"Kibera's people deserve to know the facts about their lives"
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Mikel
Oct 14, 2009, 8:15:28 PM10/14/09
to Map Kibera
Excuse the long quoted passage here .. I just finished a couple
chapters from Shadow Cities, and found this section particularly
relevant to Map Kibera, even our rallying cry...
Shadow Cities, Robert Neuwirth, page 81/82
A few years ago, the Water and Sanitation Program, a nonprofit
affiliated with the United Nations and the World Bank, became
interested in the water supply question in Kibera. The group issued a
report on Kibera's water kiosks. By reading the fine print, you can
determine how much Kibera people -- and by extension, residents of all
the mud hut communities of Nairobi -- are being ripped off by the
kiosk system. At 3 shillings per jerry can, Kibera residents pay 10
times more for water than the average person in a wealthy neighborhood
with municipally supplied, metered water service. And that's when
water is plentiful. When there's a shortage, metered rates don't go
up, but the prices in Kibera do. So at those times people in Kibera
pay 30 or 40 times the official price of water.
The group published a brochure about the study. They presented it to
local and national politicians. There was only one bunch of people who
never saw the study: the residents of Kibera.
Japeth Mbuvi, Operations Analyst for the program, explained why. "Our
audience for this was not the people of Kibera, but the political
structure," he told me. Then he added, "Anyway, maybe it's better not
to publicize this: there could be riots."
I applaud Mbuvi for his frankness. He is one of the few people I have
met at any of the large nonprofit agencies who was willing to be
candid about his agency's shortcomings as well as its achievements.
Still, there's something sad about his concern.
Perhaps it's true that people in Kibera could riot over water. After
all, Kibera has been the scenes of riots in the past -- most of them
involving landlord tenant issue -- and scores of people have been
murdered in the melees. Still, ** Kibera's people deserve to know the
facts about their lives **. What's the point of studying the water
kiosks of Kibera if, when the study is done, the information is not
shared with the people who most at stake?
chapters from Shadow Cities, and found this section particularly
relevant to Map Kibera, even our rallying cry...
Shadow Cities, Robert Neuwirth, page 81/82
A few years ago, the Water and Sanitation Program, a nonprofit
affiliated with the United Nations and the World Bank, became
interested in the water supply question in Kibera. The group issued a
report on Kibera's water kiosks. By reading the fine print, you can
determine how much Kibera people -- and by extension, residents of all
the mud hut communities of Nairobi -- are being ripped off by the
kiosk system. At 3 shillings per jerry can, Kibera residents pay 10
times more for water than the average person in a wealthy neighborhood
with municipally supplied, metered water service. And that's when
water is plentiful. When there's a shortage, metered rates don't go
up, but the prices in Kibera do. So at those times people in Kibera
pay 30 or 40 times the official price of water.
The group published a brochure about the study. They presented it to
local and national politicians. There was only one bunch of people who
never saw the study: the residents of Kibera.
Japeth Mbuvi, Operations Analyst for the program, explained why. "Our
audience for this was not the people of Kibera, but the political
structure," he told me. Then he added, "Anyway, maybe it's better not
to publicize this: there could be riots."
I applaud Mbuvi for his frankness. He is one of the few people I have
met at any of the large nonprofit agencies who was willing to be
candid about his agency's shortcomings as well as its achievements.
Still, there's something sad about his concern.
Perhaps it's true that people in Kibera could riot over water. After
all, Kibera has been the scenes of riots in the past -- most of them
involving landlord tenant issue -- and scores of people have been
murdered in the melees. Still, ** Kibera's people deserve to know the
facts about their lives **. What's the point of studying the water
kiosks of Kibera if, when the study is done, the information is not
shared with the people who most at stake?
Mikel
Oct 14, 2009, 8:16:10 PM10/14/09
to Map Kibera
Levis Maina
Oct 14, 2009, 10:12:23 PM10/14/09
to map-k...@googlegroups.com
Wow! That was quite profound! I loved the passage,though i felt like
it ended sooner than i wanted it to:) so inspiring,that's why the
people of Kibera need to know about the reasons of mapping Kibera,and
how this can help their lives!
it ended sooner than i wanted it to:) so inspiring,that's why the
people of Kibera need to know about the reasons of mapping Kibera,and
how this can help their lives!
--
Levis Maina
+254 736 723 023
A Friend of Kenya's Natural Beauty
Mikel Maron
Oct 15, 2009, 1:13:37 AM10/15/09
to map-k...@googlegroups.com
You can keep reading a little bit on Amazon, just search for the quote on the Inside the Book feature
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Cities-Billion-Squatters-Urban/dp/0415933196#reader
From: Levis Maina <maina...@gmail.com>
To: map-k...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, October 14, 2009 7:12:23 PM
Subject: Re: "Kibera's people deserve to know the facts about their lives"
Mark de Blois
Oct 15, 2009, 1:28:27 AM10/15/09
to map-k...@googlegroups.com
great initiative guys, I will see whether I might be able to chip in to the initiative somehow, as it becomes clearer to me. I was leading the mapping efforts for Google Africa until recently when I moved more into consulting work, including mapping in informal settlements with UN-Habitat! So I am a bit G biased, but do have my connections ;)
On another note, I can't help but think of other - in many cases worse off - slums in Nairobi. Kibera is very 'popular' with donors, ngos, etc. So I am hoping we can somehow already be looking beyond Kibera (which is probably what is happening already :)
cheers,
Mark--
Mark
mobile +31 683084464 (Netherlands)
mobile: +254 713 234 798 (Kenya)
skype: markdeblois
linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markdeblois
twitter: http://twitter.com/mdeblois
On another note, I can't help but think of other - in many cases worse off - slums in Nairobi. Kibera is very 'popular' with donors, ngos, etc. So I am hoping we can somehow already be looking beyond Kibera (which is probably what is happening already :)
cheers,
Mark
Mark
mobile +31 683084464 (Netherlands)
mobile: +254 713 234 798 (Kenya)
skype: markdeblois
linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markdeblois
twitter: http://twitter.com/mdeblois
Mikel Maron
Oct 16, 2009, 12:43:48 AM10/16/09
to map-k...@googlegroups.com
hey Mark
For this project, we're totally neutral on the license .. we'd really like to offer this data to Google, as it's collected public domain. I've been discussing Google involvement with Ajith Kumar. Would be good to get your thoughts.
UN Habitat, great. We want to develop tools that bring everyone to the table. I think what we're looking at doing could be very helpful for Habitat, and vice versa.
Wonder about possibilities for data sharing.
We're also organizing several workshops targeted to organizations. There's a couple opportunities for events at the UN .. a UNHCR training on their open source tools, and a general training on open data. Any interest in possibly helping with these?
http://mapkibera.org/wiki/index.php?title=Outreach_Events
Kibera is the first. If we move quickly, we will have opportunity to continue the effort in November/December in other parts of Nairobi. There are also efforts happening right now in Rio de Janeiro, Cairo, Mumbai, Guatemala. We're strategizing an a global initiative to map slums. Kibera is our pilot, and we don't plan to stop there.
Best,
Mikel
ps Checking my archives .. are you the same Mark de Blois from GeoRSS/GeoPress conversations a few years back? :)
From: Mark de Blois <ma...@deblois.nl>
To: map-k...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, October 14, 2009 10:28:27 PM
For this project, we're totally neutral on the license .. we'd really like to offer this data to Google, as it's collected public domain. I've been discussing Google involvement with Ajith Kumar. Would be good to get your thoughts.
UN Habitat, great. We want to develop tools that bring everyone to the table. I think what we're looking at doing could be very helpful for Habitat, and vice versa.
Wonder about possibilities for data sharing.
We're also organizing several workshops targeted to organizations. There's a couple opportunities for events at the UN .. a UNHCR training on their open source tools, and a general training on open data. Any interest in possibly helping with these?
http://mapkibera.org/wiki/index.php?title=Outreach_Events
Kibera is the first. If we move quickly, we will have opportunity to continue the effort in November/December in other parts of Nairobi. There are also efforts happening right now in Rio de Janeiro, Cairo, Mumbai, Guatemala. We're strategizing an a global initiative to map slums. Kibera is our pilot, and we don't plan to stop there.
Best,
Mikel
ps Checking my archives .. are you the same Mark de Blois from GeoRSS/GeoPress conversations a few years back? :)
From: Mark de Blois <ma...@deblois.nl>
To: map-k...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, October 14, 2009 10:28:27 PM
tonee ndungu
Oct 16, 2009, 9:07:32 AM10/16/09
to map-k...@googlegroups.com
Yup.. He IS that Mark de Blois :-)
I have the first drafts for the flyers tonight.. Everyone can vote for
the one they like the most.
Tonee
--
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Tonee Ndungu
00254 (0) 721583605
skype: toneendungu
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Nairobi Kenya
It's easy..if you don't think about it.
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