Here are three siblings. They are taking out the bed pan they use in their house as a toilet. The family members all use this to go to the bathroom, walk out of their bedroom size house for family of five, and empty the contents into the stream of sewage outside their door. I am in such disbelief and am so thankful for what I have.



Here is only one of many pictures I have from walking through Kibera. I cried after leaving this place. You would not believe the living conditions for the 800,000 Kenyans. The sewage runs right through their metal, tin housing, and walk ways that are very narrow. The smells are horrific as you can imagine. They cook their wood on coal on the dirt and have to wash their clothes in not so clean water. Even with such quality of life, the people were so friendly to us as we walked through there (mainly because we had a tour guide, Peter). Peter was the location manager for the movie Constant Gardener and has been interviewed in magazines such as National Geographic. He works with my volunteer organization, VICDA, and has been living in the slum since he was a kid. When I asked him why he doesn't leave (because he clearly makes a ton of money, we payed well for our tour) he simply said he doesn't want to turn his back on his people and he calls the slums home - as many do.



This was me with one of Charity's two daughters. They love getting their picture taken, as well as touching and being next to foreigners. Sometimes you have to pull yourself away and put your camera in your bag for them to stop surrounding you.



Charity, our house Mama, took us to Church the very first morning I got to Nairobi on Sunday. I had been awake since Friday morning and arrived at 5am. At 10am we were on our way to church and I sat through a three hour service. The service was incredible, singing, dancing, children performances, a very loud pastor and a welcoming chai tea ceremony for us foreigners at the end. What an experience.



This is how PACKED the 'Matatus' are. A matatu is a small van that is used as local buses for people. They get so jam-packed and go about 1oo km/hr on the tiny side roads. The 'conductor' who takes the money and instructs the driver when to stop usually hangs out the side of the fast moving van. Crazy.




Here is where I am living while in Kenya. It is the volunteer house - Frontier House, and the caretaker's name is Charity. We all call her Mama, which is the respectful Swahili name for her. There are about eight of us staying here right now, with three bedrooms with bunk beds and one girl has a room to herself as she has already been here for 4 months and will be staying another two. Admirable.