hard. As much as we like them we have no option but to bare with the thought that you’ll never get one. If only Kenya had been industrialized we could have been far, as there would have been job opportunities for all. The economy would have been stable.
Maybe you did not hear about this but in 2009 more than 1000 people died in one night. Why? You may be asking yourself. A tanker (oil) had an accident and split the oil. The people, being ultimate opportunists, went to tap the oil so that they can at least use it to get money. Unfortunately the tanker caught fire and all the people in about 1km2 died. They wanted to feed their families.
In Africa and especially Kenya, there is a lot of untapped talent. There are so many young people with a variety of talent that goes untapped. As much as we are told in the bible to use our talents well unless we want to answer questions, sometimes we have no choice. Where and how are we going to use our talent? That is the question. As I watch T.V. i see America’s got talent, American Idol and America Best Dance Crew. You see for example, Americans has established this programs so as to tap talents. The results? Very positive. The people and young for that matter, get a chance to showcase their talents. The country is developed and has a steady economy and that is why some people volunteer to use their time and capital to establish programs. Well, in Kenya, having unstable economy and many problems, how can someone think of coming up with such a project? Maybe an organization can but an individual, I just don’t think so. In for instance, USA, these projects are established by individuals. Talents, the few that have been put to proper use, are feeding families in Kenya and all over the world.
The likes of Denis Oliech and McDonald Mariga have helped raise standards of living of their families through their talents.
Well, we can say they were lucky although I think the worked hard on their talents for them to go so far.
Now another problem affecting the youth is coming up, DRUGS. The problem started out at the coast and is now spreading real fast. The youth addicts can do anything to get the drugs. What shocks me and many is that drugs are not the cheap ones but the expensive ones. The likes of cocaine, heroine etc. I believe this problem is not only in Kenya but a global problem. The youth who get into drug, specifically Kenya, are the ones who have lost hope in life. They lose hope because of many difficult circumstances they meet in life. But I thank god that the government is determined to fight this problem.
The bottom line is there are many problems in Kenya. I’ve only mentioned a few that we , as Kenyans, are trying to make right. I hope now, you who will read this piece of information, will know that life is not easy as many tend to think. It’s not that easy, to put a smile on your face and say life’s fine, cool and easy, not in Kenya and Africa. However we have to arm ourselves with the right attitude, work hard and look forward to make life better in Africa. Hey, God Bless you very much.