CHILDREN OF THE SLUMS

NAIROBI, KENYA

CHILDREN OF

THE SLUM VILLAGE

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NO CHILD SHOULD HAVE TO LIVE IN THESE CONDITIONS

These are the children of Mitumba slum playing in front of their homes. Mitumba was the village that a young pastor named Jacob Mutoko had chosen to minister to. The government chose to demolish the village. The villagers are now living in Mukuru-Fuata Nyayo slum. Most of the shacks are constructed of tin and cardboard.

A letter from Pastor Jacob Mutoko Founder of Jerusalem Baptist Fellowship Church, Mitumba Village, Kenya. Africa

Dear brethren in Christ,

We are pleased to send to you all, warm greetings and best wishes in

The mighty Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are

faithfully carrying out the Work of the Great Commission (Matthew

28:19-20) and we have witnessed to many lost souls who have seen

hope and in turn repented and accepted Jesus Christ to be the Lord

and Savior of their lives. We therefore as a Church thank God for

the good Work of the heavenly Kingdom He has bestowed upon us;

however, I would like to shed some light to you all concerning the

kind of environment and tough challenges facing the Slum Area I am

Ministering in.

Here follows the history and situation of the Slum Village.

In the year 1992, a large group of street families and very

Poor and landless people gathered together in an unoccupied piece of

land at a place called South ‘C’ in the Capital City of Nairobi

Kenya. They had wandered from place to place having nowhere to

settle, no formal employment and often sleeping hungry.

Having found this unoccupied piece of land, they built shacks /

houses using cartons and polythene papers just to shelter from rains

and the scorching sun. Their survival was threatened by epidemics

that are rampant or common in Africa especially malaria and now the

killer disease Aids. Due to the ignorance, illiteracy and poverty;

many children ended up dying in the shacks (shanty houses). Despite

the poor health and malnutrition conditions, their population

Continues to increase. Other poor families escaping famine in rural

areas settled in large numbers in this slum land, forming a large

slum Village. The slum is called Mitumba Village. To date Mitumba

slum population has increased to about (ten thousand) 10,000 people,

with 75% being young people and small children.

The illiteracy levels remain high. Many of the children in

Mitumba slum have no formal education. Many attend classes at the

slum’s primary school without uniform for their parents cannot

afford and no wonder they wear torn old clothes. They don’t have

text books and their teachers who mostly volunteer to teach them

earn very little salary per month which cannot exceed Kshs. 1,000

per month. Sometime they may even earn Kshs. 750 or even go without

pay at all. Therefore, many of these pupils cannot proceed to

Secondary Schools due to lack of school fees. There is no secondary

school in the slum for those available in Nairobi are costly.

The Children who drop out of school end up idle in the slums

or becoming beggars in the streets of Nairobi. The slum’s sanitation

therefore is neglected. There is accumulation of waste and litter all

over in the open which is poorly discarded and the sewer system is

stagnant attracting breeding of mosquitoes. The only toilets

available are about 100 pit latrines which are shallow and few

compared with the high population in this Village. Often they fill up

since the population outnumber them. Many therefore relieve

themselves in the open or in polyurethane paper bags which are

afterwards thrown in the open thus causing serious health

hazard. There is also scarcity of Water and many of the slum

dwellers must go to borrow water from distant estates. In other cases

they use contaminated water to bathe and even wash their

clothes. This results to communicable diseases very many times for

both children and adults.

With few people working as casual laborers in some industries

here in Nairobi and due to lack of employment, a whole lot remain

unemployed. Aids kills many and many of the children are

malnourished, orphaned and left destitute by their parents who die

of Aids. With all these problems in sight, Jerusalem Baptist Church

in this slum village has been trying to offer Spiritual help

especially to the many hungry people, orphaned children, disabled ,

widowed and the people living with Hiv/Aids both parents and

childrens. The Jerusalem Church has also been able to mobilize it’s

members to preach the good News of Christ from house to house,

praying with the dying, counseling the depressed families and

contributing some food from the funds sent by a small group of

Christians in Porterville, California in America. As a result of this,

the people here in the village experience God’s unique love and are

attracted to the Church Jerusalem Baptist. The Church has since grown

and touching many lives with the Gospel of Christ.

With much effort and little resources however, the Church

continues to Pray, evangelize and do all it can to help improve the

pathetic condition of Mitumba slum .The need is still great but the

Church remains committed to share the needs with other believers in

Christ. Our prayer is that Christ will move hearts of many in the

Family of God to give towards helping the many needy People in the

Mitumba village in one way or another. The help of these needy-poor

people can only come from God and God will use His People to change

lives and transform hearts as a living testimony of His universal

Love. The love demonstrated by the believers in our society.

On the other hand however, we are humbly and kindly appeal to other

Churches and Friends in Christ to pray for us and partner with the

Christen group in Porterville to help eradicate the heavy burden of

many suffering people in this poor slum village. Many of the slum

villagers eat one meal per day due to poverty and even both young

Children and adults may take only black tea (tea leafs or tea

without milk or even sugar) for breakfast, or even nothing to keep

something in their stomachs or even other times very little porridge

and opt to go begging for breakfast in the estates. They don’t eat

lunch most of the time for they can’t afford. Many times a person may

encounter several children crying due to hunger and it is indeed a

sorrowful situation.

We as the Church here in the slum village have been praying and

trusting our heavenly Father to touch the hearts of as many Brethren

in Christ as possible, to hear, see and help for the saddening

situation in our slum village. Our dear fellow Brethren in Christ,

it really breaks our hearts when we see very young, innocent,

malnourished and dirty children crying all over due to lack of food

and clothing. Again it is also very painful to see many young

Children dropping out of school because their poor Parents cannot

afford secondary school fees. Many young children are frequently

attacked by diseases due to lack of medication. Skin diseases are

prevalent in this village and terrible diseases like malaria among

others. I therefore humbly and kindly request you dear Brethren in

Christ to come in and help as you can, to change this saddening

situation.

As I conclude, it is our prayer here that our good Lord will lead

you all on how you will assist for the needs of these helpless

people. The whole information mirrors the sad situation in mitumba

slum village. May God bless you all as you pray for us and may He

guide you on how you will help.

Thank you,

Yours faithfully in Christ,

Pastor Jacob Muuo Mutoko,

Jerusalem Baptist Church,

P.O.Box 4142,

Code Number 00100,

G.P.O.

Nairobi, Kenya.

Email Number: jacobmuuo@yahoo.com

Please share the following holy Scriptures:-

Acts 16:6-10, and Hebrews 6:9-10

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The water supply is owned by a private contractor who charges up to three times the price of water in the city and it is unreliable. Many villagers can not afford the water and are forced to beg for water at the estates or fetch water from polluted streams and mud puddles.

There are only about 100 latrines in Mitumba for the 16,500 people which is equal to 165 people to one latrine. Can you imagine the line in the morning?

The primary school is not yet recognized by the city counsel. There fore the children do not get free schooling, they must pay a school fee plus buy their own uniform and books.

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Mitumba Primary

Malaria and typhoid are rampant in the slums of Nairobi. Bed nets would help cut the cases of malaria up to 80%. A simple injection will stop the spread of typhoid but most people can not afford the cost. The average wage in Kenya is 72 kshs. per day or a little over one U.S. dollar a day. Kenya has an unemployment rate of up to 70%. Most of the villagers get a handful of corn mush for breakfast and another handful of mush with maybe a few vegetables for dinner. AIDs has left many widows and orphans in the slum the cost of antiretroviral drugs is out of reach for most villagers. The sick widows can not take care of their children and many are left to fend for themselves.

Pastor Jacob has established a church in the slum and has a feeding program which feeds up to 690 villagers many are school children and sick adults with families.

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Easter Sunday

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Christmas 2005

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Pastor Jacob and brother Bernard with cart used to haul food and materials to the slum.

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More pictures of living conditions in the slum and people living there. Most of the people would not let their picture be taken in their everyday clothes. They are dressed in clothes that other organizations have donated to them. These clothes are the one good pair of clothing they own and they wear them mostly on Sunday.

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