Trash Playgrounds in Kibera, Kenya
Trash Lands by Jose Ferreira
Humanity. Parasite?
Have humans become a worldly parasite; leeching off our host? It is estimated that annually humans produce over a billion tonnes of waste each year. This comes at no surprise considering most of our production cycles aren’t so much cyclical as linear. Now, if you’re like me you cannot actually imagine what 1 billion tonnes of waste looks like, perhaps you’re guessing that we’re running out of place to put the stuff. Most people don’t think about their waste beyond the disposal can. Why would you when the government is so kind as to cart the stuff away for you, at a minimal fee of course.
In developing countries, particularly in informal settlements, people aren’t so ‘lucky’. With little to no formal basic services, whatever waste produced in poor urban areas just remains, forcing people to create informal dumping sites only meters from their homes. But like many problems, some smart people came up with an ingenious solution.
I recently came across an Engineering for Change (E4C) article describing, in my opinion, one of the best public space transformations in recent years. In the south of Kibera, Kenya local communities partnered Kounkuey Desgin Initiative, founded by 6 Harvard students and now comprising of a number of American and Kenyans, to transform informal dumping site into a productive public space (pps), creating a space for economic activity and social interaction.
You can see the population density as a reflection of slum density in this birdseye of kibera. Source: skyscrapercity.com
Kibera is infamous for being one Africa’s most populated settlements. The challenges it faces are plenty, and although cynics may say this is only a small step in aiding the community, the effects of this type of collaboration go much deeper. Not only, is the site the only place in Kibera with full serviced ablution facilities, but the community set the development agenda. This type of project empowers the community, not only by giving them a space to trade, interact, speak, listen, learn and play; but also by giving them the tools, confidence and ability to decrease the reliance on external aid (either foreign or from the government). It gives them a way to drive their own poverty reduction efforts. So yes, maybe it’s a small step, but marathon’s are won one step at a time.
PS: Criticise Ivy League education as much as you will but this isn’t the first time Harvard students have made a positive contribution to Africa’s community development. Last year, I attended a TEDx talk by Marika Shiori-Clark of MASS Design Lab. See their projects here
[...] the Queens diamond jubilee just around the corner, and the Olympics following that, having a shanty town outside one of the worlds most powerful political arena’s would just [...]