THE SHADOW CITY
The world's population just passed the 7 billion mark, and for the first time in history, the majority of the world's population lives in cities. In Nairobi, Kenya, one million people are crammed in to a piece of land the same size as Manhattan's Central Park. The Kibera slum is located five kilometers southwest of Nairobi's city centre. I worked on this longterm project between 2007 and 2012.

Despite its bad environment and health conditions, Kibera continued to grow rapidly during the 1970’s. The slum started booming with a population increasing from estimated 6000 inhabitants in 1965 to 62.000 in 1980, 250.000 in 1992, and 500.000 in 1998, with an estimated growth ratio of 17% per year. The population in Kibera continues to grow by 5% every year.

Kibera has residents coming from all the major ethnic backgrounds with some areas being specifically dominated by one tribe. This multi-ethnic nature coupled with the tribalism of Kenyan politics has led Kibera to be the site of ethnic conflicts throughout its near 100 year history, most recently in 2008.

The Odongo Family eating breakfast in the house. Clockwise from left it is Lavenda, Naomi, Meshak, Michelle, Augustin Odongo, Cynthia, Eunice and Clarissa. Homes in Kibera are made out of corrugated tin, mud, cardboard and plastic and consist of one room that serves as a kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Most homes are about 3 meters by 3 meters and have an average of five people living in them.

Nairobi’s centre is like any modern city but on its parimeter lie vast stretches of densely populated shanty towns. 55% of the city’s population live in these Slums. Although over a million people live here, the government recognise it officially as a “squat” or illegally occupied land, this allows them to basically do nothing for the inhabitants.

The ground in much of Kibera is literally composed of refuse and rubbish. Houses are often constructed atop this unstable ground and therefore many structures collapse whenever the slum experiences flooding which it does regularly.