Slum opportunties

My first week of work has been all about getting to know the team and visiting the slum communities. I'm used to visiting rural areas in Africa with their large plots of land, and huge distances between houses interspersed by cows, chickens and goats roaming at will.

Slums are very different places. Today I went to Katogo 1 (as settlements they're given names like this, much like the schools in Russia, 'School Number 263', not very warm and fuzzy), where the houses were really tightly squeezed together in places. So much so, that a few times I literally had to inch my way through between them and was glad that I didn't eat more dinner last night. This close proximity all seems to work ok for people here, until there is a crisis or shock, like heavy rainfall for days on end. In those times the narrow passages become filthy streams carrying effluent right past, and often into, people's homes.

This is just one of the many complexities of slum life. All seems well until there is a problem, and the problems seem to overtake people, who are willing, but unable to do much about them.

As I walk around the slums I try not to focus on the problems, but to remember the words of Ida Hadoto, Send a Cow's Social Development Manager, who said that you should look for resources, not the need. It's all too easy to see need and you can't really miss it, but you can miss spotting resources if you don't look in the right way. It's an exciting way to view the slums as there are plenty of opportunities and resources there.

For example, there are hundreds of people (if not thousands) looking for work and eager to make some money. This could be seen as a problem, but actually, it's a huge resource as these are people that the charity can train and then employ to build, make things and pay to train others, or who will eagerly learn new skills to start their own micro-enterprises. And with these new skills their willingness to work can take them all sorts of places, especially if they organise themselves together.

Another simple thing that I've noticed is the colossal amount of plastic bottles that are collected to be sold for recycling. They get a tiny amount of money for huge bags of bottles sold by the kilo, when they could be re-purposed and used for all kinds of things like growing food, purifying water and even as bricks to make long-lasting structures.

So, I plan to continue to see the slum communities with eyes of hope, noticing the positive and looking for opportunities where there can seem to be none. That should keen me on my toes!