Introduction to the Mukuru slum in Nairobi
Mukuru slum is situated about 10km outside Nairobi, Kenya, and the conditions there are inhuman. In fact, they are comparable if not worse than post-famine Somalia and post-genocide Rwanda.

The Kwa Njenja school began as an informal centre to help non-school-going children from the area. Its function initially was to achieve an adequate literacy level, but it evolved to offer the Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education, and this resulted in children attending the school on a more regular basis.

The school began as an informal centre to help non-school going street children from the slum. Initially its function was to achieve an adequate literacy level but evolved to offer the Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education. This resulted in the children attending school on a more regular basis.

"Life for slum children remains nasty, brutish and short"

Two types of children who attend the school today: those who are homeless and live on the streets, and those who live in the slum and who would be on the streets were the schools not available.

Description
Mukuru slum is approximately 35 years old . It comprises 20 villages just outside Nairobi with a population of over 600,000. Families live in corrugated iron shacks measuring 10' X 10'. Large families are crammed into this tiny space to survive. The people are landless. Some were pushed from their rural homes by tribal and land clashes. Others are refugees and many know no other life.

Livelihood Systems
Many of the slum dwellers in Mukuru work as casual labourers in the manufacturing industries situated close to the slum. Others operate small-scale businesses selling vegetables and fruit or hawking various items. Earnings are pitifully low and inadequate to feed their families. Consequentlly, their children look to other means of survival such as prostitution, drug peddling, begging and criminal activities.

Land Tenure
The people of Mukuru are squatters on land to which they have no legal right. They are evicted at the whim of landlords and developers. Evictions by force are a regular occurrence. Without security of tenure the slum dwellers are unable to commit themselves to any small investment for the future. The only option is petty trade, which in turn means very small incomes.

Fire outbreaks are a common occurrence. It is possible that some are caused to force residents off the land. After the fires have destroyed their houses, the residents are left homeless. "Evictions by force are a regular occurrence"

Health
The most common diseases include malaria, typhoid, dysentery and tuberculosis. Malnutrition is visible among the children. This is primarily related to the high cost of food in relation to the low family income. Any medical facilities are beyond the reach of most of the residents. The scourge of AIDS is the biggest killer.

Education
The high level of poverty puts basic education beyond the reach of many families. This has impacted negatively on education. It has contributed to high illiteracy and drop out levels among those fortunate enough to be going to school.

Dropouts amount to 44% of the school-going children in the slums. Many parents are unable to pay the few hundred shillings (€4 approx) per term towards school fees. This makes it particularly difficult for school management to run the schools because they have little or no financial resources.

Children learn in battered makeshift structures made of rough wooden pieces of whatever is available. Often children suffer from health problems that are attributed to the condition of the classrooms. The makeshift structures are congested with some classrooms having over 50 children. Whenever it rains, learning materials get wet and blown away by the wind.

The lack of teaching materials, desks, adequate sanitation facilities and playing areas fatally undermines the children's psychological, emotional and physical growth.
"The high level of poverty puts basic education beyond the reach of many families"

Child Labour
Children are engaged in petty productive work to supplement basic family needs. Child labour in Mukuru includes hawking, petty trade, transportation using carts and household work. They also carry items for traders and other commuters.

Dropping out of school is perhaps the major consequence of child labour. The children are so fatigued that they do not go to school. Those who do go are unlikely to learn.