Korogocho Renaissance Unveiled at The World Social Forum

By: Oluoch Japheth Ogollah

[ Posted On: 2007-02-02 ]

A long Journey To The World Social Forum

The journey to the just concluded seventh edition of the world social forum was generally low profiled. Excitement that the much-coveted civic society forum was coming to Africa for the first time was confined to the National Organizing Secretariat and a few non-governmental organization Boardrooms. Apart from a few privileged Kenyans who had attended at least one of the past six forums in Brazil or India courtesy of NGO sponsorship, Kenyans generally remained less enthusiastic or indifferent about the forum which organizers approximated would attract about 150,000 delegates from different countries of the world. Though the decision to host the event in Kenya was reached in 2004 at the third world social forum held in Porte Legre, Brazil, serious preparations started last year. Little was done to prepare Kenyans for this big event.

In spite of what was clearly a pre-occupation with organising for foreign delegates at the expense of the local delegates, the situation in Korogocho was an exception. Korogocho residents were more aware of the forum more than any other slum in Nairobi. The St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho mounted a massive mobilisation programme to prepare Korogocho residents for this historic event. Other community based organizations such as Miss Koch Initiative, Koch Mirror (a community newspaper) , Koch FM and the Human Rights City also had their mobilisation programmes particularly for the youth constituency.

Massive Mobilisation In Korogocho

The church which is situated at the heart of the sprawling Korogocho slums has identified herself over the last twenty years with the course of the urban poor particularly those living under deplorable housing conditions in Nairobi's two hundred slums. As a leading civic actor in the slums, the church under the stewardship of father Daniel Moschetti, the priest-in-charge took over the responsibility of mobilising the slum population to attend the forum and articulate their issues.

The church took the view that isolating impoverished slum communities from the mainstream of the world social forum platform would turn it into The World Economic Forum, which was taking place in Davos, Switzerland at the same time the world Social Forum was going on in Nairobi's Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. Most of the delegates would have been foreign delegates and NGO personalities. The World Economic Forum is a gathering of a few selected Chief Executive Officers of leading institutions and government representatives who meet parallel to the world social forum to allegedly discuss 'better management of global economy!'

The youths from the church were in charge of mobilisation. Together with the Korogocho Street Children Programme and Boma Rescue Street Children Programme, which the church runs, visited the ten villages in Korogocho and staged theatre performances, inviting the residents to attend the forum. The youth also organized a music concert dubbed 'Another World Is Possible With The Youth.' The event attracted about twenty musicians from Korogocho slums and her environs. About four thousand people attended the event. Most of them were youths.

The churches through Kutoka (Exodus) Network supported three hundred and fifty Korogocho residents to attend the forum, which were a few kilometres away from the slum. The three hundred and fifty delegates were part of the four thousand slum dwellers from different slums, which the network registered for the forum. The network is a coalition of Catholic Parishes and Institutions working in the slums of Nairobi.

Most of the slum dwellers could not afford the registration fee of two hundred and fifty shillings (about five United States Dollars). Registration fee was initially five hundred Kenya shillings (about ten United States Dollars) but the network frantically prevailed upon the National Organizing Secretariat to lower the charges so as to allow Kenyans to attend this historic event. As a result of this intensive mobilisation many Korogocho residents attended the forum and made a strong presence.

Youth organizations based in Korogocho such as the Miss Koch Initiative, Korogocho Mirror, Koch FM , Youth Mirror and the Human Rights City also had programmes at the world social forum, which unveiled a renaissance which Korogocho has undergone over the last few years. A people who were once identified as criminals, destitutes and prostitutes had undergone a transformation and are involved in creative and productive programmes aimed and reversing the world's mentality against the over one billion slum population.

Street Children Issues Take Centre Stage

Korogocho slums like many other slums in the world have its own share of street children. Street children face a lot of challenges in life. They live in dump sites such as the neighbouring Dandora Municipal dump site, dingy corridors, toilets and drainage systems in many of our residential estates. The sun shines on them. The rain beats them. The mid night cold has no mercy on them. They eat after we have taken enough for our stomachs and disposed what we don't need into the dust bins. This is their food. It doesn't matter whether it is healthy for them or not. Above all, they are ready culprits in any acts of crime. We derive our excitement from subjecting them to mob justice for stealing a spoon or a banana from the roadside groceries. The girls are at a more disadvantaged position. Many are the times they are raped. No wonder most of them get pregnant at tender ages.

Due to this gloomy state of affairs, the St. John Catholic Church through her three street children rehabilitation programmes mobilised a number of organisations working with children and formed 'My Rights My Future, The Street Children Working Group.' The working group organized a street children festival at the St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho. The festival attracted street children from different parts of Nairobi and showed that the street children like all other children were endowed with a lot of talents which the society cannot afford to let rot in the streets. Together with about twenty other children organizations, the street life working group organized three workshops at the World Social Forum. The topics of discussion were: The Paradox of Street Life, Children Rights and Sustainable Solutions to the Street Children problem.

Sell No Water!

Delegates at the forum demonstrated against the decision by the organizers to allow mineral water companies to sell water at about three hundred percent above the normal retail rates. One of the demonstrators wondered why the organizers could not hire clean water trucks to provide the delegates with free clean drinking water. However, the strongest case against selling water came from Father Alex Zanotelli, who was a priest-in-charge of St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho for ten years. Having lived in Korogocho for many years, he narrated how Korogocho people suffered due to regular water shortages. He reiterated that water is the most basic need and delegates could not accept to buy it at a world social forum. He challenged the delegates to organize themselves and ensure that such a shame was not allowed to continue at the forum. The fiery priest who is currently campaigning against privatisation of water warned that future wars will be fought on the basis of water and communities of the world must rise against this great injustice. On a similar note, father Alex tore into the organizers for making the forum unaffordable for a majority of the delegates. "Why can't we have local food such as mandazi, chapati and githeri sold at the world social forum? This is a common diet in Korogocho and most people can afford it!" He added, remembering his favourite diet when he lived in Korogocho slums ten years ago.

Another World Is Possible Without Slums

Through Kutoka Network of Slums, about ten thousand slum dwellers walked and ran for basic needs. The sea of humanity held traffic at ransom for the better part of the day as they snaked themselves into Uhuru Park in tens of groups for the closing ceremony. The fourteen-kilometre marathon, dubbed 'A marathon For Basic Needs' symbolically passed through different slums in Nairobi. Those who could not run held a peaceful and colourful procession to Uhuru Park. They were joined by thousands of international delegates who arrived at St. John Catholic Church Korogocho in style. St. John Catholic was the starting point of marathon while the procession started at Kariobangi, a few kilometres from the marathon starting point.

What next for the slums?

The slums had a very strong presence at the just concluded world social forum. Korogocho due to her proximity with the venue and widespread mobilisation by the Catholic Church and other groups such as Miss Koch, Koch FM, Koch Mirror, Youth Mirror and Human Rights City had the highest number of delegates among the city's 200 slums. The greatest challenge phasing the slums particularly Korogocho is how to manage the post world social period. Issues such as challenges phasing the youths, zero evictions, sustainable land and housing tenure systems featured prominently. The onus lies on the civic actors in Korogocho to design away forward to improving the living standards of Korogocho residents. In the next world social forum, which may come back to Kenya, we should present these challenges as opportunities. In order to achieve this, the tremendous youthful talents displayed at the forum should translate into instruments of social and economic empowerment for the world's most sensitive age group, the youths! Indeed another world is possible if and only if justice is accessible to all the generations of the world.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Oluoch Japheth Ogola is a trained accountant and he is currently involved in voluntary human rights and community work in Korogocho Slums Nairobi Kenya. Contact Japheth as follows: Mobile : +254 724 261 751 | Email: japhol2002[at]yahoo.co.uk -- replace [at] with @

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