FREPALS nursing home community development project here after referred to as Frepals is a Non-governmental organization at the heart of the densely populated Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. It is located approximately 10 kilometers west of Nairobi city in Mashimoni village of kibera slum. The project can easily be accessed through Kibera District-office, Kibera Magistrate court or Ngummo Estate via Laini Saba Village of kibera slum.

The project was initiated on 15th November 1995 by a few change agents carrying out a thorough needs assessment of the Kibera slum dwellers.

CHALLENGES

Kibera slum is an informal settlement with a population of approximately 1 million people living under object poverty. The mostly highly paid in the sum gets a monthly income of between Ksh 3000/= and Ksh 5000/= and average of between 37 and 62 dollars. This constitutes about 20% of the population. The majority i.e 70% earns an average ksh 2500/= per month approximately 31 dollars working as casual laborers. About 10 % of the population is unemployed and mostly involved in petty theft, drug abuse, alcoholism, and prostitution and idling. (Adapted from Frepals data 1995-2007).

Kibera slum is also marred by poor sanitation and disposal mechanisms. The environment is full of garbage, litters, open sewers, human waste and open toilets. This situation has resulted to periodical outbreaks of communicable diseases and other related ailments. Congestion is apparently explosive with hardly any space left for social structures or facilities, such as toilets. This have led to the infamous flying toilets whereby human waste is wrapped in polythene paper and thrown indiscriminately not minding where it will land.

Another major challenge in the slum is the accelerating rate of HIV/AIDS transmission and infections. About 20% of the households are child headed while 40% of the others have elderly grandparents as guardians. The pandemic has adversely wiped the youthful productive generation leaving behind orphans and the less productive elderly.

Arising from the nature of the slum other major challenges include, infant/maternal mortality morbidity rate, child abuse, rape, female genital mutilation, wife inheritance, teenage pregnancies, drug abuse, sexually transmitted infections, alcoholism, tuberculosis among others. Frepals project has pooled and mobilized resources especially through networking to try and address some of these slum problems.