Nairobi, KENYA: Slums of Nairobi are infamously known for their high occurrences of violence, crippling poverty, high mortality rates among many other social evils in the society.
However, the sprawling slums of Kibera are receiving more foreign attention not from humanitarian donors, but a new crop of tourists tired of sleeping by the pool side and would rather see what it's like to live in slums.
This is a game changer since visitors are opting for unorthodox places to spend time with their loved ones or even some lone moments during holidays in the shanties.
Though it's not their fault, slum dwellers are still far from a sustainable future; however they have tapped into this new booming tourism business termed as “poorism”.
This comes as no surprise as Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities named unemployment as one of the challenges Nairobi faces.
“Yes, I am a slum tourism operator. For every visitor I charge sh.500 which is an equivalent of $5. Tourists who visit Kibera say that people here live like animals. They love taking pictures of the pipes that leak raw sewage and the dilapidated houses,” Violet Muge told Baraka FM.
Beatrice Mutia another tour operator in Kibera, told Baraka FM that she was at first shocked when she was asked to take foreign visitors for a walk in the shanties.
Ms. Mutia who also charges sh.500 per visitor said that tourists were often fascinated with how poor people survived.
“Some want to know how the people eat over here. They want to know how many meals they can afford in a day. Some tourists have suggested that this place should be upgraded because the living conditions here are unbearable,” Ms. Mutia notes.
They both agreed that the tourists never brought in any development projects that would save the people living in shanties from the claws of poverty.
Mixed
fortunes of poverty tourism
Slum tourism which has also been referred to as
poverty tourism or even “poorism” has continued to receive polarized emotions.
“There are those who feel it is important to see how
individuals are coping and living in the slums. I think if it is brought in the
purposes of improving livelihoods and improving opportunities of slum dwellers
then I would support slum tourism,” Prof. Judy Wakhungu, Head of the Kenyan
Delegation, told Baraka FM, at the United Nations Conference on Housing and
Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador.
Prof. Wakhungu added that,” This form of tourism
should open up education opportunities for those running cottage industries.
Tourists can become buyers of the supplies shanty residents make.”
100 Resilient Cities during the Habitat III, told
Baraka FM at the Casa de la Cultura
Ecuatoriana, that slum tourism could be beneficial if it took a
participatory approach.
“If this should happen then input should be obtained
from the people who will say what they need and expect when they get visited,”
Maxwell Young, the Global Vice President Marketing and Communication of 100
Resilient Cities, remarked.
Ironic enough, the slum tour operators however, did
not seem to favour this type of tourism saying that despite the fact that
taking foreigners for a walk in the settlements brought them some cash, it was
not a sustainable way to earn a living.
“We are in the low season I have no clients. I receive
only 80 visitors in a year just like my counterpart Ms. Mutia. If there were
other alternative means of getting my daily bread I would quickly jump to that.
Moreover, poverty tourism belittles the slum dwellers when foreigners visit the
country just to take pictures of other people’s misery. People in Kibera are
humans they should be treated with dignity,” Ms. Muge remarked.
Mr. Young said,” It is not right however when a
tourist company comes in and just takes people around the informal settlements;
it could be like a zoo. It could be dehumanizing. Sadly this happens all over
the world. It happens in New York, Latin America and Africa. It basically
happens anywhere where there is a big disparity between the rich and the poor.”
Prof. Wakhungu also expressed dismay about slum
tourism in Kenya where some communities obtain a raw deal from this type of
business.
“Poverty tourism has also had some negative impact in
Kenya. We have had visitors who have come to observe the way people live but
they have had encounters whereby slum dwellers felt cheated,” she observed.
Mr. Young added that this type of tourism slum tourism
could increase the cases of sex work in an informal settlement.
Slum
tourism in Brazilian Capital Rio de Janeiro
According to Mr. Young the concept of “poorism” in Rio
de Janeiro started in the 1980’s.
“Often it would be done without the consent of the residents
dwelling in the informal settlements. You have tour companies cruising tourists
in 4×4 vehicles or motorcycles to take them to see the most heartbreaking parts
of the community and no money is spent on the community,” Mr. Young stated.
This trend has however shifted after as time went by.
“Although in the recent years in Rio de Janeiro, there
has been this movement to involve the people in the informal settlements in
this type of tourism. It becomes more educational where people can learn about
the underlying conditions that lead to informal settlements and what can be
done to address some of the deficiencies,” Mr. Young said.
The
New Urban Agenda
According to the United Nations UN the New Urban
Agenda involves embracing urbanization at all levels of human settlements and
formulation of more appropriate policies that can embrace urbanization.
It also entails participation and involvement of urban
dwellers and integrating equity to the development agenda, in line with the
Sustainable Development Goals SDGs which insist on leaving no one behind.
Further in May 2016 Nairobi was announced as one of
the 100 resilient cities in the globe.
However poverty tourism could be an impediment to
Nairobi’s newly attained status of being resilient and achieving the New Urban
Agenda.
“There needs to be real partnerships between the
people and operators. If income stays in the communities and a solid
partnership exists then both parties will be satisfied. If this is done with
the permission of community groups it could lead to people becoming more aware
and this could lead to better services and planning in the long run. There can
be real trouble when someone becomes wealthy making more money off the poverty
of others with no benefits to those who live in informal settlements. Obviously,
anything that keeps populations in poverty, negatively affects resilience of a
city,” Mr. Young noted.
“City leaders should embrace the New Urban Agenda. If
we get the towns and cities right we will be closer to achieving all SDGs by
which we can make our cities more prosperous and resilient,” Secretary General
for the UN Ban Ki Moon said, at a press briefing, during the Habitat III.
“There is a lot
that needs to be done better. The city leaders are saying that they need better
policies and capacity. We assure you that we will give you the best support that
we can. We would like to create platforms with you and create avenues of dialogue
that bring on board everybody so that we can tap into available resources. In
this way we can change everybody’s attitude,” remarked Dr. Aisa Kacyira, the
Assistant Secretary General, UN Habitat.
Hopefully with such engagements, emerging issues
arising from “poorism” can be addressed to ensure no one is injured, socially
or economically, as the world seeks to achieve the post 2015 development agenda
targets.
According to the UN 54 per cent of the world’s
population already lives in urban areas, with a third residing in slums and
this figure is due to increase to 66 per cent by 2050, where the largest
increase is projected in Africa.
“In order to eradicate poverty and have a world
without slums, we now bring the New Urban Agenda. This will help to plan for
urbanization as people keep migrating to towns and cities. We need to utilize
this political commitment, and turn into reality a situation whereby there are
no shanties,” Dr. Kacyira concluded.
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