Arriving at night, all is obscured, until the next morning as sunshine reveals the surroundings. 

 We are staying in a cute little guesthouse which has a lovely courtyard dropping with mangoes and pink flowers. There is some cool graffitis of elephants, giraffes, and hippos. We had an amazing breakfast, covered ourselves with bug spray and ventured into town. We soon became part of slow moving traffic. We were able to do a bit of people watching and observe what street vendors had to sell. I made eye contact with locals to exchange a simple smile or a wave. 
We drove past the biggest slum in East Africa called Kibera, it was a very grey landscape made up of corrugated steel roofs. 1 million people live there, it a huge part of nairobie. The stigma of slum is so strong that even thinking about what the quality of life ‘in there’ gives me goosebumps. But humans, like you and me, live there. They must have families, cook food and enjoy spending time with their friends. We are the same, although the media present it as “us” and “them”. A dangerous “them”, a violent “them” a uneducated “them”, and the list goes on. 

I wish to dispel this idea I have of this imaginary of the slum with real first hand testimony of Kibera inhabitants. Reporting, documenting and learning about theses communities first hand could be a  way to dispel the myth of “Kibera ” perpetuated by the maintpstream media .