Korogocho
Encyclopedia
Korogocho is one of the largest slum neighbourhoods of Nairobi
, Kenya
. Home to 150,000 to 200,000 people pressed into a 1.5 square kilometres, northeast of the city centre, Korogocho was founded as a shanty town on the then outskirts of the city. In 2009 it was estimated to be the fourth largest slum in Nairobi, after Kibera
, Mathare Valley
and Mukuru kwa Njenga
. The name Korogocho is a Swahili
term meaning crowded shoulder to shoulder.
. The slum is a "Location
" (a formal subdivision) of Kasarani
division
, Nairobi Province, and is divided into seven "villages": Highridge
, Grogan, Ngomongo, Ngunyumu, Githaturu, Kisumu Ndogo
/Nyayo and Korogocho.
As Korogocho expanded, it grew onto private land, and almost half its land is now owned privately.
, and Luhya peoples.
diplomat Osward Banda was murdered and his five year old son, tied to his dead father, was left in his car in a Korogocho street.
An education centre has been set up in Korogocho called the " Caretakers Orphans Education Centre" CEOC funded by charitable donations in the UK to help HIV
orphaned children gain an education,food,and basic medical attention. http://thebusinessphone.com/the-caretakers-orphans-education-centre/
debt swaps, and a coalition of Catholic Church charities, Bega Kwa Bega, founded in 1991 and based on an earlier project by the Italian Comboni Missionary society, begun in 1973.
The Government of Kenya has created a development body focused solely upon improving the lives of Korogocho residents, the Korogocho Slum Upgrading Programme (KSUP) .The KSUP is funded through the Italian Government as part of a debt swaps scheme and involves representatives from UNHabitat, local government and federal government. Local representation for the people of Korogocho was to be guaranteed through the establishment of a Koch Resident's Committee consisting of 6 residents from each of the 8 'villages' in Koch, totaling 48 people and headed by a Chairman (Peter Kinyanjui), Secretary (John Okello) and Treasurer (Nyaga, a former enforcer and gangster). Membership of the KRC is supposed to be through democratic election every two years. However, an election was due in November 2010 but the current members refused to stand down and have turned themselves into a Community Based Organization (CBO), unlawfully, since the money they control is not for their personal use.
Although the KRC was set up to be a representative body for Koch residents, the Committee has, over the last two years, turned into a corrupt organization headed by self-interested individuals who wield significant power because of the large amounts of money and resources they have access to. Members of the KRC are frequently known to use intimidation and violence against Koch residents using local thugs in order to drive families from their homes so that KRC members can themselves take over land plots in Koch. Although these issues have been reported to the acting representatives of the Italian Cooperation (Jackson Kago), UNHabitat (Roi Chiti), and Kenyan Local Government (Nyaseda Omondi), no action has been taken and many residents believe this is because these members are themselves recipients of the corruption which has infiltrated the KSUP. As has been reported elsewhere, law enforcement is almost non-existent in Korogocho with local police themselves acting with impunity. At the time of writing, the District Commissioner is supposed to hold a meeting with the KRC and dissolve the existing Committee so that new elections can be held and the corruption can be stopped. Koch residents are still waiting for a resolution to this issue.
Korogocho came to popular attention in some parts of the west following the marketing of several export based craft and clothing companies which were founded there, while the 2007 Seventh World Social Forum
ended its Nairobi summit with a half marathon
which was begun, symbolically, in Korogocho slum.
estate.
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. Home to 150,000 to 200,000 people pressed into a 1.5 square kilometres, northeast of the city centre, Korogocho was founded as a shanty town on the then outskirts of the city. In 2009 it was estimated to be the fourth largest slum in Nairobi, after Kibera
Kibera
Kibera is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, located from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the second largest urban slum in Africa...
, Mathare Valley
Mathare Valley
Mathare Valley is a part of Mathare slum in Kenya. It is in the Nairobi area.Other informal settlements in the Nairobi area include Huruma, Kiambiu, Korogocho, Mukuru and Kibera. It has a high population density....
and Mukuru kwa Njenga
Mukuru kwa Njenga
Mukuru kwa Njenga is a slum in the East of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. It belongs to Embakasi Constituency. It is one of the largest slums in Nairobi. Kenyan international footballer Patrick Oboya was born in Mukuru kwa Njenga. Among other major slums in Nairobi are Korogocho, Kibera and...
. The name Korogocho is a Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
term meaning crowded shoulder to shoulder.
Location
Located 11 kilometres northeast of the Nairobi city centre, Korogocho's 1-1.5 square kilometres were originally on government owned land which was a vacant outskirt when it was founded by rural migrants to the city in the 1960s. It borders one of Nairobi's main rubbish dumps, DandoraDandora
Dandora is an eastern suburb in Nairobi, Kenya. It is part of the Embakasi division. Dandora is divided into five phases. Dandora was established in 1977, with partial financing by the World Bank in order to offer higher standard of housing . However, the estate has turned into high-density slum...
. The slum is a "Location
Locations of Kenya
||Locations are a type of administrative region in Kenya. Location are a fourth level subdivision below Provinces, Districts and Divisions. Locations are further subdivided into Sub-locations . As of 1999 census there were 2,427 locations and 6,612 sublocations in Kenya .Each division in Kenya is...
" (a formal subdivision) of Kasarani
Kasarani
Kasarani is a residential area in Nairobi Kenya. It is in the Eastern part of Nairobi, about 10 km from the city centre along Thika Road. It is thought that the name Kasarani originated from a river that flows through the area which has the Kikuyu name Gathara-ini River...
division
Divisions of Kenya
||The districts of Kenya are divided into 262 divisions . Divisions of Kenya are further subdivided into locations. The divisions are listed below, by district:-Baringo District:*Kabarnet*Kabartonjo*Marigat*Mochongoi*Mogotio*Nginyang...
, Nairobi Province, and is divided into seven "villages": Highridge
Highridge
Highridge is a residential estate in Nairobi, located in northern parts of the larger Parklands estate. Administratively, Highridge is a subdivision of the Westlands division of Nairobi....
, Grogan, Ngomongo, Ngunyumu, Githaturu, Kisumu Ndogo
Kisumu Ndogo
Kisumu Ndogo is a part of Kibera slum in Nairobi. Allegedly it belongs to Korogocho slum, which can be divided into Korogocho A, Korogocho B, Kisumu Ndogo, Gitathuru, Highridge, Grogon A, Grogon B and Nyayo. A Winners' Chapel is active in Kisumu Ndogo. The Kenya Water for Health Organisation is...
/Nyayo and Korogocho.
As Korogocho expanded, it grew onto private land, and almost half its land is now owned privately.
Ethnicity
Korogocho residents come from more than thirty ethnic groups, although most are from the Kikuyu, LuoLuo (family of ethnic groups)
The Luo are an ethnic linguistic group located in an area that stretches from South Sudan and Ethiopia through northern Uganda and eastern Congo , into western Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of Tanzania. These people speak an Eastern Sudanic language, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language...
, and Luhya peoples.
Infrastructure
There is little formal infrastructure serving Korogocho's residents, and most housing was built by families living there, and is made of found or recycled materials. Despite this, many of the residents pay land rent for the right to live there. Others pay rent to those who have constructed their habitations. There is no central sewer system, piped fresh water, and crime rates are high. An informal council of elders and chieftaincy, like that found in much of Kenya, also provides land and housing for some widows and others in greater need. Small scale farming is commonly practiced, despite the crowded conditions. There is no system of street lighting, resulting in increased insecurity and the construction of special lighted safe areas by government and NGOs. There is an Kenyan Police station, along with the chieftaincy at the very centre of Korogocho village. Crime is endemic, and law enforcement in the shanty towns are poor. Organised crime groups are said to operate here. In 2004 the ZambianZambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
diplomat Osward Banda was murdered and his five year old son, tied to his dead father, was left in his car in a Korogocho street.
Healthcare
With poor infrastructure, few resources, overcrowding, and proximity to the dump, health in Korogocho is poor. Several organisations provide free clinics in the slum, while other organise HIV/AIDS prevention work. The area has been singled out by officials because of high illegal drug and alcohol abuse, and had an estimated 14% HIV infection rate in 2008.An education centre has been set up in Korogocho called the " Caretakers Orphans Education Centre" CEOC funded by charitable donations in the UK to help HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
orphaned children gain an education,food,and basic medical attention. http://thebusinessphone.com/the-caretakers-orphans-education-centre/
Development programmes
Slums, covering only 5% of Nairobi, provide homes for 2.5 million Kenyans, well over half the city's entire population. Several large Italian development projects are based in Korogocho, including those funded by Italian Government and World BankWorld Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
debt swaps, and a coalition of Catholic Church charities, Bega Kwa Bega, founded in 1991 and based on an earlier project by the Italian Comboni Missionary society, begun in 1973.
The Government of Kenya has created a development body focused solely upon improving the lives of Korogocho residents, the Korogocho Slum Upgrading Programme (KSUP) .The KSUP is funded through the Italian Government as part of a debt swaps scheme and involves representatives from UNHabitat, local government and federal government. Local representation for the people of Korogocho was to be guaranteed through the establishment of a Koch Resident's Committee consisting of 6 residents from each of the 8 'villages' in Koch, totaling 48 people and headed by a Chairman (Peter Kinyanjui), Secretary (John Okello) and Treasurer (Nyaga, a former enforcer and gangster). Membership of the KRC is supposed to be through democratic election every two years. However, an election was due in November 2010 but the current members refused to stand down and have turned themselves into a Community Based Organization (CBO), unlawfully, since the money they control is not for their personal use.
Although the KRC was set up to be a representative body for Koch residents, the Committee has, over the last two years, turned into a corrupt organization headed by self-interested individuals who wield significant power because of the large amounts of money and resources they have access to. Members of the KRC are frequently known to use intimidation and violence against Koch residents using local thugs in order to drive families from their homes so that KRC members can themselves take over land plots in Koch. Although these issues have been reported to the acting representatives of the Italian Cooperation (Jackson Kago), UNHabitat (Roi Chiti), and Kenyan Local Government (Nyaseda Omondi), no action has been taken and many residents believe this is because these members are themselves recipients of the corruption which has infiltrated the KSUP. As has been reported elsewhere, law enforcement is almost non-existent in Korogocho with local police themselves acting with impunity. At the time of writing, the District Commissioner is supposed to hold a meeting with the KRC and dissolve the existing Committee so that new elections can be held and the corruption can be stopped. Koch residents are still waiting for a resolution to this issue.
Korogocho came to popular attention in some parts of the west following the marketing of several export based craft and clothing companies which were founded there, while the 2007 Seventh World Social Forum
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization...
ended its Nairobi summit with a half marathon
Half marathon
A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...
which was begun, symbolically, in Korogocho slum.
Political unrest
Korogocho was one of the sites of the 2007-2008 unrest over the disputed presidency of Kenya. At least fifteen men died in one incident at the end of 2007, when ethnic and political divisions resulted in rioting and battles with the police.Market
This is an informal market not licensed by Nairobi city council. It specialises in selling fresh food produces and also new and second hand clothes. It operates from all the days with no official hours. It is a bit disorganised in terms of the arrangements but people trade within the constrains of the disorderliness. It is located adjacent to Korogocho slums opposite DandoraDandora
Dandora is an eastern suburb in Nairobi, Kenya. It is part of the Embakasi division. Dandora is divided into five phases. Dandora was established in 1977, with partial financing by the World Bank in order to offer higher standard of housing . However, the estate has turned into high-density slum...
estate.
External links
- 'People United for a New Korogocho' – Korogocho (KENYA). UN-HABITAT (2006). Accessed 2009-06-02.
- Korogocho, Kenya. Intrepid Arts (UK). Accessed 2009-06-02.
- Korogocho, Nairobi. Nikolaj Nielsen. Monthly ReviewMonthly ReviewMonthly Review is an independent Marxist journal published 11 times per year in New York City.-History:The publication was founded by Harvard University economics instructor Paul Sweezy, who became the first editor...
. 29 October 2005. - MSN Map