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Mathare Valley is one of the largest and oldest slums within Nairobi City. It is a place that for a long time has been perceived as a Harlem for drunkards, criminals and other life insanities or is it because it houses the great Mathare Mental Hospital.
 Having collected all kinds of industrial and domestic garbage plus sewerage on its journey through the inner city. On the extreme end of this valley you are bound to find the great educational institutes such as the Kenya Power & Lighting Company Limited and the tourism nest; The Kenya Utalii College and Hotel. This sight is meant to bring the true happenings that are normally ‘hidden’ to the public. Being brought up in the ‘ghetto’ or the Slum does not mean one cannot rise to the high echelons in human society.
Mathare slums people are religious people especially the women and children for they are seen congregated in churches and especially Saturdays and Sundays.
Over 70-80% of the people living in the Mathare and the neighboring slums are hard working mothers who have been abandoned by their husbands and mostly operate small-scale business to earn a small income to sustain themselves and the families. Communication between parents and their children does not exist since the parents have no time. The responsibility is thus left to the peers to share the information. This results in increase of premarital sex/teenage sex, pregnancies, Abortions, Drug Abuse, cross generational sex, Non respectful short term relationship.
 Generally, Mathare residents are poor for they live below the poverty line. They earn their living through carrying out petty businesses like hawking, working in the neighboring Muthaiga Estate as house helps, house guards while some run small kiosks. However, it is worthy to note that women and their children are mostly engaged in the economic activities for they can be seen all over the area trying to sell their goods like onions, tomatoes, sukuma wiki among others to earn their living.
Politically, they are not stable and their leaders easily manipulate them, as well as connected persons thus majority of decisions are imposed on them.
Mathare is a slum with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation. Sewage flows openly in the muddy street. Tin huts and mad huts provide some semblance of shelter. Life is dangerous and chaotic as people in this slum live on less than a dollar daily. Children are bare foot and flies swim ominously. This picture of poverty burns into my consciousness as I begin to learn more about horrific poverty and the impact of HIV/AIDS.
Residents of Mathare are a hard working community trying to grapple with the problems of HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty. Women especially engage in much of the hard labor whether rearing children, doing household chores or hawking. Because of high fertility rates, women are trapped in a cycle of poverty that is especially difficult to escape. Fortunately some of the women extra hard to be able to break out of this cycle of poverty and become self sustaining.
Poverty has struck many people in Mathare Slums. Many residents of Mathare slums have died because of lack of food, clothing and money. Poverty has raised the rate of crime survival In Mathare, poverty is hunger, lack of shelter, being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not being able to go to school, not knowing how to read and not having a job. |
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