This morning we got in our huge trucks and made our way past beautiful and impressive embassies towards the UN headquarters in Nairobi-- the second largest headquarters in the world after that in Washinton. We were given several lecture presentations regarding the land use and city planning in Kenya and other parts of urbanizing africa, and the use and distribution of water to the rural areas and also about the levels of safety vs crime in the major cities of Africa and the world. The statistics were staggering, and it was also good to have a presentor that recognised that many stats we (and even the important contributors to this part of the world) are presented with are very biased, incorrect and poorly measured. He showed us the different levels and factors that are considered in his projects regarding water coverage and it was a relief to see that at least someone was aware of poor statistics, even if the ones he presented may have also been inaccurate for our benefit. All the presentors were from the UN-Habitat project and it was all very interesting. In 2008, a partnership between the worlds universities and UN-habitat was begun, and McGill is one of 25 universities world wide to be a partner.
A tour of the grounds soured our opinion of the UN. Outrageous use of water, and land seemed disgusting after our talks about intense population denisities (200 all the way to 90,000 persons per square km in Nairobi, for example) and lack of water for the people of this country. While it is understandable that places like this are needed to attract the trained and experience people who work for the UN, as well as for diplomatic reasons, we all felt strongly that the grounds were incomprehensibly affluent against the backdrop of its setting.
Lunch in the UN- subsidized cafeteria and then back into the trucks to head for the much-anticipated Kibera slums-- the largest slum in Africa. UN-habitat has been very active in building some low income housing and important sanitation/hygiene stations to replace the abundant "flying toilet" problem in Kibera, where 65% of Nairobi's population lives on less than 10% of the land. The place was stunning--- corregated tin roofs stretching from horizon to horizon, with the train track running through the centre. 3ftx3ft shacks are home to large families, some times 2, and they sleep and work in shifts. While the UN protrayed the slums as a dormatory living place (a place where people came only to sleep while they were not working in the city) the place was very much a city in itself, and was teeming with children, adults, stores, pharmacies, hair salons, shoe makers... it was ultimately self contained. There is no way for me to describe fully this place, so you will have to wait for me to come home and tell you about it. There are the good, impressive and inspiring sides, and also the extremely depressing and appalling sides to the place and I could talk forever about what I saw and learned from the Kibera-community committee members who showed us around and introduced us to the very proactive youth group that is growing in the slums, which are actually made up of 12 villages and several different tribes.
At this moment, that is enough. We all need some time to internalize today's places and information. But all is well here and things are running smoothly.
Mum- yes I did know about the location of Nairobi... we are 140km south of the equator, in fact!
Rissa- thanks for your email, it was great to hear from you! Glad you are enjoying the snow as much as possible. Its hard to remember that things are still happening at home in Montreal while I'm here so its great to hear about things!!
Nick- hope the soccer is going well, give my wishes to Eric and say hi to the fam in Toronto for me. I'll ask Laura about what Adam's mum did with CIDA... Adam's family still lives in Rwanda, and Laura intends to go there for a bit after the trip ends and has asked if I would be interested in going with her and staying with the family. Will see out things pan out.
Alix- miss you too! hope you and Dan are holding the fort without me and you have met Jordan by now!
lots of love to all
Marion xoxo
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I just wrote a comment and then it wouldn't post.. Very upsetting! Sounds like things are going well and you are having an AMAZING time! How warm is it there? Where are you going next? I saw the synchro teams from all the universities last weekend and it reminded me of you! Miss you and take lots of pictures to show us in the summer!! xoxoxoxoo
ReplyDeleteMoll
Wow it took me a long time to read that fully. Things are going well here. I'm thinking I'll need to start icing both my knees after every soccer game or hitting the bike afterwords as a cool down or something. It's really incredible how many people they manage to cram into such a small area. It well for me is really hard to imagine. Same as Mollie said hope you're taking lots of pictures. I'm going to send your resume to the port authority before I go down to Toronto if you still want me too (well it doesn't hurt regardless). Have your classes started yet? Is it a very different learning experience to the lecture halls in McGill? (P.S secretly I thought they'd give you guys massive army trucks to cruise around in. After the Mercedes C-class I think. That's ok about the phone only being 2-band. I'm just going to keep my phone and be happy with it until my contract finishes and I can find something cool. Hope you're still having lots of fun soaking up the heat.
ReplyDeleteLove you lots
Nick