Children from Kibera paint pieces of tin and wood that will be assembled into an installation piece so that they can bring a piece of their life in the Kibera slum to the larger community.

Within the slums of Kenya, dense populations and intense poverty compound to create a volatile environment where conflict can erupt at any moment. In April, a dispute erupted between Uganda and Kenya, over Migingo Island in Western Kenya. Uganda declared that the island was Kenyan but the water around it was Ugandan. The effects of the diplomatic dispute were seen mainly in Kibera. For days the streets of Kibera were littered with tire fires, riots, bloody violence and chaos as Ugandan residents were targeted and beaten. The railroad tracks that run around Kibera were torn out by angry mobs, houses […]

Viwandani and Korogocho are two of the worst, unsafe slums in Nairobi. In March we were asked by the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH) to partner on a children's art project in Viwandani and Korogocho. The focus of the project was to encourage the children to express their views on health- physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Four young artists from the two communities were chosen and trained to work alongside of us. The vast number of children wanting to be part of the group was overwhelming. Often we worked with more than 50 children in a day. They […]

Kibera is a rough place to grow up. Not only is it filled with trash, open sewage, danger and overcrowding but there is also an underlying tension because of ethnic differences. The children grow up in an environment rife with ethnic gossip and prejudice, high unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse and illness. It is difficult to grow up harmoniously within that environment . After working with the children for several months we started to see conflict and division within the Kids4Peace group. Because the tension originates at home, we decided to invite the parents to attend a Harambee Arts group […]

DSC_1336, originally uploaded by Moss_Mermaid. Children in Slums Meditating

Kibera Kids4Peace DrawBridge, Seasons of Peace