The Home of the Marginalized Nubians

Facts about Kibra
Kibra is a village on the outskirt of Nairobi, about six kilomters from the city center. It is a home for the Nubian community whose forefathers were settled there by the then British colonial government after conscription from the army, the Kings African Rifles (KAR). Nubians originated from the northern Sudan.
Kibra Nubian village as it is known, came into being early last century, after the area was designated a military reserve for the demobilized KAR soldiers.
Kibra was already there when Nairobi was made a city in 1902. Kibra was registered in 1917/18, and survey map reproduced in 1934.
The official original area of Kibra was 1497.5 acres. This area has however been reduced to its current 600 or so acres by the successive governments employing the policy of marginalization, and land grabbing by
Kibra Problems
Kibra lost its origin soon after indipendence. These problems were started by selfish politicians who wanted to keep control over their voters. The first change we saw in Kibra was the change of the name from Kibra to Kibera, the corrupted name adapted soon after indipendence. This was intentionally done to distort the history of the area.
Kibra is now a home to more than 500,000 people, a figure released by the civil society organizations. The national sensus done in the year 2009 put the figure at 250,000, this latter figure is largely believed to be a distoted figure.
Majority of the population are people who invaded the area for political or economic reasons. Cheap and affordable housing in the area made it attractive to people who earn low salaries, and at the same time politicians invited their supporters to gain voting power.
This great influx of people in Kibra made it to be the largest slum on Africa.
Challenges facing the Kenya Government.
Among the challenges facing the government and those who want to resolve the land question in Kibra are:
1. Competing rights between the Nubians, who settled in Kibra more than 100 years ago, even before Nairobi bevame a city, and migrants who have continuously been settling there since after indipendence.
2. Polotocal competition between major tribes like the Luos and the Kikuyus. Each one trying to outnumber the other.
3. Economical interest of those who believe tjey have a right to the piece of land they have invaded: owning a land in Kibra is a bog deal, and they will use any means available to protect their interests.
Challenges facing the Nubian Community
1. Uncertainty about the government giving back the Kibra land to the Nubian community. This issue of Kibra land has been internationalized through media, Human Right bodies, and the African Court. But the government s still quiet.
2. The community has to continue keeping the government under pressure claiming their rights and onternationalize the issue. Use international organizations and international law. Tickle the mind of decision makers.
3. Thecommunity must always remain united, inity is critical to delivering a clear message to the government.
4. Community must be organised.
5. The community must be sensitive to the unfulfilled promises given by the successive governments about the Kibra land. On the contrary, tensions were created between the Nubians and other comminities, while the politicians from the major tribes incited their followers to violence.

Every day, every week, every month and every year, the numbers of slum dwellers increase in several parts of the world. The number is expected to continue growing unless there is a serious concerted efforts by all the stake holders.
Kenya’s capitol city of Nairobi has some of the dense unsanitary and insecure slums in the world. Among them are Kibra, Mathare Valley and Korogocho, just to mention a few. It is estimated that almost half of the city’s population live in slums and squatter settlements within the city, with little and inadequate clean water and sanitation. Housing conditions in these slums are deplorable and most residents have no form of secure tenure.
Kibra has been rated as one of the largest slums in the world, and the largest in Africa.

Challenges met in slums.

Challenges met are numerous. Most people lack money to buy food and other essential commodities, and rent houses. Access to all goods and services depends on having a cash income.

What are the causes of slums?

Slums come about because of, and perpetuated by a number of forces. Among these are rapid rural-to-urban migration, increasing urban poverty, inequality and insecure tenure – all contribute to the creation and continuation of slums. There are also homeless families, some because they have been evicted from other areas and some because they cannot afford any housing. And people escaping political conflicts – typically the Internaly Displaced Persons (IDP).
Lack of secure tenure is a primary reason why slums persist. Slum dwellers have no ways and incentive to improve the surroundings. Secure tenure is a ptecondition for access to other economic and social opportunities.
Another big cause is poverty driven by failures of governance in states where public resources are squandered without accountability, and injustices and marginalization are on increase.

Lets care for orphans and destitutes in Slums

We seem to forget that among the dense population in the slums are orphans and destitutes. Their numbers is increasing at a rate twice as much as the increase in the slum population.
Wars, great epidemics (like HIV) and poverty (due to bad governance), have created thousands of these orphans and destitutes.
These young people who are the nation’s future are growing and chances are that many of them will reach working age and will have no earning capacity due to lack of education as they cannot attend schools. Many will probably not be able to vote.
This category of our community need help. If we cannot help them to have earning capacity,or help them to to have upright morals, they will grow up and be a menace to the society.

Early intervention programs.

Everybody should have a passion for shared civil responsibility. If everybody play their part, we would hold the key to understanding and solving our own problems.
We are hoping that Human Rights organizations, in their campaigns, will take a proactive role to assist in the matter, probably organise awareness day to spread the message about.
However, the biggest help should come from the goverments in Africa. They should stop bad governance, injustices like marginalization which are the major cause of poverty. We all know that poverty is driven by failures of governance in states where public resources ate squandered without accountability.

In the 19th century, the British established the British East Africa territory which comprised the land which sits astride the equator, which is todays Kenya.
To be able to settle in these new found territories, the British brought with them soldiers from other parts of the world, which included soldiers from the Sudan. This was done to ensure their security. And these soldiers later fought alongside the British army in the first
and second world wars.
These Sudanese soldiers were a formidable force and a spine of the early British army in this part of the world.
The Sudanese soldiers mentioned above were the Nubians settled in a military reserve in Kibra, which is located on the outskirts of the city of Nairobi, after conscription from the British army.
The Kibra land was a gift to the Sudanese soldiers in recognition to their distinguished service.

What kind of life did the Nubians live?

The first Nubians who settled in Kibra lived a communal life similar to the medieval village life. A village life consisting of a population comprised mostly of farmers, houses, barns, sheds and animal pens, clastered around. This was surrounded by ploughed fields and pastures.
This village was a home for the Nubians. Most were born, toiled, married, had children and died within the village. Most rarely venturing beyond its bounderies.
The Nubians had their own language, dress code, cuisine, ceremonies, ( birth, circumcision, wedding, etc ), dances, arts and artefacts.
The typical Nubian house architecture featured four bedrooms, a visitor room, a large sitting room, with large windows overlooking flower/tree gardens on the outside. The kitchen was located on one side at the back, while the bathrooms and pit latrines were on the other.
The houses were built with poles and wooden planks and frames bought from forrest owners around Kibra.
The roofs of the houses were made from flattened oil tins and oil drums, (typically 20 lt kerosene containers were used in those days).
The walls of these houses were made of mud, and cow dung collected from the livestock keepers around. The wall finishing was so smooth that it had the appearance of cement plaster. These walls were oftened patterned with flower paintings that made them very attractive. Some of those houses, over 90 years old, are still standing there today.
Vegetable gardens and farms for other crops and livestock were developed further away from the main house.

Recreatinal facilities.

Kibra had enough recreatinal facilities, particularly playing grounds for children. These grounds were also used for wedding ceremonies and other communal activities. For indoor activities a central hall was built in the centre of the village, which was also used as a cinema.

Post indipendance life.

Life in Kibra changed gradually after Kenya attained indipendance in 1963 from outside influences. New comers from outside Kibra for economic and political reasons. By 1980s and 1990s, the number of outsiders grew so big. The Nubians then became a small minority in the ratio 1 to 12.

Changes in sociocultural environment.

The big inflow of outsiders in Kibra had a bad effect. It is known that social and cultural influrnces cause changes in attitudes, beliefs, norms, customs and lifestyle. Inability of the Nubians in Kibra to foresee changes in these areas and react timely was devastating.

Challenge facing the Nubians.

The biggest challenge now facing the Nubians of Kibra is whether the government of Kenya will honour the promise of giving the Kibra land ownership documentation.

See my other blogs:
. History of Kibra
. Nubian Culture

Report alleging that the minority peoples rights are still being abused in Kenya has been written by the Africa Commision on Human and Peoples Rights.

Two rullings made earlier by the Africa commission are the subject of this abuse:
1. The rulling made in February 2010, regarding the teturn to the Enderois community of the land from where they were forced out by the government of Kenya in 1978.
2. The landmark rulling in November 2011, on the Kenya Nubian children rights to citizenship.

Minority and marginalized groups still face serious problems which threaten their existence in most parts of the world. This is despite the tremendous efforts put by the Human Right Organizations and other civil bodies to change the world order for the better. These changes being promoted have little or no impact at all especially in African countries. Land grabbing and other injustices by political elites are still the order of the day, and is geared towards denying the marginalized recognition and drive them into poverty.
The threats to these groups are historical in nature, emanating from the policies of the colonial masters. But this has been taken a notch higher by the policies of the post-indipendance republics where political elites have considtently failed to recognize and ratify international and reginal instruments that recognize rights of all human beings. This is the biggest problem.
The minorities are marginalized because they lack political representation and therefore their concerns are never heard of or taken into account.

The year 2012 brings with it a great hope and high expectations for the Nubian community on Kenya. This is so because in September 2011, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of Child published its first ever decision, relating to discrimination in access to nationality for Nubian children in Kenya. ACERWC was responding to a communication filed under its complaints procedure. The committee found the case to be admissible because the national proceeding here in Kenya had effectively stalled making the case an exception to the requirement to exhaust domestic remedies before turning to the committee.
The arguements put forward to the Committee of Experts are:
1. Violation of the rights to acquire nationality at birth for Nubian children.
2. Unlawful discrimination against Nubian children on basis of their ethnic background.
3. Consequential violations: as a result of historical tre- atment as foreigners, citizen status was uncertain, denial of equal access to essential services such as education and healthcare.

The Committee found Kenya’s action violated Article 6 of the African Charter provision protecting children’s right. The COmmittee then made its recommendations to the government of Kenya to correct the violatins within six month after the rulling.
ACERWC decision’s significance extends well beyond Kenya. Nubians are concious that their case could have far reaching implications for other marginalised groups in Kenya and Africa as a whole. Their example should also be a source of hope and encouragement for stateless communoties struggling to claim their rights all over the world.

This blog is about the culture of Nubian community who live in East Africa, particularly in Kenya. The writer has sensed the danger of dwindling in the values or activity of the Nubian culture in this area.

Culture can be described as the way of life of a particular society or a group of people including pattern of thought, belief, behaviour, customs, traditions, rotuals, dress and language, as well as art, music and literature.
Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but is a frigile phenomenon. It is constantly changing and is easily lost because it is not written.
Nubians need to keep their traditions and culture alive so that they can continue to pass it on from one generation to another.
To revive the Nubian culture and make it vibrant, the starting point would probably be to borrow from the work of Craig Constantine and continue to build up from there.
The art exhibition is one way of viewing their identity and its contribution to the entire Nubian heritage over the course of history.
Nubians can start a local gallery and display paintings and photography on the walls of the exhibition gallery.
. Paintings and photographs of their traditional houses.
. Colourful ttaditional Nubian clothing.
. Photographs of, and display of traditional hand woven bag, baskets, mats and other accessories.
. Stylish braiding of women hair.
. Nubian misical instruments, etc.

“Kibra is an area on the outskirt of Nairobi, the capitol city of Kenya. This piece of land, measuring approximately 4100 acres was a reward given to the Nubian soldiers by the then British colonial government. The Nubian soldiers fought alongside the British army from the 19th century up to the two world wars of 1914 and 1945.
Although the politics of this country has changed Kibra to what it is now, the largest slum in Africa. The Nubians who live in Kibra, which is their home, are now a small minority in the ratio of 1 to 12, after their land was invaded by outsiders brought in by selfish politicians. The Nubians still cherish and have passion for Kibra, even with the faint hope of obtaining the land ownership document from the government. And even as the numbet of poor and excluded people among the community is incteasing rapidly.

Expression of Passion for Kibra
1. We all know that there is a great ‘passion’ among our community for out Kibra. People love the ambience, the natural setting, the country side, the history, the heritage and much mote. These feelings have unfortunately been largely destroyed by the politics of this country.
2. There is a strong sense of community. We ate proud of ourselves, our community organizations and our neighbourhoods.
3. There is a sense of entrennchment. As people say, ‘we all love progress, it is the change we hate’.
4. Nonetheless, we recognize the opportunity in persuing fresh ideas/ attitudes. Thete is a desire to cteate a new vission, plan for the future and coordinate efforts accross the community.
5. Too much focus on issues and weaknesses. We need to promote our strengths among ourselves. Then we will be better able to present our strengths to visitors and others outside our community.
6. There are specific issues that are foremost in our minds:
a. To unite our people so that we speak from same voice.
b. To get the ownership documents for thr Kibra land.
c. To protect our quality of life and address the well being of our people.
7. There are strengths to build upon in the community and opportunities to pursue:
a. Coordinating the talents and energies of our people to achieve a common vision.
b. To promote our arts, cultute, recreation and leisure
c. Heritage.
d. Under utilised resources
e. Honesty.
8. Our people are knowledgeable, experienced and brimming with interesting and innovative ideas. The challenge is to make good use of these valuable tesourses.

Forced labour in the Middle East.
Recent news in one of kenyan daily news paper regarding injustices done to workers from Kenya in Saudi Arabia is shocking and disgusting. The report allege that an international human traffiking ring is collaborating with some employees of some middle east embassies in Kenya to recruit unsuspecting Kenyans for jobs in Saudi Arabia. The criminal network is actually sending these people to forced labour. The cartel lure the victims by placing advertisements of well paying job oportunities in those countries.
In the recent past, scores of Kenyans have fallen prey to these crooks.
The reports about the forced labour came out after several incidents of human right abuse were reported to the Kenya government by the relatoves of the victims. Some deaths of victims were also reported in the last two years. But unfortunately the Kenya government has so far not taken the matters seriously. Who then can shield the Kenyans from this kind of abuse?
Why Kenyan youth take the risk.
Yoiths are easy prey because of serious unemployment on the country. The number of unemployed youths in Kenya has grown so much. Hence the incrrsing number of poor and rxcluded people who are at thereceaving end of the himan right violations.
The policy of exclution practiced by those in authority is not spoken, but os never the less building with respect to social disparities caused by poverty and unemployment of literate youth, which remain a political tiime bomb of numbers running ino millions.

What sufferings do the marginalized / minority groups experience?

Marginalized or minority groups suffer mainly from discrimination, be it social, economical, infringement of rights etc. ( exclusion from government services, programs and policies ).  Material deprivation ( such as food, shelter ) is another common cause of suffering. Ensuing poverty, psycho emotional damage and its resulting deceases, often result, in catastrophic damage to lives, health and psychiatry.

How does one get out of this “slavery” ?

The answer is “struggle”. However, before you start the struggle, challenging the authorities, the community has to first of all have an accurate assessment of who they are and where they are, and where they want to be.

1.  They have to have full trust of themselves
2. They have to believe that all nations, and for that matter, all communities are made up of people of diverse background; putting these diversities to use will help uplift the community.
3. Each one must learn to respect the strength of their diversity.
4. And that for a community the power lies not in its numbers, but in the diverse skills and resources of its members.
5. There are elements to which we must adhere to succeed as a community :

• .Always be united, unity is crucial to delivering a clear message to your opponent ( authorities concerned )
• Maintain your identity as a people and be proud of your culture.
• Engage constructively with authorities without resorting to militancy, as militancy only begets militancy.
• Use existing law to deliberate your issues.
• In extreme cases, internationalize your issues. Use international organizations to apply pressure on your government.

Lastly, but not the least, after fulfilling all the above, then go ahead and start your challenge!

Marginalized / minority groups are urged to use new technology to drive social change

The marginalized / minority tribes in Kenya, and indeed all over Africa and the World are urged to use the new technology to connect with people internationally to fight and drive away the social evil they are facing in the name of marginalization.

Through community forums these groups could use the technologies which include mobile platforms and the internet which can now be used for promoting democratic practices, civic participation, learning, and youth empowerment. Also can be used for economic and social entrepreneurship among other issues.

Empower young people

The communities should put more emphasis on young people who are particularly receptive to new technologies and adopt to its demands with clarity when given the chance.

Youth can use the technology to engage in human right activities.