Today a group of us (5 volunteers) visited the Kibera slum – the third biggest slum in the world. We were fortunate enough to arrange for a local, Benson, to show us around. We caught the bus into the city and then the matatu (with Benson) to the slum. The matatu was an experience – basically a night club in a bus during the day! Music blaring and music clips being shown on a few different TVs in the van!

It had rained a lot over night and it poured when we first got there so it was soooo muddy! Kate was very glad for her stitched up hiking boots – they didn't break (but we did pack the duct tape and scissors just in case)!

Our guide said about 0.5-1 million people lived in the slum but later on we Googled it and said that 2.5 million people live there – I guess it is so hard to determine!

We spent a fair few hours wandering the streets of the slum with Benson (and trying not to slip in the mud). Firstly he showed us the Inua Mimi Rescue Centre that his mother, Paschalia, set up a number of years ago. 52 children attend the centre (which provides education, food and a safe place). 15 of these 52 children live there due to their terrible home lives. There are 3 rooms for the 15 children. 4 of the older children (aged over 10) share 1 single bed. They would love to find a bigger block of land for these children but unfortunately they don’t have any money to do that – all their own money is spent on feeding the children. The government identifies children who need to live at the rescue centre and then sends them there but they don’t provide any money to support the centre. The children were so adorable. As soon as we walked in the room they called out 'Mzungu, mzungu’ (white person) and then ‘Chinese’ (referring to Calvin).

We also got to go into one of the homes. It was a house, made of tin, as big as an Australian bedroom with 5 people living there (mum and 4 children).

There was so much rubbish everywhere and I’d hate to know what we actually walked on. The children in the slum didn’t look unwell or unclean though. It felt very safe walking through the slum. Not a single adult or child came up to us asking for money and no-one tried to convince us to buy their products. It made quite a change.

Benson said that he thinks the slum exists mainly because of a lack of education. In the slum, 1 in 5 kids attends school regularly, 2 in 5 attend schools from time to time and the other 2 in 5 don’t attend school. He thinks that if the government could help in any way, they should help out with improving education.

He also mentioned that gender violence is a big issue. The fathers go to work and then they spend most of the money earned on cheap alcohol. Then they come home expecting dinner to be on the table but their wives don’t have the money to make the dinner as it has all been spent on alcohol so then the violence starts.

After the slum tour, we caught the bus back into the city and had a Turkish lunch (one of the volunteers, Batu, is from Turkey so he was really keen for a home meal!). It was nice to have a break from rice and beans too!

Then we caught the bus back home, did some FaceTiming and had a relaxing evening.