I had the privilege of visiting two organizations, Slum child foundation and HOYMAS, last week. Slum child foundation runs several education based programs in slum areas, primarily Kariabangi and Korogocho, while HOYMAS works in prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS for male sex workers, the LGBT community and people living with HIV/AIDS.
As I toured around Korogocho, I couldn't stop comparing the economic poverty and inequality in India and Kenya. This is one of the three largest slum areas in the country, housing more than 150,000 people in an area of 1.5 square Kms. Everyone I know scared me about the place: don't go there, people will pickpocket from you, you will be harmed. While the area does have a history of homicides, guns, illicit liquor and drugs like many other urban/rural centers across the world, I could almost see an invisible barrier deepening the inequality between the urban rich and slum dwellers in Kenya through fear, shame and horror. I, for one, felt extremely safe with George, the amazing human who founded Slum child foundation, after having spent his childhood in the very slum he works for, today.
George works on de-addiction to drugs and keeping children in school. As he shared his personal story with me, I was struck by his courage for doing the work he does. He uses several innovative methods to keep children in school including ventriloquism, videos etc, and also works on providing a safe environment for kids at home by moving their parents away from sex work, alcohol and drugs, by providing alternate work for them. It looked like the entire slum was in awe of George; he was greeted with a smile and a hug everywhere he went.
The biggest issue is poverty, they say. Urban unemployment among the youth is more than 40%, and men/women are forced to resort to drugs or sex work to provide for their families. Every player in the system is trying to maximize its own profits. The police uses bribes to allow flow of drugs and illicit liquor around. The Church, on the other hand, behaved exactly the way religious institutions across the world behave. The hospital would provide condoms, yes, but only to either girls already affected by HIV/AIDS or to pregnant girls (teenage pregnancy is extremely high here ~20%), or to married couples. Given the state of affairs here, one can only imagine the high rate of HIV/AIDS within the locality. As she spoke, it felt so ironic that religious leaders were willing to spend 10x more to supply expensive ART for AIDS treatment, in the process also damaging the health of the human being, instead of supplying super cheap condoms to prevent HIV in the first place. The logic: supplying condoms would encourage pre-marital sex. The same logic as everywhere in the world: giving women 'too much' freedom would destroy our culture (aka equalizing power between man and woman), allowing freedom of choice to dress and talk and choose one's partners would encourage rape (because women are responsible for everything you see), and I once again thought of a comment a mentor made, 'There is no dysfunctional system in the world; who is it really functional for, is the deeper question.'
As I write this, I am also aware of how my economically well-placed family and friends would dismiss these, with either a 'they are so uncultured! We are better humans' remark or blame the sad state of affairs conveniently on karma. I think the question we should pose should be different - inequality is never caused by one set of people alone. It's a two-way affair. What role did WE have to play, individually and collectively, to have caused this tragic set of affairs in the first place? And how can WE do better to integrate them into our society and provide economic opportunities to ensure they don't have to scurry through dumpsites to get that one meal a day? And given the massive reach of religious institutions across the world, how each of us turn the heavily process-based religious teachings into value-based concepts, will heavily impact each and everyone of us.
I was very excited to see the ventriloquist in action (who doesn't like a puppet!) and decided to follow the team into school. I was greeted by hundreds of students laughing and shouting, and it was exactly the dose of energy I needed to complete my day. The minute the school bell rang, they dashed out of class into the playgrounds and the energy of these kids was electrifying.Onto another day, another story. And more confused than ever, on how to breakdown such complex unfair systems in the world.
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