Christian Als

Despite its bad environment and health conditions, Kibera continued to grow rapidly during the 1970s. The slum started to boom with its population increasing from estimated 6,000 inhabitants in 1965 to 62,000 in 1980, 250,000 in 1992 and 500,000 in 1998, with an estimated growth rate of 17% per year. The population in Kibera continues to grow by 5% every year. Soot, dust and other waste heavily pollute Kibera. Open sewage routes, in addition to the common use of ‘flying toilets’, also contribute to contamination of the slum with human and animal faeces. The average person living in Kibera does not have running water or electricity. Public latrines routinely overflow, children scamper barefoot through festering heaps of waste. A worshipper in the Cathedral of Praise Ministry Church in Kibera. God uses ordinary men and women with boundless enthusiasm to reach out to a world filled with desolation and despair. Yet another child becomes a grim statistic in Kibera; diarrhoea, typhoid and dysentery are rampant, with infant mortality rates almost four times the average for Nairobi. The Odongo Family eating breakfast in the house. Clockwise from left are Lavenda, Naomi, Meshak, Michelle, Augustin Odongo, Cynthia, Eunice and Clarissa. Homes in Kibera are made out of corrugated tin, mud, cardboard and plastic and consist of one room that serves as a kitchen, living room and bedroom. Most homes are about 3 metres by 3 metres with an average of five people living in them. Augustin and Clarissa in bed with two-year- old Michelle in-between. Kibera residents come from all the major ethnic backgrounds with some areas being specifically dominated by one tribe. This multi-ethnic culture, coupled with the tribalism of Kenyan politics, has led Kibera to be the site of ethnic conflicts throughout its near 100-year history, most recently in 2008. Women and girls risk rape if they step outside their mud brick homes after dark. Kibera is composed of 12 main villages all plagued by the same problems of poverty, poor sanitation and environmental health.


Kibera is one of the most densely populated places on earth; this means that 1,500 people on average live on the equivalent of a football pitch, or the area seen in this picture.
Series: Kibera - The Shadow City
Digital
42x28
24.05.2007
Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya

Kibera is one of the most densely populated places on earth; this means that 1,500 people on average live on the equivalent of a football pitch, or the area seen in this picture. Despite its bad environment and health conditions, Kibera continued to grow rapidly during the 1970s. The slum started to boom with its population increasing from estimated 6,000 inhabitants in 1965 to 62,000 in 1980, 250,000 in 1992 and 500,000 in 1998, with an estimated growth rate of 17% per year. The population in Kibera continues to grow by 5% every year. Soot, dust and other waste heavily pollute Kibera. Open sewage routes, in addition to the common use of ‘flying toilets’, also contribute to contamination of the slum with human and animal faeces. The average person living in Kibera does not have running water or electricity. Public latrines routinely overflow, children scamper barefoot through festering heaps of waste. A worshipper in the Cathedral of Praise Ministry Church in Kibera. God uses ordinary men and women with boundless enthusiasm to reach out to a world filled with desolation and despair. Yet another child becomes a grim statistic in Kibera; diarrhoea, typhoid and dysentery are rampant, with infant mortality rates almost four times the average for Nairobi. The Odongo Family eating breakfast in the house. Clockwise from left are Lavenda, Naomi, Meshak, Michelle, Augustin Odongo, Cynthia, Eunice and Clarissa. Homes in Kibera are made out of corrugated tin, mud, cardboard and plastic and consist of one room that serves as a kitchen, living room and bedroom. Most homes are about 3 metres by 3 metres with an average of five people living in them. Augustin and Clarissa in bed with two-year- old Michelle in-between. Kibera residents come from all the major ethnic backgrounds with some areas being specifically dominated by one tribe. This multi-ethnic culture, coupled with the tribalism of Kenyan politics, has led Kibera to be the site of ethnic conflicts throughout its near 100-year history, most recently in 2008. Women and girls risk rape if they step outside their mud brick homes after dark. Kibera is composed of 12 main villages all plagued by the same problems of poverty, poor sanitation and environmental health.

Biography
I am a Danish photographer born in the countryside outside Copenhagen. Most of my work centers on 'concerned photography' and I am constantly drawn... more

Artist statement
I undertook the Kibera-project because I wanted to document and visualize the word ‘urbanization’. I could have done it many places on earth, as... more


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