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Elder Lister
A picture of Mathare slums
Did you know that the average Nairobi resident lives in a space of 10ft by 10ft irrespective of what Nissan they roll in? Shocking but true. Now let’s get to the genesis of slums. At the beginning of colonization circa 1900, there were no urban centers to speak of. Colonization brought about the establishment of towns or urban centers like Nairobi. Under colonial policy, Africans were prohibited from residing in these urban centers. However, Whites and Indians needed domestic servants and other workers. As such, a limited number of Africans were allowed under the sponsorship of their employers. The employers were mandated by law to provide accommodation for their employees. However, this was not always practical.
To rectify the situation, municipal authorities put up public housing projects in various locations such as Pumwani, places where Africans could rent. The housing mostly comprised of 10ft by 10ft rooms shared by 3 to 4 bachelors. The same rooms could be occupied by families. The more generous projects had double rooms for families. Despite these efforts, still many Africans who migrated to the City for work had no housing. This category put up shacks in places such as Pangani and Kibera. The colonial administration tolerated some of these settlements but others would be demolished occasionally. For instance, Mathare slums were set up in 1938 by squatters whose dwellings had been demolished in Pangani. Mathare would later face another demolition in 1952. With time, the informal settlements grew in size as no efforts were made to guide their establishment. Structures erected in the informal dwellings drew inspiration from the 10ft-by-10ft housing units provided by municipalities.To this day, rooms for rent feature similar measurements, the same as the spacecraft that flew three astronauts to the moon.
Further reading
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