VIDEO: Growing Up in a Megaslum in Kenya

Joseph Djemba grew up in Kibera, Kenya, the largest urban slum in Africa. Djemba found himself there when his mother became unable to support her eleven children after the death of her husband. Djemba describes his childhood sleeping outside and begging for food, detailing the psychological impacts of living in poverty. He also notes the large gap between the rich and the poor in Kenya and discusses how impoverished people help each other survive. Djemba is the main character in “Megaslumming,” a book by Adam Parsons. In his work, Parsons explores how the settlement of Kibera came into existence and documents what life is like for those who live in slums. 

Get Involved:

Touch Kibera Foundation is a non-profit organization devoted to uplifting children who live in Kibera, Kenya through sports programs, sexual health programs, education support and mentorship opportunities. Donations are accepted online, and more information can be found here.

Polycom Development Project is a foundation which seeks to provide educational and athletic opportunities to girls and women in Kibera. The organization is also devoted to promoting sanitation and public health. Donations are accepted online, and more information can be found here.

St. Vincent de Paul Community Development Organization aims to provide support to orphaned and other vulnerable children in Kibera. The organization supports families and seeks to intervene on behalf of children at an early stage in their development. Donations are accepted online, and more information can be found here.

Child Slavery in Ghana

When Elizabeth Tulsky participated in NYU’s study abroad program in Ghana, she also independently volunteered with City of Refuge, a local organization that uses education as a tool to combat child slavery. She said of her experience that it had “a tremendous impact on my life and what I want to do in the future.”

In Ghana, children are often enslaved, maltreated and many mothers struggle to see their children as more than a financial burden. While there are no statistics on the actual number of children trafficked, estimates are in the thousands. What is known is that 25% of Ghanaian children ages 5-14 years are involved in child labor. Child labor and human trafficking are both against the law in Ghana, however, laws are not enforced.

City of Refuge fights against child slavery by educating small villages about the harms of keeping children out of school and depriving them of a childhood. The organization is founded on the belief that if they can empower single mothers educationally and economically then they will no longer be vulnerable to selling their children as slaves.

Can you tell me a bit about City of Refuge and the work they do?

City of Refuge workers enter villages and open discussions with the chiefs in a respectful manner and work to free children who are in dangerous and/or miserable conditions and separated from their families. On a daily basis, City of Refuge provides home, happiness, and sanctuary to many rescued children. Furthermore, City of Refuge runs the only public school in the city, Doryumu. The organization works at the root of the problem, beginning with single mothers. Many children end up in slavery because mothers simply have absolutely no means of supporting themselves, much less their young children. Selling them, as hard as it may be to believe, truly seems like the only option for many women. Thus, City of Refuge works with single mothers to find alternative solutions to make ends meet, and have started two local businesses to be run by single mothers to increase opportunities for mothers and in turn, reduce the number of children sold into horrific situations.

How were you involved with the organization?

I worked in the small school where the children living with the City of Refuge family were educated and spent my evenings at the home playing with children and helping them with their homework. I also spent time shadowing the founders and through this I learned much about the process.

What do you know about child slavery in Ghana?

Children are targeted as slaves for fishermen for several reasons. First, children are easy to acquire as so many parents are impoverished and feel financially helpless. Second, children’s small hands are ideal for making and untangling fishing nets. When the nets get trapped in trees in the lake, children are sent in the water to untangle them. Unfortunately, this means many of the child slaves are incredibly susceptible to water-borne disease and illness and sadly, some do not know how to swim and may drown in the water. Children who are enslaved receive no form of education or care and spend up to eighteen hours a day working on the lake. They are often fed no more than one meal a day, which frequently consists of just gari, a food made from cassava, soaked in the lake water.

Any advice for travelers going to Ghana?

This is probably true for every country, but just approach everything with an open mind, try new things, immerse yourself in the culture as much as possible.

How can readers help the victims of Child Slavery in Ghana?

Check out City of Refuge for more information.

Other organizations doing good work include Youth Generation Against Poverty (YGAP), an organization that inspires volunteers through creative fundraising opportunities. They have created several projects partnered with City of Refuge.

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Elizabeth Tulsky

Elizabeth studied social work at NYU and has experience working with trauma, grief, family issues, depression, anxiety, ADHD, and general life transitions. She hopes to use her work to create culturally responsive, affirming and inclusive healing spaces while promoting the use of person-centered, strengths-based, trauma-informed, anti-racist and social-justice frameworks.

A Criminal State of Affairs

THERE ARE ENOUGH LAWS TO TACKLE IT.

THEN WHY IS UNTOUCHABILITY STILL PERPETUATED?

Ten Years ago, I started on a journey to document practices of untouchability across several states and religions of India. 25,000 kilometres, 9,000 minutes of footage and four years later, I put together a documentary called India Untouched. The main reason for making this film was to challenge the belief of most Indians that untouchability is a thing of the past.

In the years since the making of that film, little has changed. We still receive reports of barber shops refusing to shave Dalits. Homeowners unwilling to rent their houses to Dalits. Children segregated and discriminated in schools, women not allowed to draw water from wells, families pushed out of temples. Segregated mosques, churches, even crematoriums. Pervasive violence aimed at those who challenge caste discrimination. Social and economic boycotts for those who dare to transgress caste boundaries. Newly-weds chased and killed because they chose to marry outside their own caste. Rapes. Acid attacks. The list goes on shamelessly.

What is more shameful is that these practices are manifestations of a belief that views certain castes as nothing but an impure sect, which should remain servile and accepting of its lesser status. Our failure is to see this belief as endorsing of and perpetuating criminal behaviour.

Article 17 of the Indian Constitution states that “Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.” However, society continues to look at untouchability as a social given, grounded in ‘tradition’. Instead, we should see such practices for what they are: criminal acts. If your house were burgled, you would expect the case to be treated as a criminal act/offence. Such a luxury is not afforded, however, to Dalits facing discrimination and persecution. The laws in place to address the scourge of caste-based discrimination may be progressive, but the mechanisms that exist to enforce legislation are regressive.

A large part of the problem is that law enforcement agencies operate in a reactive rather than a proactive manner. Despite the prevalence of caste-based behaviour leading to untouchability (criminal offences) these agencies wait for an aggrieved party to file a complaint — and report violation of Article 17 — rather than do their job in enforcing the law. How else does one explain the fact that police stations and courts have not taken any suo moto cognizance of these everyday events? How else can we understand that there are no public or government campaigns to remind citizens that untouchability has been abolished, and that those practicing it will be treated as criminals? In order to fall in line with the shifted morality and ethics of our time, we need a strong and proactive law enforcement mechanism. We do not have this in India.

On 14 April 2012, we launched a campaign at Video Volunteers (a media and human rights organisation) to draw attention to the issue of untouchability. To date, we have collated 30 videos that document breaches of Article 17. Together with the videos, we collected 2,800 signatures that were sent to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) with an appeal that the videos be taken as evidences of offences, and that those involved be prosecuted. Despite submitting the petition and video evidence twice over, we have not received any sort of acknowledgement — let alone action — from the NCSC. We have now sought answers with an application under the RTI Act. It’s a sign of the times when one needs to file an RTI with the institution responsible for protecting the rights of Scheduled Castes, just to find out what is going on.

As a society, when we hear about untouchability practices, we should feel outraged, as we would with other criminal acts like murder and rape. It’s time we accepted that the practice of untouchability is not the vestigial remains of some backward, social phenomenon or tradition: it’s a criminal offence. Let’s start calling it what it is.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN TEHELKA.COM

Stalin K. 

@stalink 

Stalin is the Managing Trustee of Video Volunteers India. He is a leading voice in the community media movement in India (including as co-drafter of the government’s recent community radio policy), a human rights activist focused on issues of caste and communal violence, an award-winning filmmaker (screened at Hamptons and winner of the Mumbai International Film Festival and Indo-american Arts Council Film Fest in NY, Earth VIsion Film Festival, Tokyo), and a sought after trainer and guest lecturer in media and human rights at universities around the world. He has produced 25 films on development issues, set up two community radio stations, designed a dozen rights-based campaigns, and conducted over 300 training workshops. Stalin has worked with more than 100 NGOs and regularly distributes his films to over 1000 groups, placing him at the heart of India’s NGO networks.

Anything is Possible: Removing 'NO' from your Vocabulary

When I think about what it takes to change the world, I think that the most important thing is being able to ignore the word no. You’ll be hit with no all the time as a shameless idealist, and each time you dust it off, you get one step closer to making the difference that you want to make. People will say that you aren’t old enough, don’t have enough money, there aren’t enough of you, there is too much to be done, that you won’t reach your goals, that your contribution isn’t going to make an impact. You’ll hear doors slam, people will walk right past you, some will even laugh at you. In their own way, each of these people will be saying no to your vision — your dream for a better world.

Don’t listen to them.

When I was in high school, I saw the first Invisible Children DVD a couple weeks after it was released. As the credits rolled, I knew that my life would be forever changed by what I had just become a witness to. I started spreading the word around, but raising awareness amongst the people I knew just wasn’t enough — I wanted to contribute, to do something for those kids that I now felt I knew.

I wrangled two of my friends into helping me with a half-baked idea, and soon, we had turned a room in my house into a home-base of sorts, with maps of Uganda, Invisible Children swag, posters, pamphlets and a mini fridge. From there, we decided we wanted to throw a benefit concert to raise money and awareness for “The Rescue”, Invisible Children’s campaign to rescue child soldiers from Joseph Kony.  This is when we began to hear the word no.

We went to our principal with a pitch – she told us that we were too young, too inexperienced, and that there weren’t enough of us to run a concert. She suggested a bake sale. I sat on the steps in front of my school and cried, in despair that I would never be old enough or important enough to make the difference I wanted to make, the one I knew I could make if I was given a shot. However, in what I now look back on as the most defining moment of my short life, I decided that her no was not going to stop me. We would have our benefit concert, and she would see what kids can do when they put their hearts and minds to it.

Three months later, I was standing on stage behind City Hall, shaking hands with the Mayor, who had given us the space for free, watching 50 Starbucks volunteers hand out coffee, proceeds from which would join their $2000 donation and the donations of the many attendees and other sponsors. Bands were backstage, getting ready to perform, and my friends and I had just finished a front-page interview for the local paper.  At the end of the night, I handed Invisible Children’s representatives a cheque for $9,452 dollars. Months after that, we ran a full day festival on Victoria Day, raising even more for the incredible cause. My principal attended the concert.

Years later, with new challenges and new nos coming at me every day, I always remember that day — the day I decided that I would never let anyone else, or their opinions of what I am capable of, define me. World changers for centuries have come to the same conclusions – Nelson Mandela spent 20 years in prison, denying the word no, inspiring the world as he sought freedom and equality as South Africa’s first black President. Amelia Earhart shook off the word no and became the first female pilot. Gandhi ignored no and led his country out of oppression with non-violent protest. Jane Goodall ignored no and faced countless danger to follow her passion. Everyday, world changers shake up their communities and the global landscape by striding past every no, with their heads high, and doing what others believe cannot be done. So if anyone out there tells you that you can’t do something — you can’t win that race, you’re not smart enough to be a lawyer, you can’t raise enough money, you can’t make an impact, you’re not strong enough to change the world — deny them the power of defining what you choose to try. Do what everyone thinks you can’t, and show them that you can. 

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE CHANGE HEROES BLOG

NATASHA BEITMAN

@NatashaBeitman

Natasha Beitman is a fourth year International Development Studies major at York University. She aspires to attend law school in the fall, to pursue a career in criminal law. She is passionate about philanthropy and issues of global development and environmental sustainability, and strives to be a positive role model and mentor to high school student and university freshmen. She is also currently involved as Co-President of the Mosaic Institutes 2013-2014 Dialogue Series, which aims to create peaceful relationships between historically opposed groups on Toronto campuses. She is an avid foodie who enjoys old vinyl records, good books, and wrestling with her Doberman, Gracie.