Korogocho -understanding the nature of a slum-

Korogocho - understanding the nature of a slum -

Forschungsmodul von Laura Takla Betreut von FG EUS Dr. Christian Rosen Wintersemester 2019/2020

Content

• • • • • • • •

Introduction 1.1 Case description | 1.2 Methods | 1.3 Research schedule Project diary Evaluation A Reflection References | Acronyms | List of figures Statement of authorship Apendix

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Introduction

The present study contributes to the discourse and research about the growth and development of urban cities in the global south. Discussions about cities in the global south primarily focus on social segregation, a term which dominates the field of research.

Marcuse (1989) talks about a Quartered City, defining segregation as multi causal. He states that next to economic criteria there are ethnic, religious and cultural factors that also play a pivotal role for the increase of social inequality within society.

In one of their papers Borsdorf and Hildago (2009) describe the phenomenom of segregation as a fragmented geographic juxtaposition of different ethnic groups resulting in synergies as well as conflict potentials, drawing the picture of a fragmented city.

Based on these findings and discussions Avni and Yiftachel (2017) deal with new forms of urban development and social consequences for the cities in the global south by bringing up the term of the New Divided City. They understand increasing disparities of prosperity as a result of continuously emerging informal settlements. These informal settlements manifest in ‚gray spaces‘ and represent a major component of urban division, facilitating a polarisation of urban society. In the paper The new Divided City - Planning and ‚gray spaces‘ between global north-west and south-east they describe informality as an emerging, permanent urban component, dividing spaces and populations in those cities, which have been subject of their research.

In many cases in the past, urban planning concepts for improving general living conditions in cities of the global south failed, and did not have the desired effect. This may be attributed to the fact, that even today, urban planning is largely based on concepts that were developed for social realities present in the global Northwest. The implementation of northwestern concepts has often led to social exclusion, especially of migrants, spatial segregation of entire population groups and low sustainability. Moreover, these instruments tend to primarily benefit local elites and international investors. Generally these concepts fail to recognize individual conditions in cities of the global South, which are characterized by poverty, weak governments, strong population growth and a high degree of informality and cultural differences (Watson 2002a).

The increase in urban informality also changes attitudes of political regimes towards informal settlements at least. The pressure rises to let go of an attitude of ignoring, shifting towards an attitude of acceptance, addressing the issue of finding long lasting solutions and therefore focussing on new methods in urban planning.

Accordingly, the view on urban planning in the global south has changed significantly in recent

years. Calls have become loud for a planning theory, which is adapted to the diversity of cities and includes different ideas of what urban development means. Hence the need for detailed case studies to understand local logic (Watson 2002b).

Research seems to be at a turning point, looking at informality in a new perspective. So first of all it is important to understand local habits, patterns and conditions in the region concerned and starting to put the focus on looking at things that are available and working, rather than on things that are needed or do not work. (Jaglin 2017) After understanding and analysing these local conditions, we can try to find new ways and concepts for an adequate improvement of the living standard in a specific area and hopefully bring a long lasting change to society.

The aim of the present research project is to understand and identify the patterns of the informal settlement Korogocho in the City of Nairobi in Kenya. The focus is set on infrastructure facilities which include technical and social ones. Furthermore, it aims to understand the interaction between inhabitants and local resources as well as the delivery service of facilities to the user.

After identifying the local resources, the focus is laid on the process of mapping infrastructure facilities, in order to get an understanding of the daily patterns and routines of the inhabitants and with the goal of making an inventory of existing resources.

A short case description will give an introduction to the place and situation of Korogocho and the city Nairobi. Further on I explain the methods and consecutive steps to answer the questions of the research and give an overview about my time schedule.

The main part is a report deriving from a diary, giving information about my experiences and impressions on site. A short report about every day, which contributed to understanding the living environment in Korogocho, is accompanied by photos. Choosing this type of describing my experiences, I am giving a little glimpse into the world of Korogocho and the reader the chance to be part of the process of the study.

After this descriptive part the evaluation of results follows, by showing graphics and figures, which are explained by short texts. The analytical part includes evaluated data gained from the work with a group of children and my observations during my time in Korogocho. In the end a reflection summarises my experiences and information I gained during the process of the research study.

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1.1 Case description

The location of the research study is the informal settlement Korogocho in the capital of Kenya, in Nairobi. From a historical perspective Nairobi is a very young city, founded 1899 by the British as a trading centre and railway station of the Kenya-Uganda-Railway, connecting Uganda with Mombasa and its port. From the outset, Nairobi has experienced great inequality and segregation in the cityscape, which was obviously caused by colonisation. 1948 a master plan introduced different zones for specific ethnical groups such as Asians, Europeans and Africans. However, most of the slums that exist in Nairobi today were established after independence in 1963. With a strong rural–urban migration, and with no restricted movement into the city and unsufficient supply of low- income housing, there has been a significant growth of slums since then (fig. 1) (UN-Habitat 2012).

After a meeting by the United Nations Expert Group in 2003, the UN state an operational definition of a slum (UN-Habitat 2003): An area that combines, to various extents, the following characteristics: - inadequate access to safe water - inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure - poor structural quality of housing - overcrowding - insecure residential status.

All of these points apply to Korogocho. The settlement of Korogocho was initiated by quarry workers who settled in the area and built temporary structures in the early 1970s. Later on, a repetitive process of resettlements of slums being demolished near the city centre lead to an conglomerate of nine so called villages, forming an large informal settlement.

Korogocho is situated to the east of Nairobi around 10 km away from the central business district (CBD) and extends over 1,5 square kilometers according to several resources (UN-Habitat 2012). Looking at the area with the help of an GIS based map, the area measures around 0,87 square kilometers. Korogocho is enclosed by two black rivers in the north and south, which are contaminated by waste and industrial disposals. The rivers form the border of Korogocho and join to one stream in the east. To the south Korogocho also borders Nairobis dump site Dandora, the official place where all the waste from the city finds his way. The neighbouring settlements are Kariobangi, Dandora, Baba Dogo and Lucky Summer. (fig. 2) These have a slightly higher living quality and most houses have a water connection and are connected to a sewage system. Houses

are mostly made of brick and can be assigned to apartment houses.

Korogocho is presumably the fourth biggest slum in Nairobi with an estimated population between 70.000 and 200.000. (UN-Habitat 2012) Nine villages, Grogan A, Grogan B, Korogocho A, Korogocho B, Highridge, Gitathuru, Kisumu Ndogo, Nyayo and Ngomongo form Korogocho.

In this study I account Ngomongo Village, which is situated in the far north-east, as being part of Korogocho (fig. 2). Opinions differ on this assumption, since the land is owned by the society of the houseowners and most buildings are made of stone and have a connection to a sewage system. But in terms of community life it does not differ from the other villages and plays a pivotal role for the entire area. The land on which the other villages spread is mostly governmentally owned, with small pockets of private land. The people living there are mostly tenures, paying rent to owners of the hut they are living in.

High densities, congestion and high unemployment characterize the area of Korogocho. A scarcity of accessible and potable water remains one of the most urgent problems in Korogocho (UN-Habitat 2012).

The presence of the neighboring dumpsite represents a particular attribute compared to situations in other slums in Nairobi. It is an ambivalent situation: on one hand it gives the population the chance getting a small income from recycling and reselling waste. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Korogocho suffer from heavily polluted air, caused by the smoke of burning chemicals and plastics, leading to various health issues.

The whole environment of Korogocho will be subject of the present study and I attempt to capture as many aspects and places as possible. Nevertheless, there is one particular place that will play a key role in this study: the schoolyard of Ngunyumu School. It is situated quite in the middle of Korogocho and is well reachable by Pickipicki, the local transportation by motorcycle.

This provides a good starting position for further expeditions through the villages. In an area such as Korogocho, street names, although they are partial, do not play a role in orientation and meeting points. Landmarks like schools, churches and intersections that everyone knows are used for orientation. The schoolyard will be the most frequently visited place by me which is partly because the weekly meetings of the mentorship group will take place here as well. A shipping container in the schoolyard provides room for our meetings and is equipped with basic furniture.

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Fig. 1: Showing nairobi with its districts. Highlighted in brown the many big informal settelments in Nairobi.

Fig. 2: The nine villages of Korogocho and the neighbouring areas.

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1.2 Methods

In order to get a picture as close as possible to reality, a deep insight into everyday life and living space is needed. To achieve this goal, the research study focuses on qualitative methods. These tools allow a deeper insight into daily routines and a clearer description of social reality, which is a very important aspect to really understand the local system and the everyday socio-cultural interactions in Korogocho (Flick 2000). The research tools I use are participatory observation, dialogues and a questionnaire survey, including the process of mapping. Using more than one tool gives me the opportunity of triangulation of methods and therefore a comparison between indicators, achieving a wider range of experience and information.

The target group of the research study are the inhabitants of Korogocho and the focus is set on the younger population aged between 5- 20 years. The reason of choosing the young population of Korogocho as the main target group, is based on different aspects. Proportionally, the youth represents the largest part of population in Africa, and this is true as well for the population in Korogocho. The youth stands for the future of the area and symbolies hope for a better life and an end to the vicious circle of poverty. Despite their key role for the future of society, their thoughts rarely find any acceptance and are mostly ignored regarding community decisions and planning processes (UN-Habitat 2012). Making for me the necessity of giving them a chance to be heard and seen obvious.

The specific target group I will work with is a group of around 30-50 children participating on a mentorship programm by Smiles Africa. This is a local grassroot initative focussing on the empowerment of the youth by offering a mentorship programm. This social project covers topics concerning the youth at most. They meet on a regular basis and most children have known each other for years. This gives me already a good starting position regarding the choosing and defining of a group and asking for participation. This also saves me the process of building trust and cohesion within a group. On my last visit in Kenya in 2017 I was also involved with some of the children, attending the mentorship programm, so presumably a basis for a trustful relationship with me is given. On my last visit, I took part in the mentorship program concerning the topic ‚our environment‘ and therefore I have prior knowledge about an important part of the subjects covered here and about the way the mentors work with the children. The tools of dialogues and questionnaire survey including mapping will be implemented within this group.

By using participatory observation, I will not only focus on the young population but rather consider the whole population of Korogocho, making it possible to sketch a picture of everyday life for all age groups in Korogocho.

The method of participatory observation is part of the ethnographic fieldwork. The present study‘s aim is to give the local perspective a chance to be seen and heard and therefore I report my experience and observation without interpretation in the sense of valuation, in order to give a neutral picture of reality.

Ethnographic research requires adaptation to the situation on site, in order to experience the typical structures of the specific surrounding. Building up relationships and spending most of the time in the field is important and are the crucial factors for this method (Flick 2000). The most difficult part in ethnographic research is to gain access and trust to the community of the research subject (Flick 2000). As I already spent three months in Korogocho in 2017, interacting with children and people from the community, I do possess the essential prerequisites for gaining access to the community.

I have the opportunity to move within Korogocho more or less freely, accompanied by a local who was able and willing to guide me anywhere without facing big safety issues. He is known and respected in the community and therefore has less of a risk of being in danger than many other inhabitants of Korogocho. Considering that Korogocho is an informal settlement lacking lots of basic services, it come as no surprise that security is often not given. Crime and corruption are omnipresent, and being a stranger, and in my case a light-skinned person, puts you at high risk of becoming a target of crime. Therefore it is not advisable for a stranger (no matter if Kenyan or not) to visit an informal settlement like Korogocho.

Part of my ethnographic work will be walks through Korogocho, showing me aspects of the build environment and structures of daily life. I will also visit key figures of infrastructure facilities such as medical health centers, schools and community centres, to get an idea about their conditions as well as the acceptance and frequency of use by the community. This is putting me into the moving object, crossing different atmospheres and being the active person making contact with people. Another part of participatory observation is, to spend time on one specific spot, leaving the world of Korogocho pass and to be the immovable object.

In the latter situation, I just „take up“ the atmosphere and observe the street life at different week days and times. Having the opportunity to accompany a friend to work, who owns a little business at a street corner, gives me the chance to visit one particular spot on a regular basis and

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get to know the people around. Which also means I do not have to consider much safety issues and hopefully get the chance of becoming a small part in the local everyday life.

These two ways of observing the environment of Korogocho, give me the chance to be part of the community to a certain extent. However, given the restricted amount of time (four weeks) and the fact that a light-skinned person attracts attention, it will only be a glimpse into local reality of Korogocho.

Further on, the children need to point out and locate the facilities they are using and describe their emotions when spending time there. In this last task I hope to gain information about the frequency of use of facilities as well as about their potential of positively or negatively influencing the future of the youth. Finally, I want to get a general picture about the condition of facilities.

The other methods I will be using (within the mentorship group) are dialogues, a questionnaire survey and the process of mapping. Tools such as group discussions, interviews (as well as mapping infrastructure facilities) allow sharing experience and knowledge of the young people from Korogocho. I decided to involve the children from the beginning, thereby letting them to help shaping the process of adoption of knowledge. This can be seen as part of the study to see how the children find their own way of gaining access to the topic and how they follow the gradual evolvement from data collection to GIS based mapping of the infrastructure. The process will depend on questions like: how can these children handle maps? What is their sense of orientation? How can the children keep orientation in a slum, with structures that seem to follow no order?

I initiated the characterisation of local resources by looking at the individual private environments first: Which basic needs and therefore facilities are important in everyday life? What are places that can have a bad impact in any way? Which places or facilities are missing? This hopefully results in identifying the most significant infrastructure facilities for the young population in Korogocho and characterising their relation to it.

During the process, I formed groups of 9-10 children, in order to make inventories of infrastructure facilities within these groups. The next step is to locate the collected data on a map deriving from memories of the children. Further on, the children transfer this data to a GIS based map of Korogocho (based on satellite photos and open data from the internet), which I prepared in the beginning.

After the children become familiar with the study subjects and gained an overview about infrastructure facilities in Korogocho, a questionnaire survey completes the process within the group. The survey focusses on the individual child and its personal concerns considering its life in Korogocho. In the survey I try to find out about living expenses and the daily routine of children.

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1.3 Research schedule

It is planned to have a time frame of five weeks for the work on site. First of all there will be an acclimatisation period after arriving in Nairobi. Regardless my previous visit to Kenya, it will take some time to get used to a different culture, surrounding and habit. Daily routines, approach to work processes and simple things like transportation can vary greatly from my usual environment and I have to be aware of problems I cannot anticipate. All these factors demand a high degree of flexibility in terms of time schedule and framework for the work on site.

Regarding the time schedule I have one regular meeting with the mentorship group. Most of the kids attend school, which means the only way to hold our meeting on a weekly basis is on Sunday afternoon, leaving me enough time for the rest of my research activities.

This will be the only fixed appointment or meeting which is planned in advance. The other meetings and arrangements will be organised sponateously on site. The evaluation of previous group sessions, preparation for upcoming events within the group and the aspects of participatory observation need to adapt to conditions of weather, availability of time from friends accompanying me through Korogocho, the normal agenda of the mentorship programm and progresses in the group work. These activities demand a high degree of flexibility and will undergo constant optimization and a process of adjustment.

During my time on site I will have the weekly meeting with the group on Sundays and, in between, all other meetings and activities in Korogocho. Moreover, within this time, I have the opportunity to check the data gained from the group meetings and collect further information about the local resources.

The conditions for a good working atmosphere on site strongly depend on the following external and not predictable factors.

The working condition inside the container I mentioned in the case description, depend a lot on the weather conditions. The rain season takes place in October. Being aware of sudden and heavy rains means that the windows (without window glass), need to be shut. As the container is not yet equipped with electricity, this results in a nearly dark room. The age range within the group is rather wide, some children even bring their young toddler siblings. This also demands flexibility regarding the way of asking questions and preparing customised and adapted exercises. The language of communication will be English, as it is the official language in Kenya. Some of the children, especially the youngest ones, do not speak English, or, at least, not very well. The language of their everyday life is Swahili and learning English starts within school attendance.

Therefore, a team member of Smiles Africa will help me by translating and communicating with the younger kids.

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Research diary To know about which places I talk about in the following reports, this graphic shows the most important places I mention on the following pages.

Ngyunumu school and container.

Boma bridge

Korogocho stadium

Kwa Chief community centre

Impression of Korogocho Market View from the ‚Popcorn Corner‘

Fig. 3: Map of Korogocho with located places, playing an special role in this study.

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Day 6 | My surrounding

Today I meet the children of the mentorship group at around 2.30pm at Ngunyumu School. One week before I accompanied them, visiting the National Museum of Nairobi and already got to know some of the children.

Our meeting today takes place in the container. Around 35 children sit close together on wooden benches and their attention is directed to Peter, the initator of Smiles Africa. He gives a short introduction about the reason for my present and my request to include the group in my research project. Afterwards I introduce myself to the group and explain them my idea of involving them in the process of finding, locating and mapping infrastructure in their home Korogocho. Luckily they already did something similar in the past and are happy to participate.

As a sensibilisation process to the topic of infrastructure facilities, I ask them about there surroundings and resources they use in everyday life. We start a little group discussion. The working athmosphere is despite many children in a small room very good and intense.

After the discussion I ask them to think about the most important places or institutions in their every day lifes. For this little exercise they should use their hand to draw a ‚handmap‘ on a paper beeing the symbol of their surroundings. Where as the palm represents the location of their home and each finger stands for one place or facility, that make them feel comfortable and play an important role in their life.

After I distributed paper to every child and everyone is equipped with pens, they start drawing their personal „handmap“ and even the youngest ones try to write or draw their favourite places.

In the end I collect all the papers and after putting everything back in order one of the children finishes the session by saying a prayer. One of the children is in charge of locking the container and making sure everything is back in order. I say goodby to the kids and give Pemier, the pickipicki driver a call to pick me up from here. Pickipicki is the local word for the man giving people rides with a motobike.

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Problems: - we have a wide range of age, I have to think about easier task for youngest ones.

- some of the younger children only understand Swahili

Subject of the day: Introduction to the mentorship group.

Handmapping.

22/34 21/34

/34

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OL

HO

SC

MOSQUE

FOOTBALL TEAM

HOSPITAL

People involved: - 34 children of the mentorship group - Mentors of the group

CHURCH

MENTORS HIP SMILES AF RICA

Aim: - get an overview about positive ressources in Korogocho - find out which facilities play a pivotal role in the life of the young population

PLAYGRO UND

21/34

MARKET

23/34

HOME

SHOPS

SCOUTING PROGRAMM

LIBRARY

Notes: - wide the term ‚facility‘ to the term ‚place‘ considering the siuation of beeing in a slum - a place, which can only be a free space, can play an important role in the circumstances on site - appropriation of puplic open space?

FRIEND‘S PLACE

Age range : 5-19

Conclusion: - work atmosphere is good and the children are interested - Bring always enough paper with me and some other materials. More pencils and a pen sharpener!

Time: 2.30 PM - 5 PM

Fig. 4: An example of a ‚handmap‘ representing the results of the first session on ‚five most important places‘

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Day 9 | Orientation in Korogocho

Today I meet Frank at 8am at the so called boma bridge, which crosses the Nairobi river and connects Korogocho with the dumping site, boma. Frank lives in Korogocho and is a formal gangmember, knowing a lot about the struggle of growing up in a slum. Some years ago he recovered from his criminal history which put him in prison in the end. He is now a family father of two sons and lives with his wife in Gitathuru. Due to his recovery he is well respected and known by lots of people in the community of Korogocho. He will accompany me on the walk and introduce me to the different areas in Korogocho passing through the nine villages of Korogocho. Having him by my side I feel save going to places I do not know and have the opportunity to ask him questions about different aspects concerning the life here.

We start in the north of Korogocho in Ngomongo, where nobody really knows if it is part of Korogocho or not, because the land is owned by the society of the houseowners and most buildings are made of stone and have a connection to a sewage system. After Premier, drops me off at boma bridge, we start walking along the main road Kamunde which connects the north and south of Korogocho. Thanks to an italian investment the main roads are tarred since a couple of years and have open sewage channels on each side. This makes transportation for vehicles much easier and even schoolbusses are able to get into the area.

Frank leads me to all important landmarks in Korogocho, such as the quite big compound of St. John including a church, school, library and sport facilities continuing our walk on Market Road which leads us obviously to the market in the southern edge of Korogocho. I am overwhelmed by the wide variety and large supply of vegetables and fruits, which provide to a big amount the food supply for the population of Korogocho. Frank shows me Korogocho stadium, a wide open field surrounded by a wall working as free space for any sport activities. Before we leave the paved roads, we also pay a visit to the Kwa Chief Camp which is the main community centre in Korogocho and holds a Church and a small hospital.

Afterwards we enter the maze of small alleys and make our way through the dense crowd of small huts of the villages of Grogan A and B and Gitathuru. Here houses are made out of wood and mud in the old tradtional building construction, sometimes supported by iron sheets. After a long walk passing open sewage trenches, playing children, small green oases on the river and woman beeing busy with domestic work, we reemerge on another tarred road and the busy loud streetlife. In the end I have the chance to see the premises of the medical treatment centre of Tumaini from inside and get a picture of the level of equippment there. The walk ends after four hours at Lejo Maria Church, where Premier picks me up.

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Subject of the day: Have a walk around Korogocho, covering places all over the area.

Problems: I am obvious a stranger to the area, recognizable by my European appearance.This makes it nearly impossible to observe the real situation on site, since I am changing the situation through my presence already.

Aim: - get an overview about the area of Korogocho - get an impression of different areas and living enviroments inside Korogocho

Notes: - a lot of grassroot organisation mostly initiated by youth groups seem to exist in Korogocho.

People involved: - Frank familyfather, living in Gitathuru, - inhabitants of Korogocho.

Conclusion: - Korogocho is a multifaceted place.

- considering the precarious circumstances in which they live , the remaining openness and positive attitude to life of the local people is really impressive.

Time: 8 AM - 12 PM Walked distance: appr. 7,2 km

Fig. 5: The map of Korogocho with the highlighted walk in red.

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Day 13 | Resources in Korogocho

On Sunday 13th of october I meet the group at 2pm at Ngunyumu School. This time I can take a ride with Peter in the car and when we arrive Gentrix, another mentor is already involved with the group. Before we can start with the topic of the research there are things to be organised concerning further projects and a photosession with the kids. Due to the fact, that the kids are excited having photos taken and there is obviously not an time schedule as usual, the atmosphere is more playful and chaotic than last time.

But after we settle inside the container and everyone finds a space to sit, we start with the session.

In the beginning we evaluate the collected data of the favourite places they mentioned last time.

I have the chance to ask some questions concerning some ambiguities, which I have found on the handmaps. After that I try to start a group discussion about infrastructure facilties they use in there everyday life. In the beginning it is not possible to rise a discussion, because most of the children seem to be shy. I ask more detailed questions and slowly the activity of talking rises. After some time we move on to the next task; The making of an inventory of all infrastructure facilties in Korogocho which come to the kids mind. We, Gentrix and me, divide the children in four groups and they brainstorm and collect data together and write them down on a paper. I notice a very structured approach by all the groups. They make categories of different facilities such as school, church, playground first and then make a collect data of the specific category of a facility. In all groups one older person takes the lead and we divided the young ones equal to every group. After 20 min I ask the group leader to read the results out loud to the others, so we can see where there are overlappings or additions to other results. Because it is already late and the children should be home before it is becoming dark, considering, that some need to work for 30-40 minutes, we are not able to make a summary of all the data. After the prayer everyone goes home.

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Subject of the day: Making an inventory of the existing rescources in Korogocho, dividing the children into smaller groups.

PLAYGROUNDS STADIUM/GROUND, AYIERA, NGUNYUMU, ST JOHN, DANIEL COMBONI

HOTELS MIGINGO, WASAFI, JAVA, EBENEZER

BASKETBALL

Aim: Gaining information about infrastructure facilities and places which are important to the daily life of the young population in Korogocho.

SCHOOLS DANIEL COMBONI, NGUNYUMU, ST. CLARE, MAKAO, ST. JOHN, KOCHLAND HIGHSCHOOL, MISSION OF HOPE, ST. FRANCIS, DAMASCUS, MARANATHA, CARE TAKERS, VISION, HEKIMA PRIMARY, K.D.N, UNDUGU, BIG PEN, REHEMA SCHOOL, TRANQUILITY, GLORY SCHOOL, ST. GIDEON SCHOOL, AL TAUN SCHOOL, BAPTIST SCHOOL, DAY SHELTER SCHOOL, LADY FATIMA, JAMBO TOTO

GHETTO CLASSICS

People involved: - 34 children of the mentorship group - Mentors of the group Age range : 5-19

GONGANJAA POLICE STATION RADIO STATION KOCH FM

PUPLIC TOILET MRADI TOILETS, KADUMA

Notes: - children collect quite a big amount of different facilities.

Schools are the most common named facility.

MEDICAL CENTRES TUMAINI, PROVIDE, KWA CHIEF, VISION, CHARITY NGILUS HOSPITAL, MARK LALOOK HOSPITAL

LIBRARY

SHOPS AND MARKETS SOKO MJINGA, MWANGI SHOP, BABA EUNICE SHOP, J.K SHOP, KOROGOCHO MARKET, MAKAO BAKERY, SOKO MJINGA

DUMPING SITE

Problems: - after the group needed to discuss some other concerns, we do not have much time left for the session - its hard to calm them down after the photoshooting. It takes some time creating a working athmosphere.

MOSQUE CHURCHS REHEMA, ST. JOHN, LEJO MARIA/LEGION MARIA, REDEEMED CHURCH, TUMAINI CHURCH, PEFA, SALVATION ARMY, ISRAEL CHURCH OF EAST AFRICA, CHURCH OF THE LORD, HOUS HOLD OF FAITH, WALSORINO CHURCH

Conclusion: - Children work in a surprisingly structured way.

Time: 3.40 PM - 5 PM

Fig. 6: Summary of inventory collected during the session.

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Day 15 |challenges living in Korogocho

Today I visit the Boma Rescue Centre where I spent some of my time in 2017, working as a volunteer.

It is a rehabilitation centre for young boys living on the street, struggeling with drug problems, mostly sniffing glue. The centre provides a full year recovery programm during day time, in the evening and at night the boys are on their own. The centre is located next to the boma dumping site in the north of Korogocho. The compound is quite big considering the density of the surrounding slum structure. The centre is equipped with a football field, a garden surrounded by some trees and some buildings for basic needs of teaching. This is a office for the staff members, a kitchen for cooking and classrooms to hold daily sessions on different subjects during the recovery process.

The atmosphere seems like a peacful retreat for children living on the street the rest of the day.

Today I plan to make lunch for the boys with another friend. We cook pasta with tomato sauce, because it was the children´s wish, beeing the first time to have pasta. After lunch I join some of the sessions of the day. The topic of today is english grammar. The aim of the programm is also to catch up on the school curriculum and thus to increase the chances of the boys finding their way back to school and a chance of finding a job later.

After a while the acrobat teacher George comes around. During my previous visit I met him and I am happy to see him again.

At 4.30pm the centre closes and I accompany George to his garden. He and some of his friends maintain a quite big swampy area as a kind of community garden. It is also a training area for the people doing acrobats in Korogocho. Even children come to this surprisingly green and clean area to watch and also to learn some tricks of the older ones. Doing acrobatic shows in hotels or at festivals, make a little income to the mostly young men and increase the chance to get abroad for bigger event shows and make some money there. The garden contributes to Georges food supply and even gives him extra money by selling some of the harvest. George earns his living besides these incomes by having a small business selling popcorn in the streets.

George proudly presents the developments since 2017 in the garden and after the tour trough the garden we continue our walk back to Korogocho and spend the afternoon and evening on his „Popcorn-corner“. He has a popcorn machine in front of a little shop, where he gets the needed electricity and sells popcorn. I observe the busy life on the street and the business going on until it is time to leave and I call Premier to pick me up.

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Subject of the day: Spending time in Korogocho, observing everyday life and experiencing the atmosphere of this livingenvironment.

new perspective drugs breakfast and lunch learning processes

saving kids for working on the dumping site

community

social work

second chance

BOMA RESCUE CENTRE

lack of school fees addiction

trustful relationships

rehabilitation Aim: To spend time at different places in Korogocho, in order to observe everyday life and collect impressions of George‘s daily tasks and habits.

Problems: - It is becoming more difficult to estimate the expectations people have of me, when getting to know more people.

- Do they expect financial support in considering coming from europe, a rich country in their point of view?

street children

occupational therapy self-sufficiency affiliation

team spirit young men

COMMUNITY GARDEN food supply

notes/thoughts: - mention as early as possible that the project is a university project and that no financial resources are involved. From which they could also benefit.

acrobatics taking care of the environment

green oases be respected by the community

generating income People involved: - Boys and staff at Boma Rescue Centre - George and his friends - Inhabitants of Korogocho Time: 10 AM - 5 PM

self-employment collegues

GEORGE‘S POPCORN MACHINE

interaction between individual and community

independence trough own business

Conclusion: - spending one day in Korogocho, visiting three different areas, gives a wide spectrum of insights into the everyday life their.

- People working at institutions inside Korogocho mostly come from outside.

At Boma Rescue Centre just one of five staff members lives within the community.

Fig. 7: A brainstorming about the three different places I visited in one day.

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Day 17 | living from day to day Last time I was with George in the garden and met some of his friends, they asked me if I can make a video of their acrobat perfomance. Just some of the young men have mobile phones and these do not have good cameras. The video will be for advertising reasons, giving them the opportunity to present their acrobatic skills online for customer acquisition. Getting access to the internet is not really a problem here, there are cyber shops even in Korogocho and much more in the surrounding settlements. Some of the men have also a connection to the internet via their phones, but the costs are relatively high so they do not use it too much.

I agree to make the video with my SLR camera and meet George at 1pm at the boma bridge, so he can accompany me to the garden and I do not have to walk alone through Korogocho. In the garden we meet the other guys, already warmed up, seeming to look forward to perfom their show. It takes about an hour until we leave the garden and walk for about 30 minutes to the place where George´s popocorn machine is. His friend having a little shop next to the place took care of the machine while George was away. First of all we take some lunch inside the other neighbour‘s house, beeing something like a restaurant. It is a small room, two other guys already enjoy their lunch. The food is cooked on charcoal stoves and stored inside pots. After we have been offered some water to clean our hands, they serve us chapati, stew and vegtables, it is delicious.

After finsihing our lunch, we go outside and start cooking popcorn. Nearly every hut along the bigger roads have some kind of buisness inside or outside going on. While standing next to the popcorn machine, I can see a buisness doing car washing, severel small restaurants, shops selling take aways such as samosa, chapati or grilled meat. Opposite my location a man sells water, the queue of people with jerricans is long, because there have been water ratios, George tells me.

Further on some women sell fruits and vegetables, others shoes while next to us the pickipicki driver wait for customers to come. Now and then cars and motorbikes drive past. But the road is a shared space, herd of goats, handcarts, playing children and lots of people going by foot are still the bigger moving part on the streets here. Which of course can lead to conflicts and dangerous situations, especially considering playing children and motorbikes driving by fast. After some time I notice that school must be finished, the amount of passing children wearing uniform rises and even more children come around to say Hi to the mzungu and ask „How are you?“ smiling their biggest smile. It is probably the most common sentence I hear from children during my time in Korogocho. After a while we take a small walk and George shows me a building next to the Korogocho Stadium, where they just initiated a scouting group and rented some rooms. They want to do acrobats and urban farming with children interested in it. After getting back to the popcorn machine I take in the evening mood, a church nearby turns on some loud music to attract some new ‚customers‘, as the woman in charge explains me. The children are happy and dance.

Business is becoming a little better in the evening for George, when people are done with work.

When it is already dark, George asks a friend working as a pickipicki driver to take me home and even accompanies me to be sure I arrive savely at home.

17

Subject of the day: Have a videoshooting for a group of acrobats.

Spend time in Korogocho at the popcorn corner.

Problems: - although the place where I sit is a little screened from the view from the street, I obviously stand out as mzungu. what can influence or falsify the participatory observation

Aim: The return to familiar places and people slowly calls out a feeling of belonging, making it easier for me to observe the place as it usually is.

Notes: - with George by my side, we can even take some walks around the area.

People involved: George and his friends Inhabitants of Korogocho

Conclusion: - already after my second visit, people recognise me.

- there are brief moments when I feel part of this environment because I can just be unnoticed by others

duration: 1:00- 6:00 pm

Fig. 8: Impressions of the view from the ‚Popcorn corner‘.

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Day 20 | Localisation of facilities

Today is a rainy day and I come a little bit too late, because Premier has to wait for the rain to stop to be able to pick me up. When I arrive at Ngyunumu School, the rain stopped and the children wait outside or play football.

Another rain shower makes us close the ‚windows‘ soon after we settled down in the container, leaving us nearly in the dark. The windows are just metal openings in the container, filling the room with light when they are open. We decide to at least open the door to continue our work.

As an excersie for the beginning, I ask them to make a handmap again. Now thinking of fife places that have the worst effect on their daily life. Knowing what they have to do they finish really fast and we move on to the main topic of the day. Today I want to introduce them to the process of mapping, based on geographical data.

With the help of satellite photos and a map based on GIS data, I created before, I introduce the children to a new perspective of Korogocho. I notice that it is not easy for them to read the map and photos and most of them have a hard time to orientate. I prepared a summary of all the collected data from our last meeting and before we try and locate this data on the GIS based map, I encourage them to draw a map of Korogocho from memory. With this base structure it will hopefully be easier for them to transform the loactions onto the geographical map.

Three groups start to draw a map from memory on big papers. All groups start with the streetpattern, beginning in the south or north of the slum. Afterwards they start locating landmarks which are important for the orientation in Korogocho. The children think about all the locations we discussed last time and some groups even locate their homes and mark the schools they are attending. The street structure of the finished maps show big similarities to the map I prepared and is based on GIS data. After every group finished, which takes arround one hour, some of the group members transform the facilities they have been able to locate onto the map I prepared. Considering the given circumstances, that over 30 children share the space of 24qm where lightning conditions are not really good, they manage really well drawing attention to the A1 size map I fixed on the wall. I am happy to see despite the conditions, that they have fun and enjoy the challenge to find locations on the GIS based map and are eager to write down all the collected data. In the end we need to hurry a little to giving every group the chance to write down and therefore transform their information to the GIS based map.

19

Problems: - really cramped and dark inside the container.

Subject of the Day: Introducing the children to the topic of GIS based mapping.

Police Station

Aim: Explaining the children the advantages of GIS based mapping, while undergoing the process from drawing a map from memory to transforming the data to a GIS based map.

Nguynumu School

Provide Hospital

St. John

Notes: - I brought some extra paper for younger ones, they begin to draw own little maps, copying the older ones.

Corner mbaya Legio Maria Church Korogocho Stadium Korogocho Mosque

People involved: 30 children of the mentorship group - Mentor of the group

Kwa Chief Camp (Community Centre)

Daniel Comboni School

Age range: 5-19 Time 2.30PM - 5PM

Conclusion: - children seem to know their surrounding really well.

- they have a good sense of direction, looking at their maps drawn by memory.

Korogocho Market

Fig. 9: Showing important landmarks in Korogocho, which are helping for Orientation.

20

Day 27 | Life in Korogocho

Today is a really sunny day and we hold the meeting outside. Here is more space for everyone and the lighting conditions beneath the trees are perfect. The school term just finished and children, attending bording schools are back to the mentorship group.

After introducing these children to the current process of the project, I show the group the finished map including all the collected data from previous sessions (fig. 14). There are some misspelled names of facilities and the children help me by correcting them.

For the session today we divide the group according to age or rather their level of education.

Considering the questionnaire survey, children should be able to read and write in english and understand complex questions. Gentrix, one of the mentors is helping me with dividing the group, because she knows the background of education of each child. During the last week I prepared a questionnaire survy according to the topics we covered and experiences I had with the children.

It deals with daily routines of the children, primary care costs of their families and their personal map of movement. I hand out the survey to 25 children and before they start to fill it out, I explain the different parts and answer questions they have.

For the rest of the group I prepared a different task. I ask which places or activities they miss in Korogocho and ask them to make a collection of them and write it down. The task seems more difficult than expected. It seems to me that the children do not understand my request. This could be because they are not familiar with facilities such as skate parks, swimming pools, playgrounds, music schools and other recreational facilities. Or because in Korogocho these leisure activities take place on the streets and in schools and the place has no defined name. So I replace the word ‚facilities‘ with the term ‚activity‘ and they seem to understand what I am aiming at.

As it is our last meeting I prepared a last little exercise for everyone. It is inspired by a friend and she called a similar task I put my house in order. The house they shall draw is a symbol for the stage of life they are in. Different parts of the house stand for different perspectives or things that influence our life. The roof for example stands for all the things that protect us and keep us safe. The garden represents things you have to take care of. They all start drawing, where as the younger ones have problems with the transfer of meaning the older ones really find a lot to write down. I am again positively surprised about the fast perception by most of the children. In the end I thank them for the big help and make clear what great contribution they have made to the project.

21

Subject of the day: Questionnaire survey

Aim: Get data about everyday routines of the children by handing out a questionnaire survey.

In week days I go to school 6.30 am to 6.30pm. I go to the library for 30min. I come back help my parents with house chores take sup[p]er and sleep. Saturday I go for tution 7am to 1pm. I take lunch I go to playing station. I go to library, I go to playing ground I play to 3.10 then I visit friends. Sundays I go to Church 10.30 to 2 I play to 3 then I go to Smiles Africa James Wando, thirteen years.

II wash my face and then I went to the shop to buy biscuit and then I drink tea. When I have finishto drink the tea I went to school. I go to the library when 6 pm reached. I went back home and I eat ugali and fish. I went to play station for 1 hoursI ran back home and I dound my family have cooked a very wonderful food for me. When I have finished eating I revised for one to two hours and then I go to bed.

Albert Taabo, fifteen years.

Problems: - The term ‚facility‘ leads to confusion again.

- activities or infrastructure services often take place on streets or provisionally fitted space.

Notes: - children coming back from bording school, enjoy beeing back to the mentorship programm and rise the number of children participating in the survey.

I wake up in the mornin[g] at 4.00am i start reading up to 5.00am. then i went to normal prayer up to 5.30am, i went to take a tee to around 30 minutes. I take 15 minutes wearing my uniform, Then i lieve to house exactly 6.20am, then 30 minutes walking to school. i came back at home at 5.00pm, the[n] i went to the field to train. i come back to home at 7.30pm. I take the shower, then i wait for my mum to cook as i am watching my favourite sope. then i sleep at 10.00pm Willton Moranga, seventeen years.

People involved: - 40 children of the mentorship group - mentor of the group Age range : 5-20 Time: 2 PM - 5 PM

wen I wekup I brash my teeth after that I normally do house chores after that I have to make sure that my brothers are fine and they have eaten. I have to bath before my mother arrives in the house. at the time my mother arrives I must cook tea for my mum. at the time my mothe arrive I must cook sup[p]er after that I must read and then preper my self to go to bed.

Asha Suleiman, sixteen years.

Conclusion: - after the four sessions I really appreciate the support of the mentors. By translating or clarifying misunderstandings, which were usually caused by cultural differences, they have often provided clarity on both sides.

Fig. 10: Quotations about the everyday life of children in the mentorship group

22

Evaluation of data

In the following I will present the results of the fieldwork in Korogocho. Graphs and diagrams present the results of the different tasks I asked the children to do. They are accompanied by a short analytical text.

For simple illustration and better understanding I have assigned certain colors to different categories considering places and facilities in Korogocho: blue for any place or facilitiy connected to education, cummunity or culture (social) green for any place or facilitiy connected to activities or leisure yellow for any place or facilitiy connected to basic food supply red for facilties connected to savety and health issues brown represents every natural or built enviroment

23

My places in Korogocho

My places in Korogocho

Smiles Africa

Bar/Pub play station/ video store

Playground* Church

dumping site

Five most important places

Five most disturbing places

Bush*

Market

School

club/disco

Quarry*

Library

Hospital

Scouting Shops

Friends place

Baze* Karungu*

Chuom*

Football team

Fig. 11: Evaluation of the five most important places stated by the children.

This diagram represents the five most important places or facilities in the erveryday life of the children. It is striking that social and educational institutions take up a very large share.

Considering the target group, it is not surprising that the ‚playground‘ has a certain importance.

More surprising is that many children have also mentioned the market of Korogocho as an important place. This could indicate that children in Korogocho do the shopping or that this place in Korogocho is generally a very present place.

*playground: here a open space, where children can play football or play other games.

Fig. 12: Evaluation of the five most disturbing places stated by the children.

If we look at this diagram, the places bar, disco and video store reflect the largest amount that the children describe as negative and dangerous. These places are supplemented by dangers in the environment of Korogocho. These are the quarry near St. John, the dumping site and the the bush.

This probably refers to the dreaded wild bush. Other aspects that seem dangerous to children are the small alleys, the base‘s of gangs and an area called Karungu. Considering that children in Korogocho see the most dangerous places in bars, discos and video stores, one can assume that the children show a high degree of maturity. These places are probably seen as the biggest danger to endanger to become a reasonable and well educated child. *Baze: a place where gangs meet (their base)

*Bush: probably open nature = wild bush

*Karungu: an area in Gitahuru known for crime

*Chuom: Swahili for ‚small alley‘

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Inventory of resources in Korogocho by the youth

School

playing theatre Music Park Playing field*

Restaurant/Kibanda

Rehabilitation centre Library

Market Community centre Shop* Police station Med. centre

Religious place

Fig. 13: This diagram shows the distribution/relative frecuency of the different categories of facilities

Here we see the summary of all the collected data on recources in Korogocho detected by the children. The figure represents well the target group of young people, where school plays a pivotal role in everyday life, and therefore presents the largest number of located facilities.

Considering, that there are only two governmental schools, the amount of educational facilities we located take in a significant part. Here one can note, that again educational facilities take up a conspicuously large part.

As seen in the diagram the place of worship is also an important aspect in the life of the children.

The facilities concerning safety issues are also notable. Considering , that Korogocho has no official hospital, it has at least three medical treatment centres. According to my research they have a basic equipement and are all initiated by the community or NGOs.

Schools Hekima prs.

Ngunyumu prs.

Undugu St. John prs.

Maranatha St. Gideon Care Takers Mission of Hope (Grogan A) Kochland High (RDC) Vision Al Taun Baptist School Glory Tranquillity Rehema Day Shelter School St. Clares St. Francis Damascus Daniel Comboni Mission of Hope (Nyayo) Lady Fatima (Kariobangi) K.D.N. Big Pen Makao Ufanizi St. Prisca Grapes Yard G.R.E. Tortola

Library St. John Library Rehema Libtrary Rehabilitation Napenda Kusihi ‚Boma Resque Centre‘ Napenda Kuishi ‚Kisumu Ndogo‘ Community Centre Chief Camp St. John?

Religious place Church of the Lord St. John Church Legio Maria Church Redeem Church Tumaini Church Israel Church of east africa Rehema Church Wakonino Church Salvation Army Church SDA Church Al-Khasan Mosque Gitathuru Mosque Korogocho Mosque Grogon Mosque

Med. Centres Provide Tumaini Kwa Chief Police Station Gonga Njaa Food supply Big market numerous shops Activities (leisure facilties) Ngunyumu playground St. John Soccer field Korogocho Stadium/ground Ayiera field/playingground Ghetto Classics Orchester Koch FM Radio Park by Kombgreen Youth group

25

Localisation of resources in Korogocho by the youth

Fig. 14: This graphic represents the mapping.

This graphic shows the final map, including the collected data during the time on site. (As it is a quite big area, there is another graphic in the apendix of the work, showing the map on a bigger scale). As we can see most of the data is located in the villages of Korogocho B, Grogan A, Gitathuru and Highridge. The activities mentioned by the kids can mostly be located inside the complex of a school. Meaning, that schools not only cover educational aspects but offer opportunities for activities after school. One can also identify the biggest parts of free space inside school or communal properties, of cause beside the roads and the quarry, which was used for a long time as a illegal dumping site.

26

Emotions at facilities

comfortable

comfortable loved

joyful

okay

free

scared shy

excited

free

secure

excited

happy

not comfortable

joyful

good

Place of worship

okay

sad

good

School

happy

sick

free

good

lonely

joyful

happy

cool

happy

joyful

shy angry

blessed

free space Playground

good

med. centre

Fig. 15-18: These diagrams reect the mood of the children at different categories of facilties.Emotions

Places These figures present data from the questionnaire survey and give an overview about the coolhave good happy excited free joyful loved blessed secure comfort shy emotions the children while beeing at the above mentioned places.

There were just a view able negative emotions listed at all.

Nearly all the children mentioned positive emotion while beeing at school, just one mendtioned toSchool feel okay, which is a neutral emotion.

Considering the all the1 children just feel 5 12 3 place 2 of worship 3 1 positive emotions. Looking at the place where the children spend their free time ouside, we can 4 emotions, 12 1 small 2 number that feels anger.

1 4 religous state that place most children feel positive beside a really The facility concerning 1 medical treatment playground 6 6 show the 1 most 2 negative 2 emotions. Which is not surprising considering the fact, going to the hospital or medical treatment centre means someone is in pain or feels unwell. med. centre smiles africa

2

2

6

2

4

1

1

3

1

1

angry sad lonely

okay

not sick comfor table

scared

1

1

1

1

2

1

3 1

2

2

1

27

Traveltimes by foot in Korogocho

ø

min.

Living expenses in Korogocho estimated by the youth

max.

to School to church

8000 Ksh schoolfees* per term 20 Ksh per week for garbage collection

to playground to med. centre

ø 4475 Ksh every month for rent to Smiles Africa

0

10 min.

20 min.

30 min.

40 min.

50 min.

5-10 Ksh for 20lt of water

60 min.

5-10 Ksh to use sanitation facility

10 € ≈ 1100 Ksh

Fig. 19: Traveltimes in korogcho by foot and measured in minutes.

This chart summarises the travel times of the children to different facilities. Walking is the most common way of transportation in Korogocho. Therefore I used the traveltime by foot as an indicator for distances. Most children also used the indications of minutes they walk to certain facilities anyway. Some children go to schools in the neighbouring settlements such as Kariobangi and Baba Dogo the amount of 40 minutes walking displays these long distances.

Most of the children in the mentorship programm belong to a religious community and most of them attend the service on sunday on a regular basis. As seen in the chart some children have to put up with a long way attenting these. It is also remarkable, that some children, living outside Korogocho accept the long way of 45 minutes to come to the mentorship sessions.

Fig. 20: Average costs incurred in Korogocho for certain services.

This graphic shows the average costs for different services in Korogocho. The data is evaluated from the questionnaire survey and my research. Looking at the rent, there have been big differences. The highest amount was 13.000 Ksh and the lowest 1000 Ksh. These big differences can be due to the fact that again a few of the children life in nearby settlements such as Dandora or Kariobangi, where rents can be much higher. These costs just give an idea about living expenses in Korogocho and can change over time. The collection of this data would be more relevant to the target group of adults, increasing the chance of accuracy. As I am not sure how much knowledge 12-19 year olds have about the living expenses of their families. * Attending governmental primary schools in Kenya is free. But costs for uniform, books and the daily lunch come to account. Private schools often charge a school fee as well.

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A reflection

In order to understand a place with its structures and peculiarities, one should spend as much time as possible with the local people on site. The time of four weeks seems to be quite short.

Nevertheless, I have the feeling that I was able to immerse to a certain extent in the living environment of Korogocho.

Structures in a society help us to find our way around and to interact with others. Structures can be found in many aspects of a living community. There is a structure in the built environment, structural relationships in the hierarchy of the community and the very trivial everyday structures of the residents, to name a few examples.

As far as I can assess it, the selection and triangulation of my methods gave me an insight into many aspects of the structure of Korogocho. Be it the daily routine that the 25 children describe in the questionnaire; experiencing daily life walking and spending time in the streets of Korogocho; participation in the daily routine of a certain resident, who has to support a family or the effect of the built structure such as streets or the accumulation of seas of huts. On the whole, I can say that the basic structures that can be found in Korogocho have opened up to me. It is therefore possible for me to sketch a picture of this living environment. I can say with certainty that there are many clues that indicate structures on different levels in Korogocho. It cannot be assumed that structures do not exist or that there is basically just chaos just because it is an informal settlement.

Identifying structures in Korogocho is not quite as easy as in settlements that have been built or grown according to urban planning methods. But if you take a closer look at the surroundings of Korogocho, you will discover many structures that we can also find in formal settlements.

The daily routine of the residents is perhaps the first aspect of structure that one notices in Korogocho. All children in the mentorship group have reported a very regular daily schedule.

They go to school in the morning, help with household chores before or after, meet friends, play football, do homework and go to bed in the evening after dinner. Now, of course, it must be mentioned that this target group has the privilege of being able to go to school and that the daily routine of children who are not allowed to go to school, some even be homeless, can vary considerably. But also the everyday life of George, with whom I spent a few days in Korogocho, shows regularities. After my observations and research, I can say that the majority of the residents of Korogocho follow a relatively stable daily routine.

The built structure in Korogocho is very dense and heterogeneous. Only the few main streets that run through the slum do form a clearly recognisable structure. In most areas there is a confused conglomerate of huts. In Korogocho B, Highridge and Ngomongo an alignment to an orthogonal grid can be read and Highridge is regularly traversed by paved roads. Through inquiries I found out that Highridge is a settlement area structured according to a plan. However, the building structures hardly differ from those of the other areas.

As soon as there is any free space in Korogocho, the rule of appropriation and occupation of this public space prevails. This leads to the fact that any space that becomes free is immediately reclaimed and used as building land, leading to a mostly chaotic conglomerate of huts. There is also something like property markings in Korogocho. Frank showed me small marks in the concrete during a walk. I could not find out whether these were „official“ markings made by the state or „collusion“ at community level. According to Frank, however, most people who call themselves a hut owner are only the owner of the hut but not of the plot of land. The clarification of this fact, however, was beyond my time on site.

Most of the life in Korogocho takes place outside. The atmosphere in the huts is suffocating and dark. The roofing made of iron sheets also makes it unbearably hot, so the advantages of being outside are immediately understandable. However, since there is little free space, a large part of everyday life takes place on the street. The need for free space is particularly noticeable among the young section of the population.

Schools do not only play a very important role in promoting education. The area of these facilities is usually separated by a fence or vegetation and has a large area of free space. Access is regulated by guards, but familiar faces and children are always allowed to pass. In this way, schools also take on the function of providing the children with a safe space for their development and thus contribute to an important aspect of the child‘s growing up. Generally, many of the social institutions seem to be somehow multifunctional and serve for more than the obvious „main“ purpose.

Identifying structures in the local infrastructure and determining how they manifest, was more difficult to determine. However, thanks to the children‘s knowledge and many conversations with local people, I was able to get an overview of the different infrastructure facilities step by step.

29

The aspect of infrastructure facilities shows the greatest discrepancies with the counterparts in the industrialized countries. There are very few institutions in the whole of Korogocho that have been initiated by the state. These are two public schools and a police station, which in view of the estimated population of 70,000-150,000 inhabitants seems like the proverbial drop in the ocean. There even is space for a Residential Committee (RC) on the grounds of the Kwa Chief Community Center. The RC is a group of 48 members elected to represent all villages in Korogocho plus the chief and the area councilor, as Frank told me. The RC represents the interface between the Community of Korogocho and government affairs. According to several sources in my research, it is affected by corruption. Many funds are not used where they should and so opportunities are missed.

supply one or more households with free water. For residents without their own access to a tap, there is the second way: the so-called water points. These are also mostly illegally set up connections to a main water pipe and end with a simple tap. However, an individual person has adopted this process as a business and is of course charging people for the service of ‚installing‘ the water point and declaring it his own.

Thus, the residents of Korogocho are largely supplied with clean water, but access to the water shows a large discrepancy considering the costs. Some residents in Korogocho pay higher prices for water than in the most expensive areas of Nairobi. Regarding water restrictions (which happens quite often in Nairobi), the residents of Korogocho have the disadvantage of having little or no storage facilities for water and are one of the first to suffer from restrictions.

Through research with the children and my own exploration tours, we were able to locate and map 30 schools, 10 churches, 4 mosques, 2 libraries, 4 medical facilities, 4 soccer fields and even a park in Korogocho. The number and spatial density of the various facilities initially seems acceptable. If, however, their numbers are opposed to the population density, the deficiency becomes obvious. One must also bear in mind that the condition, size and quality of the facilities differ greatly from European standards.

Many of the infrastructure facilities that were localized in the frame of this research project were created by mostly foreign NGOs or church institutions and operate under their patronage.

However, initiatives for the establishment of facilities often come from the community itself.

The buildup of the Tumaini health center, for example, is based on the commitment of the community, the financial resources are provided by outside agencies.

Korogocho does not have a sewage system as is known from European conditions. Along the large streets there are open canals on both sides, which serve as a “sewage system”. This system does not exist within the denser building structure. There, open, small and self-dug canal systems function as a reasonably working sewage system. However, this is hardly maintained and is constantly clogged with waste. The paths between the houses are very narrow and the sewage canals are part of it. This makes it challenging to get through the labyrinth of huts with dry feet. However, the residents do not seem to have any problems. The canals are designed so that the wastewater is ultimately fed into the two rivers that surround the slum.

The greatest deficits can definitely be recorded when looking at the technical infrastructure facilities such as water supply, sewage system, power supply and waste management.

There is a connection to the public water supply in Korogocho. The problem lies in the distribution among the many households. The supply runs in two different ways. It is difficult to determine whether people thereby basically act legally or illegally. But in any way, the question of legal or illegal status takes a back seat in the context of real life situations. What the state does not provide is developed in cooperation with the community and NGOs. Of course, the urgency is more important than the question of legality. Many residents tap the main water pipes by mounting water pipes, directing the water straight inside their properties. Here, simple taps

Korogocho is bordering the official main dumping site of Nairobi city. According to my research, the management of the waste system in Nairobi is dominated by mafia-like structures. Considering the omnipresence of waste within the slum, not only at the dumping site, environment and inhabitants of Korogocho have to deal with a lot of pollution regarding waste. Still I can say, that the waste management in Korogocho works to a certain extent. Lorries come to collect the rubbish and people are charged for this service. Describing the underlying processes of this waste management system could be subject of further studies. According to data from the questionnaire survey, the rubbish is collected at a cost of about 10-20 Ksh per household.

Considering the fact that financial resources of the slum inhabitants are very limited, it doesn‘t come at a surprise, that garbage is regularly burned between the houses or collected in randomly distributed small garbage dumps. This endangers the health of the residents and makes the sight of garbage omnipresent, accompanied by a very unpleasant smell.

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Most people in Korogocho now have a connection to the power grid. These connections are largely based on illegal tapping of the official electricity pylons. According to one resident, there was even a project to equip all households with an official connection and electricity meter. This was also partially carried out, but failed because the prices for the end users were too high and illegal lines were activated again. Korogocho has a few street lights at major traffic points and landmarks.

The most difficult part of this work was to investigate the interaction between the different institutions and their users. And I haven‘t been able to research detailed effects of certain facilities on the community. With the experience gained over the four weeks, one would have had to subsequently set up a procedure examining each facility according to the same principle.

Thus, the results from the questionnaire survey form the knowledge base for this part of the study. Through the previous group meetings, the following four institutions have emerged as the most frequently mentioned and therefore the most important: schools, houses of prayer, playgrounds and medical facilities. Based on this knowledge, it was possible for me to picture mood and emotions of the children when they are in these places.

I was able to get an insight into different schools and can say that the condition and the equipment vary a lot. Despite everything, most children feel very comfortable and safe in these facilities. This can be due to several factors. On the one hand, some of the children in the mentorship group are sponsored by Smiles Africa, which also means that the best possible schools are selected for these children. However, this affects at most half of the children in the group. On the other hand, I have always found the children to be very curious and focused, so I can imagine that just going to school is a very positive thing. Factors such as crowded classrooms, a lack of school supplies and stuffy rooms probably carry less weight. For the most part, the children feel also very comfortable in the other facilities or places that were part of the study as well. However, when looking at the medical care facilities, one will sometimes find moods and emotions that are characterized by fear, sadness, shyness and uneasiness as well. Still, almost half of the children surveyed also felt satisfied and happy here.

In summary, I can say that there is a certain infrastructure in Korogocho that provides basic services for the residents. However, this is not based on industrial standards and is very often tailored to local realities. For example, the simplest means such as tires, old canisters and a free field where you can play ball will represent a playground for the children, which will be highly appreciated and valued by them.

The will to change grievances and deficits is strongly present in the community. I can prove this on the one hand by the interest of the children, their hard-working attitude and, above all, their voluntary and highly dedicated participation in this project. On the other hand, this is also shown by the many grassroot projects that I encountered on my exploration tours. Projects such as George’s community garden and the associated acrobatics field: here many young men find employment and fulfillment in view of the high unemployment and lack of prospects. They pass on their knowledge and experience to the youth through on-site meetings and also explain the importance of environmental protection. Another example is the creation of a park on the banks of the Nairobi River. This project can be traced back to the Komb Green youth group.

They cleaned part of the very dirty shore and created a park with flowers and trees. This park is well received by the residents and is targeted as a destination on weekends. I have always been pleasantly surprised at how the topic of environmental protection is treated and how the subject of green space and the planting of trees play an increasingly important role, especially among young people.

Another feature are the many scouting and mentorship offers that I was able to find during my research. Their goal is to offer the children tools and room for their personal development, in addition to school education, and they usually deal with a wide variety of topics.

Since everyone in Korogocho is heavily dependent on the community, there is strong cohesion.

The resulting social structures within this community appear to be of great value for every planning process. The basic approach of including the opinion and experience of the population in planning processes is even given by the RC (Resident CommitĂŠ). Unfortunately, however, according to various reports, this is burdened by corruption and not everyone in the community has complete trust in the main responsible persons of the committee. So many initiatives can be traced back to the collaboration and effort of the community. These are mostly smaller projects with a small effect on the masses, but this is multiplied by the large number of actions. Larger projects related to the technical infrastructure are mostly based on initiatives by institutions in

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western countries and cooperation with UN Habitat. It is doubtful whether these projects are preceded by intensive and generally very time-consuming research, as has been done on a small scale in this project.

Capturing a significant part of the realities of life in a slum would require more in-depth analyses, the description of a larger number of individual case studies and, in particular, a longer presence on site than was possible within the scope of this research project.

The interesting and revealing part of a research project like this one is to show that there are efficient solution approaches and functioning structures, which largely arise from the own initiative of the slum dwellers or the community - despite the omnipresence of the well-known basic problems in informal settlements like Korogocho (inadequate access to safe water, inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure, poor structural quality of housing, overcrowding and insecure residential status).

The selection of the different methods turned out to be a good combination. Working with the children gave me a comprehensive picture of the diverse resources in Korogocho and site visits enabled me to localize this knowledge and allowed me to get an idea of the nature of the different facilities on site.

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References

Acronyms

Avni N. / Yiftachel O. (2017): The New Divided City? Planning and ‘gray space’ between global north-west and south-east. In: Parnell, S. / Oldfield, S. (Hg.) The Routledge Handbook on Cities of the Global South. London: Routledge, pp. 487-505 Borsdorf A. / Hidalgo R. (2009): The fragmented city: Changing patterns in Latin American Cities. The Urban Reinventors Online Journal, 3(9) pp. 1-18, http://urbanreinventors. net/paper.php?issue=3&author=borsdorfhidalgo, last visitd on 31.03.2020 Castells M./ Mollenkopf J. (eds.) (1992): Dual City: restructuring New York. Russell Sage Foundation, New York.

Flick, U. (2008): Triangulation - Eine Einführung. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. s.398 Gathuthi, C. et al. (2010). Korogocho socio-econom- ic survey report. Participatory Training Promotions Institute Ltd. https://docplayer.net/22024476-Korogocho-socioeconomic -report-final.html, last visited on 27.03.2020 Jaglin, S. (2017): Regulating service delivery in southern cities: rethinking urban heterogeneity.

In: Parnell, S. / Oldfield, S. (Hg.) The Routledge Handbook on Cities of the Global South. London: Routledge, pp. 434-447.

Marcuse P. (1998): ‘Dual city’: a muddy metaphor for a quartered city.International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 13(4) p. 697-708 United Nations Human Selltements Programm (2012): Korogocho Streetscapes: Documenting the role and potentials of streets in citywide slum upgrading. Nairobi, UN-Habitat, https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/ Korogocho%20Streetscapes.pdf, last visited on 2.04.2020 United Nations Human Selltements Programm (2003): The challenge of slums: global report on human settlements 2003. Nairobi, UN-Habitat, https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/ files/Challenge%20of%20Slums.pdf last visited on 4.04.2020 Watson, V. (2002a): The usefulness of normative planning theories in the context of subSaharan Africa. Planning Theory 1, pp. 27-53.

Watson, V. (2002b): Do we learn from planning practice? The contribution of the practice movement to planning theory. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 22(2), p. 178-187.

NGO RC

UN UN-Habitat GIS

Non-governmental Organization Residents Committee - a group of 48 members elected to represent all villages in Korogocho plus the chief and the area councillor.

United Nation United Nations Human Settlements Programme geographic information system

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List of figures

Statement of Authorship

All photographs and figures used come from the author of the work.

I hereby declare that I Laura Takla, born on 01.10.1991 am the sole author of the present research project with the topic: ‚Understand the role of infrastructure facilities in the informal settlement of Korogocho and the impact of their delivery services on the daily routine of young slum inhabitants‘ and that I have not used any sources other than those listed in the bibliography and identified as references.

Darmstadt, 31st of march 2020

Laura Takla

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1 Hekima prs.

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3 Undugu 4 St. John prs.

5 Maranatha 6 St. Gideon 7 Care Takers 8 Mission of Hope (Grogan A) 9 Kochland High (RDC) 10 Vision 11 Al Taun 12 Baptist School 13 Glory 14 Tranquillity 15 Rehema 16 Day Shelter School 17 St. Clares 18 St. Francis 19 Damascus 20 Daniel Comboni 21 Mission of Hope (Nyayo) 22 Lady Fatima (Kariobangi) 23 K.D.N. 24 Big Pen 25 Makao 26 Ufanizi 27 St. Prisca 28 Grapes Yard 29 G.R.E. 30 Tortola

Library 1 St. John Library 2 Rehema Libtrary

Rehabilitation 1 Napenda Kusihi Boma Resque Centre 2 Napenda Kuishi Kisumu Ndogo

Community centre/ place 1 Kwa Chief Camp

Mentorship/ Scouting 1 Smiles Africa

savety

Church 1 Church of the Lord 2 St. John Church 3 Legio Maria Church 4 Redeem Church 5 Tumaini Church 6 Israel Church of east africa 7 Rehema Church 8 Wakonino Church 9 Salvation Army Church 10 SDA Church

Mosque 1 Khasan Mosque 2 Gitathuru Mosque 3 Korogocho Mosque 4 Grogon Mosque

food supply

med. Centres 1 Provide 2 Tumaini 3 Kwa Chief 4 Vision

Police station 1 Gonga Njaa

Market 1 Soko Mjinga

Restaurant/ Kibanda 1 Java 2 Ebenezer 3 Wasa

activities

sport/ playing 1 Ngunyumu playground 2 St. John Soccer eld 3 Korogocho Stadium/ground 4 Ayiera eld/playground

musical 1 Ghetto Classics Orchester 2 Koch FM Radio

relax/nature 1 Park (Kombgreen Youth group)

playing theatre 1 Smiles Africa

scale 1:2500

GSEducationalVersion