Mathare Slum: A Treasure Island
Mathare valley is the oldest slum in Nairobi, Kenya. The infamous slum co-exists with exclusive neighbourhoods from Laving ton, Parkland and the West lands, to expensive shopping centres like Uchumi and Nakumatt and modern business centres.
By Denis Dibele in Nairobi
Mathare valley is the oldest slum in Nairobi, Kenya. The infamous slum co-exists with exclusive neighbourhoods from Laving ton, Parkland and the West lands, to expensive shopping centres like Uchumi and Nakumatt and modern business centres.
Mathare valley is located northeast of Nairobi and is by the small river mathare. The slum spreads down hill, the high end borders Juja Road, one of the busiest streets in Nairobi.
From the highest point, one can see part of the valley –– the endless rows of barracks and huts built almost on top of each other with roofs of corrugated iron. Sellers of second-hand clothes compete with fruit and vegetable sellers for customers and space, while plump goats compete with scrawny dogs for pickings. It is a vibrant, noisy, dirty and over-crowded area. The roads are often muddy. Both the main roads and side streets have open sewers, sometimes blocked by rubbish left on the roads or by dust left atop by skinny chicken scratching about for food.
Closer up, you see makeshift homes made from scraps of wood, mud and corrugated iron sheets. For the time I spent in Mathare, I got the ultimate definition of a slum. Littered with lumps of human waste on the paths and streams of dirty water, Mathare is the second largest slum in Nairobi after Kibera. It is the third largest in Africa with South Africa’s Soweto in the lead.
However, despite Mathare’s bad reputation (slummy and crime-associated), there is a famous football club known as Ma United (Mathare United), a team that has sprung to fame and is in the Kenya Premier League. Half of the Haarambe Stars is made up of players from Mathare United.
All the players in Mathare United are born and bred in Mathare valley. With the combined effort of 16,000 youth mostly under 18, football in the area is being developed seriously. It all started in 1987. After Bob Munro, a Canadian living in Nairobi, had watched children of Mathare play football made of plastic polythene bags, he realised that sports as a universal language could be a way of empowering the youth of the valley. And today, Mathare is proud of Mathare Sports Youth Association (MYSA), founded by Munro. MYSA is now the largest self-help youth sports and community service organisation in Africa, with over 14,000 youth participating in the programmes. There are another 10,000 youth participating in the MYSA project in the Kakuma refugee camp northwest of Kenya.
MYSA has its office on juja road, near Mathare valley. With the head office, a modern complex on Kangundo road, the project has 60 support staff running the activities of MYSA. The MYSA sports project includes training new coaches and referees and also helps local schools to improve their training, facilities and holds tournaments in basketball, volley ball and athletics.
Peter Karanja, 29, who joined MYSA in 1987 when he was 12 and presently the Deputy Director MYSA, testifies to MYSA’s success.
The Norway cup is the largest youth football tournament in the world and since 1990 MYSA teams have been regular participants and have won the championship three times, the most recent being in August.
Among other activities of MYSA is the community service project like the slum and environmental clean up, Aids prevention, governance by youth, leadership training, leadership awards, photography, music and drama, jailed children and transparency and accountability.
Ends
Mathare valley is the oldest slum in Nairobi, Kenya. The infamous slum co-exists with exclusive neighbourhoods from Laving ton, Parkland and the West lands, to expensive shopping centres like Uchumi and Nakumatt and modern business centres.
Mathare valley is located northeast of Nairobi and is by the small river mathare. The slum spreads down hill, the high end borders Juja Road, one of the busiest streets in Nairobi.
From the highest point, one can see part of the valley –– the endless rows of barracks and huts built almost on top of each other with roofs of corrugated iron. Sellers of second-hand clothes compete with fruit and vegetable sellers for customers and space, while plump goats compete with scrawny dogs for pickings. It is a vibrant, noisy, dirty and over-crowded area. The roads are often muddy. Both the main roads and side streets have open sewers, sometimes blocked by rubbish left on the roads or by dust left atop by skinny chicken scratching about for food.
Closer up, you see makeshift homes made from scraps of wood, mud and corrugated iron sheets. For the time I spent in Mathare, I got the ultimate definition of a slum. Littered with lumps of human waste on the paths and streams of dirty water, Mathare is the second largest slum in Nairobi after Kibera. It is the third largest in Africa with South Africa’s Soweto in the lead.
However, despite Mathare’s bad reputation (slummy and crime-associated), there is a famous football club known as Ma United (Mathare United), a team that has sprung to fame and is in the Kenya Premier League. Half of the Haarambe Stars is made up of players from Mathare United.
All the players in Mathare United are born and bred in Mathare valley. With the combined effort of 16,000 youth mostly under 18, football in the area is being developed seriously. It all started in 1987. After Bob Munro, a Canadian living in Nairobi, had watched children of Mathare play football made of plastic polythene bags, he realised that sports as a universal language could be a way of empowering the youth of the valley. And today, Mathare is proud of Mathare Sports Youth Association (MYSA), founded by Munro. MYSA is now the largest self-help youth sports and community service organisation in Africa, with over 14,000 youth participating in the programmes. There are another 10,000 youth participating in the MYSA project in the Kakuma refugee camp northwest of Kenya.
MYSA has its office on juja road, near Mathare valley. With the head office, a modern complex on Kangundo road, the project has 60 support staff running the activities of MYSA. The MYSA sports project includes training new coaches and referees and also helps local schools to improve their training, facilities and holds tournaments in basketball, volley ball and athletics.
Peter Karanja, 29, who joined MYSA in 1987 when he was 12 and presently the Deputy Director MYSA, testifies to MYSA’s success.
The Norway cup is the largest youth football tournament in the world and since 1990 MYSA teams have been regular participants and have won the championship three times, the most recent being in August.
Among other activities of MYSA is the community service project like the slum and environmental clean up, Aids prevention, governance by youth, leadership training, leadership awards, photography, music and drama, jailed children and transparency and accountability.
Ends