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By Daniele Moschetti
Tuko pamoja ... ... all together!!! It was with these words that we ended our W Nairobi W! petition, endorsed by over 6000 people from all over the world!!! People from Italy, Yemen, Brasil, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Perù, India and many other countries ... This proves that when people get together ... ... dreams can really come true! There is a famous kiswahili saying,
"Umoja ni nguvu, utengano ni udhaifu!" (Unity is strength, division is weakness!)
And I really believe that this is true at all the latitudes and longitudes of this beautiful Earth We had the opportunity to witness this when in early 2004, so many people united to protest against Kenya's newly instated government's absurd decision to demolish many of the slum dwellings in Nairobi and all over the country. We calculated that almost 350,000 people living in the slums of Nairobi alone, would have seen their homes torn down if the resolution had been executed. The ministers of Energy, Transportation and Public Works had launched the action haphazardly and above all without a thought for the consequences it would have on the slum dwellers, who are condemned to living outside the law. Nairobi has almost 4 million inhabitants, 55-60% of whom live in the slums, which amounts to approximately 2.5 million. The latest data from UN Habitat show that there are 199 different slums in Nairobi! Instead of decreasing, the slums are steadily growing as more children are born and more people converge on the city in search of a better life. Africa itself is becoming a slum!!! What's really absurd about it is that all the land where the slums have been built belong to the State or to the City of Nairobi, but this property covers only 5% of the entire territory of the city! The animals in the Nairobi National Park live in much better conditions than the human beings living in the surrounding slums! And then if you just stop to think that 80% of these people pay rent on these huts to rich investors, that is, to people who have invested a few thousand shillings to build them, and earn millions of shillings a year on that property ... I believe that we are witnessing the greatest social apartheid in the world!!! Nairobi is a unique place, there's no doubt about it! And the initiative taken by many groups and organisations to stop these demolitions has been just as unique. We have witnessed the expansion of a local network of slum dwellers, the Kutoka Parish Network Nairobi (14 catholic parishes that are based in the slums), other churches, various Non Governmental Organisations, the embassies present in Nairobi, all of whom pleaded that the government halt these irrational demolitions, which offered no dignified, alternative solution to relocate the evicted tenants. Furthermore, an international internet campaign, W Nairobi W! was launched, where technology was put to good use in promoting solidarity towards the slum dwellers by sending emails to Kenya's President, Mwai Kibaki, to the government, to the United Nations and to the European Parliament. I think it's safe to say that this has been a truly unique campaign. All Together to bring dignity to millions of slum dwellers who have a name and surname, a life, and above all are condemned to living in a slum illegally….because there are no other alternatives. We're all outlaws! I myself live in Korogocho, along with 120,000 others, in just one square kilometer of space! And this is just one of the 199 slums in Nairobi!!! The idea to publish this book came first of all from the dreams of the children. Here you'll find the pictures that they took themselves ... and we hope that in the near future we'll be able to publish a book with their pictures alone ... to show the world the creativeness and love of life that these children have to give, by sharing their mind's view of the place they live in. Thanks to the professional help and friendship of Francesco from Padua and two other friends from Siena, Francesco and Gianna ... "a miracle has happened"! We're printing it in English and Italian so it can be seen and read by everyone, all over the world, and most of all by the children themselves!! But all this is still not enough. We have to fight along side the slum dwellers of Nairobi, and try to promote awareness about the tremendous gap between the South and North of the world. We must promote unity among the slum dwellers themselves so they can learn more about their rights and chances without being afraid to dare ... We call for the cancellation of Kenya's foreign debt and the establishment of a comprehensive plan to help this exploding city that condemns millions of people to living on less than one dollar a day in inhuman conditions! To thank all our supporters from Italy and other parts of Europe we have published this book, a travelling exhibit of the pictures which will tour our cities, churches and community centres, and a video in English and in Italian to illustrate what's happening and above all tell everyone what we dream of doing Together! The creativeness and love of life expressed by these children in the midst of the surrounding chaos, encourage us to not give up the fight. This is how "dreams" come true ... ... Tuko pamoja! All Together!!
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