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ImageWe are situated in Nairobi's Kibera slum. Nairobi is the capital city of the East-African country Kenya. Kibera is one of the largest slums in Sub-Sahara Africa and is strategically located in the south-west section of Nairobi. It is estimated that 1/3 of the city-dwellers come from this area. Kibera's population is over one million, and the majority are youth.

Kibera is a Nubian word meaning bush. The Nubian tribe migrated from Sudan to Kenya and was involved in the fight for Kenya ’s independence. The Nubians were the first to be allocated land in the Kibera area. As they settled, they put up semi-permanent houses.

This housing trend has continued to date, and all kinds of shanty structures are erected (mud, tin, cartons, and timber) for residential houses. Some middle class estates have been built over the years in upper Kibera: they include Ayany, Karanja, Olympic, Highrise, Fort Jesus, and Woodley. However, for many people in Kibera, renting or buying houses in these estates is only a dream. The poorest of the poor slum-dwellers live in the lower sections of Kibera.

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Our Sanctuary - The structure in the background
About 90% of Kibera residents are low-income earners, living on less than $1 US a day. As most Kiberans can barely provide for their family's basic human needs, many more problems erupt in their homes as a result. There was an absence of proper planning during the construction of these shanties.

This has led to many social problems such as: a lack of hospitals and a lack of social amenities such as toilets, proper drainage systems, clean water, and children’s playing grounds.