age of zinc book

8/12/2019 Age of Zinc Book

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M E M O I R S O F A

KENYAN SHACK DWELLER

03


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T W E L V E G A T E S

T O T H E

C I T Y ,H A L L E L U J A H !

Re v. Ga ry Da vi s


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C H A P T E R

01

A G E O F Z IN C | S TO R IE S O F UR B A N IN F O RM A LI T Y B O O K 0 3 | M E M O I R S O F A K E N Y A N S H A C K D W E L L E R

- 0 5 -

H aving grown up in Korogocho for me was just as normal as it has beento million others who have been born and raised in the slums.

My memories of Korogocho are rekindled every time I enter any informal

settlement or slum in any urban t own. These memories compound both my

positive energy which brings out the zeal, energy, courage and my positive

attitude towards life and t he people generally.

It is a kind of memory that tells me you have come f rom the thickest part

of the jungle and for that matter the hardest part of life where few of the

young people now adults can boast of having succeeded or made it in l ife.

In that count I see myself to be amongst those very few of the youths who

have grown into adulthood having integrated themselves with the rest of

the social and economic class.


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AG E OF ZI NC | ST OR I ES OF UR BA N IN FO RM AL IT Y

- 0 6 -

The other cluster of memories that never leaves my mind, heart and spirit

is that kind of feeling that is scaring and dead bad!

This is the memory that brings images of faces of y ouths or teenagers whose

lives were censured to an early death or who made a choice of engaging in

crime even though there were no options for most of them to choose from.

It is the life of crime, violence, hate, anger and suicide.

This is the kind of life that every growing boy child in the slum is acculturated

into as part of the urban survival. Let me put this point in a better perspective

by being more ill ustrat ive in my thou ghts next week.

*

I W A S R A I S E D

I N T H E C O U N T R Y

I B E E N W O R K I N G

I N T H E

T O W NB E E N I N

T R O U B L EE V E R S I N C E

I S E T M Y

S U I T C A S E D O W N

Bo b Dy la n


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- 1 1 -

The year is 2008, location is Kiamutesya Slum in Mlango Kubwa-Mathare and the time is around 12.30pm and the normal Mau Mau road

(the road that cuts across the Mathare valley and runs adjacent to Juja

road right from Kiamutesya all the way to Mabatini) is covered with a

buzz of activi ties mainly food vendors , firewo od sellers, greengro cers.

The street at this hour was busy with mainly school children who were

grabbing fast food from the Mama nitilie (Tanzanian Swahili referring to

women food vendor s) we were having a v isit to a communit y t oilet projec t

that was being renovated in the settlement and our team was composed

of few community members mainly from the Federation in charge of the

project and some of the youths who were to be the beneficiary of the project

as their income generating project.

As our team walked basically from the t oilet to t he ro ad w e obser ved f rom

one end of the road a group of youths numbering close to eight smartly

dressed in suits or rather in an official manner to the point of attracting

attention in the settlement. Their walk, dressing, confidence and persona

suggested they were not ordinary visitors or strangers to this settlement.

As a m atter of fa ct one would h ave th ought t hey we re guys out on a pro mo,

working for a sale compan y, or special branch from the police or a very

important entourage of government or diplomatic corps.

A G E O F Z IN C | S TO R IE S O F UR B A N IN F O RM A LI T Y

C H A P T E R

02

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We immedia tely noticed that busy activ ities that were going on a long that

section of the road where the group was visible almost came into a pause like

a sudden stop to a loud music playing. The quietness came with a chilling fear

that I personally felt gripping me and causing nervousness among our team

members and even the community leaders from the federation remained

frozen for a moment and at that t ime as the group of youths approached us

we noticed so me 3 policemen w ho were on pat rol in the sett lement dive rting

and taking a different route as if avoiding to meet the oncoming group ofyouths t his happe ned very n aturall y that t o a stran ger one wo uld not hav e

suspected or understood what was happening.

As th ey ap proach ed I could not hold m y cur iosity to w ant t o know who the

young men we re a nd to my o wn c omfort and surprise I was able t o spo t a t

least three of them whom I had seen in the area before and had interacted

with the m through t he youth or ganizat ion we had st arted enga ging on wast e

management. I got further relief when they greeted us as they passed us

and entered into a congested lane within the settlement and whoop they

vanished. Immediately they were out of the road life naturally returned to

normal as if nothing had happened. Being a community organizer and with

my slum life experience I realized I was relieved just like the rest of the

team the moment they left meaning all of us had been captives of that fear.

This was naturally followed up with lots of questions in my mind.

Where were t hey coming fr om all eight dre ssed in such an offi cial manner a t

that time of t he day? Why was everyone including the federation members

scared? What about the police taking a different route and pretending they

did not see them? Who were they? What was really happening?

I became curious and followed the stor y deeper...

As a start the communit y federat ion team reminded us that there was

nothing to be afraid off since the young men meant no one in the communityany harm. Then they told us that they were coming from town (basically city

center) and that this was when they were coming back to the settlement.

The explanation continued to state that the group was a professional group

of criminals and that their game or rather t heir job is highly regarded and

respected (literally) by some of the community members.

Yes, any youth involved in crime of their state was highly glorifi ed b y t he

rest of the community members. In fact one member of the federation

told me that in the settlement of Kiamutesya you can find a family where

three of its generations have been act ively involved in crime. That is to say,

that some of the young men we saw had their fathers and grandfathers all

actively involved in crime. Hence, making crime is normal family business

as well as community way of life.

*


- 1 2 -- 1 3 -

B O O K 0 3 | M E M O I R S O F A K E N Y A N S H A C K D W E L L E R


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- 0 5 -

O N E M I G H T

E V E N C O N S I D E R

MISDIRECTINGA S T R A N G E R

F O R H I S O W N

GOOD.Iv an Vl ad is la vi c


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C H A P T E R

03


- 1 7 -

As I got interested with the topic I learnt that crime was truly acceptedand consciously or unintentionally the crime mentorship programme has

continued in the settlement where younger boys of ages between 10-15

years who have droppe d out of school for various reasons get involve d in

snatching hand bags, phones and possessions to unsuspected motorists and

passersby along Juja road and after a while those who gain confidence very

early move their snatching job into town.

The next set of petty criminals will be seen in the settlement involved in

burglar y within the settleme nt especiall y in the unsecured areas of the

settlements. Note that secured areas are those that the residents have

designed a response to insecurity that is feared by those wishing to steal in

their neighborhood.

The most feared response is use of mob-justice which sees a number of

young boy s being lync hed whenev er caught or suspec ted of st ealing or b eing

a thief. (will relook at the issue of mob injustice again).


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- 1 8 -

The mob justice and police killings according to most criminals have

graduated the youths into armed robbers, or has enticed them to become

big timers. As big timers the group becomes profess ional in their job and

they stop terrorizing their neighbors and instead engage themselves into

other forms of crime outside their settlement.

It is at this point that the community start r ecognizing them as their heroes

and the young men are made celebs by their peers and parents.

It is this group that mentors the young ones.

This groups motto is to live young as a king than live poor the rest of your

life. The group believes that luck and death are the same they all come

once. Therefore their hope is that one day the catch will be enough to take

them and their families out of poverty.

*

P L E A S E

SPARE MET H E W I S D O M

O F F O L K T A L E S ,

M A C H O K A L I S A I D ,

F O R C I N G H I M S E L F T O

LAUGHA S I F H E H A D B E E N J O K I N G ,

B U T I N H I S H E A R T

H E W A S B U R N I N G W I T H

ANXIETY,F O R A N O T H E R T H O U G H T

H A D C R E P T I N T O

HIS MIND.Ng ug i wa Th io ng o


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C H A P T E R

04


- 2 3 -

I recall my early life with somberness. This was a time when my mother,a single mother, had just migrated into the city of Nairobi. Our first rental

house in Kariobangi was made of mud lumped onto a frame of wattle poles,

and had a tin sheet roof. The room we, the children, occupied was divided

into two sections: one side for the nine of us and on the other side we had

space for our familys goats.

Later, when I was eleven, going on to class four, my mother managed to

get a piece of land to construct her own house in Korogocho slum. She did

this through her Nyakinyua group. Nyakinyua women dancing groups

were formed purposel y to perfor m during governme nt functi ons or other

gatherings that required entertainment.

Though our house was built under the high voltage power line, we lived

there for over 20 years oblivious of the danger. We, and all the goats and

some chicken, lived in that house without threat from the power company

or the government. The construction of our first house involved us all.

It did not require a lot of expertise in the construction as I recall vividly the

activities. All we needed were wattle poles that were plenty in Korogocho.With the poles w e mixed gr ass and m ud and c overed t he walls. For the r oof,

it was improved later, we only used sheets of polythene. There was plenty

of waste polythene and PVC in the citys dumping site that shares a fence

with Ko rogocho .



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|

- 2 4 -

Later the house was improved as we continued staying there. It never got

to the stage where it required an architect nor a design approved by the

City Council. To this day the quality of houses in Korogocho remain largely

unchanged. However, the slum now has a good tarmac road network and

better electr icity and wat er supp ly.

It was much later, when we were older, that we fully understood how tough

life was and how wise my mother was in shielding us from the full impact

of our situation.

Many evenings, the pot would be set to boil for the evening meal. After

sometime my mother would say that firewood had ran out and send us out

to get any flammable material outside. We would come back and the fire

would be st arted again and t he f ood w ould c ontinue bubbling. Occasio nally

my mother would stir the food or add fuel to the fire.

Eventually we would get drowsy and nod off in the comfort that when

the food was ready we would be woken up to eat. Our young minds never

suspected that all that t he pot had was boiling water.

We all thought that we kept falling asleep before the evening meal was

ready. Today, I understand the power that hope brings.

*

LANGUAGEI S A C I T Y T O T H E B U I L D I N G

O F W H I C H E V E R Y

HUMANBEING

B R O U G H T A S T O N E .

Ra lp h Wal do Em er so n


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C H A P T E R

05

- 2 9 -

O ne thing my mother could not shield us from was moving from lowincome housing in Kariobangi to Korogocho slum. The feeling of moving

into Korogocho was sickening and scary. Very frightening indeed. We had

lived close enough to Korogocho to understand that our moving meant life

had taken a turn for the worst. Yet, for my mother, it meant she did not

need to pay rent. It also meant we would have a piece of land in the city of

Nairobi. As a single mother struggling to raise children without any assured

job it must hav e been a m ost liber ating t hing. So as a strateg y of r aising us,

my mother religiously maintained most of her rural culture and traditions.

Looking back, this contributed greatly to our character and behavior.

Today, in comparison to most of the children we grew up around, my

mothers strategy worked. Even as children we knew that the other children

in Korogocho were urban kids and mainly ghetto. This is how it happened:

My mother maintained a very strong link with her rural folks. Every school

holiday we would be sent home to our relatives. The visits played a major

part in molding our values and character. As urban dwellers we were humbled

by th e har sh lif e our rural peers lived. They w alked long di stances to fe tch

water, fire wood and to schoo l, to c hurch and occasio nally to the shops . Theytilled the land, took care of livestock. They had no electricity, ate very plain

food, dressed in near-rugs. Yet they had enough time to study and were quite

disciplined.



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- 3 0 -

At the time our relativ es were not rich. They didnt have much, but our

cousins, nephews, nieces and some of my step brothers and sisters inspired

us, they influenced how we thought. My mother ensured the connection to

our rural links remained strong.

While in t he c ity my m other adopte d an attit ude o f d oing anythin g or any

job for the sake of her children . In time the family had grown to include

nine children. She engaged in many manual jobs besides her main one of

raising us and ensuring we go to school every day.

Some of her jobs included providing unskilled labor in construction sites,

as well as painting houses in the posh estates that were being constructed

in city like Outer-Ring and Buruburu. Of all the jobs she did I have always

admired her for two: urban farming and local alcohol brewing.

*

O W E N : W H A T I S H A P P E N I N G ?

Y O L L A N D : I M N O T S U R E .

B U T I M C O N C E R N E D A B O U T

M Y P A R T I N I T . I T S A N

EVICTIONO F S O R T S .

Br ia n Fr ie l


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C H A P T E R

06

- 3 5 -

S temming from her rural roots, farming was important. My mother,with some o f her peers, would identif y lan ds th at h ad no t bee n dev eloped,

both public and privat e lands. They would clear the land, cultiv ate it and

grow foods like maize, beans and other legumes, vegetables, sweat potatoes,

Irish potatoes. Since the women did not own the lands, they had an amazing

system where the size or the number of gardens, called shambas, was

determined by ones ability to maintain and sustain or manage them. My

mother had four gardens in the city where she did her farming. This was

possible because we were a big family hence she had a larger labour force.

Two shambas belonged to private individuals and one was later taken and

developed. Through my mothers farming zeal I must admit I was able to

appreciate how the city of Nairobi was growing. It also allowed me to see

how people behaved differently. For instance Buruburu estate, where one

shamba was located, was considered to be among the most affluent areas in

Nairobi. Whenever we were there we would see how different we were from

other children of the city.

In fact it became very clear that economically and socially we were different

from the children raised up in Buruburu. It wasnt even surprising that manyof the residents in Buruburu never liked us coming close to their houses.

So we found other routes to the shamba. Even when it rained we couldnt

shelter anywhere close to their houses. We felt that we were lower people

than the Buruburu people. Whether it rained or shone we would walk and

work o n the s hamba an d this we did for ma ny year s.


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C H A P T E R

07

- 4 1 -

We had a skill and it could be used to make some money when wewerent workin g in our own sham bas. We becam e unskille d labour in coff ee

plantations at the outskirts of the city.

When we start ed going to the pla ntatio ns, my elder sist ers had been work ing

there for some time. I was in class three at t his time and I must have been

less than ten years old.

I cannot recall whether it was voluntary or we were just taken along.

Many children my age worked in the plantations. I recall that at around

5am, during school holidays, we would be picked up by a lorry and taken to

some coffee estates not very far from Nairobi.

The lorry was usually full mainly with my age mates. All we were required

to have was a 5-liter jerrican and an empty sack. The assignment was to pick

coffee at great speed trying to get as much as possible. The payment was

based on the numbe r of kilos pi cked.



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- 4 2 -

Each adult person would be assigned a portion of the plantation and then

a supervisor would manage several rows that were assigned to the pickers.

At exactly 6pm all the picking would stop and all p ickers would take their

filled sacks to the factory for weighing and paying.

The amounts paid were so low that many adult pickers had recruited

children like us to help out. So as hired-without-consent child coffee pickers

we boar ded the lorry to wo rk alon gside our now gr own up sisters.

My memories of this experience reminds me of the chilly mornings when

our fingers would go numb and of dreary days when we got rained on while

picking coffee.

Yet there were some humorous moments. It was not unusual for some pickers

to steal from each other and replace the emptied sacks with construction

aggregate. Everyone would have a good laugh at the weighing station.

*

To date in some of the coffee estates and plantations incidents of child labor are still

reported, thou gh most of the coffe e establis hments have conti nued to deny these cl aims.

Y O U V E B E E N

CAUGHTD R I V I N G A G A I N S T T R A F F I C .

REPORTF O R P S Y C H I A T R I C

E V A L U A T I O N .

Mo no po ly bo ar d ga me , La go s ed it io n


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C H A P T E R

08

- 4 7 -

How does a journey of a thousand miles begin? Perhaps the same waythe journey of becoming alcoholic or drug user begins.

The story of my mother as a brewer who never drank alcohol, to many

people who I have shared this story with, tells the story of the morality of

survival. My mother was introduced into brewing by her stepsister, who had

also shown her the way to get around city life.

Our first brew was called busaa. It was a traditional brew mainly consumed

by the people of Western Kenya. The brew was prepar ed using millet and

yeast. The mixture of millet and water was ferment ed for couple of days

to produce thick coarse paste. The paste was fried using a big metallic pan

outside the house. The fried or, if you prefer, cooked matter would be put

into a drum and mixed with water to ferment again for another couple of

days to produce the alcohol.

Busaa is preferred hot and is considered to be a social drink. Most customers

drank and socialized in our house. Due to its cumbersome nature my mother

abandoned the busaa business and entered into the distillation of Changaa.

Unlike busaa, Changaa is not associated with any customary brews. It is far

more potent and is considered to be more illegal than busaa. And therefore

it fetched more.



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- 4 8 -

With he r exp erience and wi th r eady c ustomer s my mother starte d brew ing

Changaa or the African Gin. It is as clear as ordinary gin.

Brewing Changaa was a different game to the busaa service. You had to have

your wit s around y ou. In ord er to mak e it as a ch angaa bre wer you f irst need

to be well protected by law enforcers.

This requires the brewer to set aside some cash to off pay policemen, the

administration police and sometimes the local area chief. Then t he recipient

of this bribe offered instructions as to how one should do to avoid being

arrested or being caught with the alcohol.

*

A L L K I N D S O F

FIGHTSB R E A K O U TB E T W E E N T H E

S M A L L E R H O U S E S ,

THE SHACKS,A N D T H E L A R G E R H O U S E S .

Woody Guthrie


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C H A P T E R

09

- 5 3 -

For a Changaa manufacturer you will require an industry or physical space.Now for a single unit dweller like my mother this was tricky. Therefore it

required innovation.

The brewing process started with fermenting molasses mixed with yeast and

water and closed in a drum (a c ylindric al co ntainer normall y used to store

chemicals or liquids measuring around 100 liters). The fermentation processtakes not less than 7 days and produces a very distinct smell of alcohol.

This can easily attract attention. To get around the risk of being smelled out

or the drum being seen a smart brewer like my mother had to bury the drum

under my bed. This actually meant me getting the feel of a ready matured

brew before anyone else. Anyway, after ferment ation the result is a thick

dark liquid. This is put into another drum ready for distillation.

The distillation process could be done into two ways. One required a pipe

that would bring out vapor that is cooled using water or a distillation process

where t he vapo r cools off int o an alum inum pot inside t he drum. The result

is a clear and very strong alcohol. To test its alcoholic nature most of the

customers would light it using a match box and its blue flame represented

a clear alcohol substance. All the brewing activities took place very early

in the morning between 3 am to 5 am not to attract attention from the

neighbors nor the police patrolling the area.


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HISTORYI S F I S S U R E D B Y

HISTORIEST H A T C A S T A W A Y

U P O N I R R E M E D I A B L E S H O R E S

T H O S E W H O N E V E R H A D

TIME TO SEETHEMSELVES

T H R O U G H T H E T A N G L E

O F T R O P I C A L V I N E S .

Ed ou ard Gl is sa nt


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