Kibera Slum: Women and Children First

The Kibera slum in Nairobi is the largest in Africa. Over one million souls are compacted together within its twisted pathways and contorted metal shacks. Over 600,000 of these inhabitants are children. Our host explained to us that the highest incidence of reported child abuse occurs within this lair of anguish and desolation. Many injustices, of course, are unseen and never reported.

The Kibera Chief provided us with security guards so that we could enter the dereliction without harm. As we prepared to pierce the madness, we saw a young woman in a blood-splattered blouse with a gaping head wound that oozed deep crimson. She was frightened, but surprisingly calm. Nobody on the security grounds appeared concerned at all. None of the men were moved with compassion to help. One of our guards even turned to the side and laughed.

Such a devaluation and disrespect of women fuels the AIDS pandemic and staggering orphan populations in the developing world. Women and girls are treated as items of little worth. Polygamy abounds as females are collected to simply be breeding stock, cooks and maids. Women are used on demand to release pent-up sexual desires. Virgin girls are targeted as part of the myth that sleeping with them can cure AIDS.

Women and young girls are frequently raped or forced into prostitution. They are sold into slavery. They are beaten at random. Those that are married are expected to succumb to the advances of their husbands, even if they are fully aware that their spouses are sleeping with other women or already have AIDS. If a husband gives his wife to another man for a night, she is to consent and submit. Some tribes in Kenya even allow the peers of the husband to enter his bed chamber at will and have intercourse with his wife while he is away.

Many women are circumcised. Their pleasure is not even a remote consideration in these societies. They are only objects, possessions, repositories. In some of the Muslim areas of the Nairobi slums, they are to be covered from head to toe – not seen and not heard. No voice. No value.

In such an environment, women have no power, influence or significance. They are to accept sex even when they know it means accepting death and the orphaning of their children.

To say that this situation needs to change is a gross understatement. A radical transformation and realignment needs to occur. Only the Church has the power and duty to see this happen. Only through lives being reconciled to God, can the importance and status of women be reconciled to their rightful place. And, only through that restoration, can the root of the orphan problem truly be tackled in these areas.

(All Images: Kibera slum, Nairobi)

Comments

[Michael Kruc]

Paul, you are so right; without the church and the power of the Holy Spirit helping us attack the root of the problem in these areas of Africa we will not be able to see a drastic change in their thinking and the habits of this culture. What you guys are doing is so important. These verses of scripture in the book of Job 29:12-14 say it all: "Because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him. The man who was dying blessed me; I made the widow's heart sing. I put on ighteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban" Have a safe trip home. <><

[Carol]

Very difficult to read!

[Sarah]

I pray the Church (the full body of Christ) will step up to their calling.

[Cheri]

I cry out to God for my sisters...