Tujenge Kibera: We have a Life in Kibera

Over the past two years of working in Kibera, Nairobi, I regularly encountered the numerous challenges facing residents within the “infamous slum”. The lack of proper sewage or regular garbage collection, the ever-present threat of crime, and the stops and starts of failed development projects that touch each of Kibera’s 13 villages remain constant factors in the daily lives of residents.  Unfortunately, it is only these kinds of stories that make their way to the outside world – painting a picture of a hopeless condition that cannot remedied; and one that has not experienced any progress over the years towards a better quality of life for residents.

It is this unrelenting negative picture of Kibera that is being shown to the world that motivated our team at Kounkuey Design Initiative to produce a call to action that would show a different, emerging side of Kibera: the side that reveals the work that residents are doing to improve their own neighborhoods.  The film below is the result of months of work and was selected as a winner of the Rockefeller Foundation Storytelling Challenge. It was a pleasure to write and produce this film with my team in Nairobi and with our colleagues at Lightbox Africa.

Film Viewing Party, Kibera November, 2015

This film was shown to the Kibera community during a public viewing at Undugu fields on November 7^th, 2015. The film was well received by residents and accompanied by a children’s dance competition and celebration.  The event concluded with the final message of the film – to share stories of positive change in Kibera.

On November 20^th, stories of positive change will be shared during Nairobi Design Week.  To learn more about the work that the KDI team is doing with Kibera residents and for details on how to visit the Kibera during design week, you can visit Nairobi Design Week’s website here.