The Poor of Jesus Chris
Julius
Mudavadi is a married man with three kids and lives in the large
Nairobi slum called Kibera. Kibera is the home to
700,000 people of various tribes living in very cramped quarters. All
the usual slum conditions are part of life in Kibera; random
and consistent violence, poor sanitation, few community latrines,
easy access to drugs and home brew, many homeless children and
persistent police brutality. Up until recently Julius had
a good job that paid very well by Kenyan standards. But
he was caught stealing at work and was sacked. Now his
family is destitute. Julius has tried to look for work
for almost a year and has found nothing except occasional day
labor. Julius is functionally illiterate and can only speak
Swahili. This means most jobs that would require some use
of English are not open to him. His children can
no longer go to school because he can't afford the minimal fees. Julius
spends many a day depressed and discouraged and afraid for the
safety and health of his family. The humiliation
Julius experiences when he has to look into the eyes of his children
as they go hungry one night after another has made him very bitter. All
Julius has been able to get from the Church is emergency supplies
of food and occasional money for medicine. But this assistance
is not regular.
Darius
Kinyanjui is a seventeen-year-old boy who lives in a small village
near Nairobi called Kuwinda. Kuwinda is a notorious place
famous for its drunkards, thieves and prostitutes. Darius
has lived there all his life. Darius plays on a football
team and his team enjoys a pretty good reputation. Some of
the players on his team were fortunate to finish secondary school
and have even found permanent work. Others on his team and
some other of his friends get up early every morning to search
for casual day labour. They feel very lucky if they find
a job that will pay about 150/= per day twice a week. With
that three hundred shillings they try to feed themselves, their
brothers and sisters and keep 500/= aside to pay the rent for their
lean-to at the end of the month.
Darius
spends most of his day lying around Kuwinda when there is no football. Either
playing cards, or joking with the other young unemployed men. Darius
feels guilty from time to time that he does not get up, look for
work and try to make something of his life. But then he'll
spend time with his friends, enjoy some bhangy and simply forget
about these guilty feelings. Darius has a girl friend and
she loves him very much. She would like to get married
now that she is pregnant by him, but Darius has no intention of
marrying her. After beating her one day, he sent her
away to her family.
Mama
Otieno is a 42-year-old woman who has had eight different children
by seven different men. Mama has a small one room flat in
Kiserian with some of her children and sells vegetables on the
side of the road to support her family. Mama Otieno
is a very emotional person and there are times when she runs away
and her children have no idea where she is. One time she
abandoned them for six months. When Mama Otieno is around
she tries to be a good mother but at times she can? because he
gets so confused about things. Mama has lots of men? friends
and knows she shouldn? be having sex with them when her children
are around but she doesn't know what else to do. Mama' children
are very friendly and many of the neighbors take turns looking
after them and feeding them. One of her neighbors even took
her youngest boy to the hospital one day when he had been hurt
in a fight. Mama couldn't take the child that day because
she was too drunk. Some days Mama Otieno beats her children because
she gets very angry and violent. Then she'l feel bad and
won't talk to them or anyone else for days. None of Mama
Otieno's children have gone to primary school. The oldest
boy who is now 16 years old is beginning to get in trouble and
has already
spent some nights in jail. Mama Otieno laughs when people tell
her she should pray and go to Church to help her with her problems.
Juvenalis Githinji is a 23
year old man who graduated from Kenyatta University but is currently
staying at home because he is unable to find any work Right now
he would take any job he could find, not just one in his field
of computers. Juvenalis?parents are traditional Kikuyu
people who live in Saba Saba. His father is a serious alcoholic
who has been drinking heavily for 30 years. Alcoholism
has been a terrible scourge for this family. The father
when drunk becomes extremely violent and has on occasion tried
to maim and cripple his wife and a few of his children. One
day in a drunken rage, the father hired two men and told them to
kill Juvenalis as he was tired of his son confronting him about
his drinking. The family's only source of income is the money
that comes twice a year from selling coffee. Currently the
cooperative is in the hands of corrupt officials who have not paid
the coffee growers for the past three years. The
family has been threatened and warned not to even think about selling
their coffee to another cooperative or company. Before the
current problems with the cooperative, Juvenalis'sfather would
take all the money received and spends it drinking with his friends. The
family as a result went many nights without food. The
children would have to drop out of school for lack of fees. And
absolutely no one had enough clothing to keep himself or herself
warm. The mother is chronically depressed after years
of abuse and has pretty much given up hope in God somehow alleviating
their pain. She and the children go to Church, but don? expect
much to happen in their lives as a result
