Battling COVID-19 in Africa’s largest urban slum
In communities where social distancing is a luxury, Compassion’s local church partners work hard to bring hope to increasingly desperate situations.
Kibera is Kenya’s largest informal settlement and Africa’s largest urban slum. It is a densely populated, sprawling valley of 256 hectares in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. Narrow pathways run between the small, tightly packed homes that sport rusting, corrugated iron sheets as roofs.
Every small space is used. A small clearing is a laundromat. A home doubles as a hairdresser’s salon. The front of a family’s small home is also the neighbourhood’s corner store.
The crowded busyness is one of Kibera’s defining characteristics. But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this characteristic has made life even more precarious and complicated for the residents of Kibera. For them, things like social distancing and hand washing are luxuries they don’t have.
“Our children live in very tightly packed spaces. They share a lot of the spaces with neighbours who are just a few metres away. Trying to keep the physical distancing rule is just not possible,” says Ken, a staff member at KE0423, the Compassion centre at Kibera Church of God, one of Compassion’s local church partners in Kibera. “We continue to monitor the families via text and phone and remind them to adhere to set procedures, but we know it is difficult in the slums.”
Reverend Gerald Opwacho is the senior pastor of Kibera Church of God. Like all of Compassion’s local church partners around the world, Kibera Church of God has been walking closely with their neighbours through this crisis. “The church has been vastly affected. We are a church in the heart of Kibera that ministers to predominantly slum dwellers.”
Deepening desperation
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, families living in Kibera were already struggling with immense poverty. Now, the needs are even greater.
Dorcas, the mother of Gaudencia, a Compassion child registered at KE0423, shares that families living in Kibera are often forced to choose between eating and hand washing. “Sometimes water is just not available, or we are forced to make the difficult choice between purchasing water or purchasing food to keep hunger pangs at bay,” she says.
“Dorcas isn’t the only one experiencing these tough times,” says Ken. “Many caregivers are mainly rate workers, day labourers and informal traders. Many of them are under heavy pressure to keep working in order to be able to put food on the table.”
Beatrice, a single mother of four, already struggled to make ends meet before the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, she lost her job as a domestic worker and is now trying to make a living by doing people’s laundry. “The money is just enough for food for the day and then we are back to the drawing board,” says Beatrice.
Another parent, Daniel, lost his job as a security guard early in the pandemic. “My boss told me that he could no longer keep me on since there had been reported cases of COVID-19 in Kibera,” he says. His family of five is now relying on their small business of selling plastic and household items as their only source of income, but the pandemic has affected its profitability.
Parents like Sarah, a roadside kiosk vendor, know the risks of continuing to work, but they have no other choice. “I try my best to take precautionary measures like having a mask and not shaking hands with customers, but ultimately, it is a gamble I have to take. I do not have a choice in the matter,” she says.
For these families, survival is on the line. “My prayer is that God would end this pandemic, otherwise I do not know how we will survive if this persists,” says Beatrice.
Innovating to support families in need
For Compassion staff in Kibera, supporting these families has become complicated since the Kenyan government banned the distribution of food. This decision was made after a tragic incident in which two people were killed during the chaos of an uncoordinated distribution carried out by another organization.
As a result, Compassion Kenya had to quickly adjust its response, conducting a survey to understand the most pressing needs and then act with speed and innovation.
“We wanted to be compliant with the government’s social distancing guidelines. We know distributing food at Compassion centres could promote the spread of the virus,” says Newton Midamba, Senior Manager of Partnership for Compassion Kenya.
Compassion Kenya came up with a different solution: mobile money cash transfers.
Leading research shows that cash transfers are one of the most effective ways to fight poverty. It’s one of the ways Compassion has contextually adapted programming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure children and families in desperate need do not experience any lapse in support.
Over 70 per cent of Kenyan adults use mobile money, the highest mobile money usage in the world. Mobile money has brought banking access closer to the people, an empowering development for Kenyans living in poverty.
“It is easy, fast and cost-effective,” says Joel Macharia, Compassion Kenya’s National Director. “The mobile money platform has a business-to-customer setup that guarantees security and has several levels of approvals for our leadership and strong internal controls of tracking and validation.”
Beyond being efficient and cost-effective, cash transfers also provide dignity to families, empowering them to meet their most pressing needs as they arise. “Having families decide how to spend the money dignifies them,” Joel says. “It provides them with a choice aligned with their [needs]. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.”
These cash transfers are providing critical support for families who are experiencing deepening poverty because of the COVID-19 crisis. Peter, whose son Livingstone is a Compassion child, says, “Before COVID-19, I’d say that we were jostling to get by. But right now, we are the ones being jostled by this situation.” Thankfully, the family is able to receive support through the mobile money cash transfers.
This is Compassion Kenya’s way of continuing to provide for children’s critical needs like food, shelter, water and hygiene supplies, even in the face of the strict restrictions that have been put in place by the government to keep people safe.
Now more than ever
For Ken, his role at the Compassion centre in Kibera is not just a job, because he knows first-hand what the families of Kibera are going through. He was once a Compassion sponsored child from Kibera.
“Having grown up in Kibera, I totally understand how times like this can be for the families living in the slums,” he says. “I can recall my parents struggling to provide for us during the highly contested 2007 general elections in Kenya that made Kibera a warzone.”
This fuels his passion for his job. “It is fulfilling to know that children’s needs are being met during this hard time. They need us now more than ever.”
This idea of now more than ever seems to be a theme that is emerging amongst local churches responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Now more than ever, the Church’s faithful care for neighbour is essential to communities facing unprecedented need around the world.
For Reverend Opwacho, the pandemic has been an exercise in practical faith. “We have taken this as a challenge to practice God’s word and to be His hands and feet,” he says. “Now more than ever, we need to preach hope.”
Alyssa Esparaz works for Compassion Canada, telling stories that inform and inspire Canadians towards compassionate action for children living in poverty around the world.
Photography and field reporting by Silas Irungu and Isaac Ogila, Compassion International
