Nairobi

Recently I was fortunate enough to be selected to represent my province at the Salesian Conference for Volunteers in Africa.  The conference was three days and focused on the specifics of Salesian thinking in our work, human rights and justice and evangelization.  I came away from the conference with a renewed and better understanding of why exactly I am in African volunteering, and how to view my work through a Salesian lens.

The conference itself, while refreshing and reinvigorating to participate, wouldn’t be very interesting to write or read about, so I won’t.  I will highlight two of the things we did outside the conference hall, however.

1) Visit to the Kibera Slum

After talking about justice and human rights all morning, our group went to visit a Salesian working in the slums of Nairobi.  The Kibera slum is just outside Nairobi, ironically across the street and behind a brick wall from one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city.  It is roughly measured by the length of the 6 km road that runs through the middle, and its population is estimated at around 1 million.   Running water and electricity are scarce, sewage runs uncovered in the streets and government services are virtually nonexistent.  

About the time I was completely overcome with heartache, anger, frustration and desperation, we met the Salesian who was located in the middle of the slum.  He was a native of the slum and after completing his studies returned to the slum to set up a school and a social project.  His school provides education for over 200 students and his social project consists of a nurse and a paralegal.  The nurse preaches hygiene to anyone who will listen and caters to girls and women’s health issues.  The paralegal works  to organize a micro-finance project to empower local residents and they both work together to, and this is repulsive, bring justice to rape victims, especially children (some as young as three years old) who do not have the means to attain justice.

2) Bosco Boys – Nairobi

On our final evening in Nairobi we visited one of the many Salesian communities in Nairobi, Bosco Boys.  This is a  community that works with others to get children off the street and out of slums like Kibera.  The students at this particular site were in the final stage.  It was great to see the positive change the Salesians were having on the children, as I sat and talked with all  of them as we watched dancers and performers put on a show for their special visitors.  The coolest part of this experience, however, was mass at the Bosco Boys chapel.  There were only young people in the church, including the choir and 15 dancers that danced at every part of the mass.  I have never felt so much energy or enthusiasm in a church before!