Inside Africa's Largest Slum: Life, Challenges, and Hope in Kibera

Today we're going to be venturing into Africa's biggest slum. This gigantic settlement with a population of a million people dates back to the 1950s and since then it has spread like wildfire on the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. Join me as we venture today deep inside all corners of this insane neighborhood. Welcome to Nairobi, Kenya. Today we're going to be going to the second biggest slum in the entire world. get an elevator down from this hotel. We're going to drive across the city, go into the slum, see the good parts, the bad parts, and everything in between. So, let's go and see Africa's biggest slum.

I just jumped in an Uber and we're on our way to Kber, Africa's biggest slum. Something quite interesting just happened. When the Uber driver saw the destination, he was like, "I can't take you for that price because it's too dangerous or something." And they said that they take the wheels and the wing mirrors off the car so to pay a little bit of a premium to get the driver to go there because it's risky apparently. Is this got a bad reputation? It is dangerous place, but you don't go there on your own. You need somebody who knows there and he knows some of those criminals. In that sense, they will not attack you.

Okay. Thank you. Hi, I'm very good. Nice to meet you. You live here? Yes. Yeah. Wow. It's amazing. It's like inside a mine or something. Look, this is the house. Wow. This is really something. Mine into the hillside and then use the rocks for the walls, but no windows. Just like mud on the floor.

Pretty. Wow. Crazy living conditions. They got gas there and a cat. Look, they got electricity. Unreal. Like if you look at the floor, it's just rock and wet rock. Where do they sleep? Thank you. Oh wow. So yeah, this is a still a bit damp on the ground, but a lot drier. Wow, this is deep. This is the Valley of Africa. Yeah. Absolute honor to come in and see people's houses and how they live and they're always so hospitable to show you around their living conditions and things.

Thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Have a nice day. All right. Bye. So, we've come down to the river here. Check this out. Look, you can see the river and there's that bridge in the background. This river must flood, right? Yes. Sometimes when there's a lot of rain cuz you know this river sometimes the water passes until here. Okay. So the water can come right up here. Yeah. This is the reflection of water. Comes right up to like our knees here. And so when that's flooding then people's houses must get washed away.

Sometimes those who houses are being washed away. A mother and her daughter were last evening swept away by flood waters in Cubra area of Nairobi. Emotions overwhelm Morin Olo as she narrates to us how she lost her friend who was swept away by the flood soon after the walls of the house they were in caved. Her friend's body was found, but that of the child is still missing. What's the average salary here? 10,000. There are people who get less than 5,000 a month. There are people work for 3,000 a month.

This is Julia in front of us and she's showing us her house here. Hello. This is where I live. I do sell traditional liquor. Oh, you sell traditional liquor? This is traditional liquor. Oh, wow. So, you make this liquor at home? Yeah. People like it. It's our traditional. What's the alcohol percentage? We don't know because we don't measure. It's a traditional thing, right? You just It's just lucky. And a lot of people drink this around here.

Yeah, it's popular. The electricity. Do you have to pay for that or you just link to the main line? We link from the main line. Oh, wow. You got Wi-Fi as well up there? Wow. And because the house is made of mud, do it sometimes collapse. Does it fall down sometimes? No, it's pretty strong. Sometimes it collaps because of the rain. Rains. Yeah. So, does water sometimes come inside the house? Yes. Really? We used to we just dust and it shines we are normal.

Right. Amazing. Is it okay life living in Cabera? Because for people that don't know it's difficult life but we are used to. Thank you Julia. Okay. Thank you so good day. You're welcome. Do a lot of people drink that homemade alcohol here? Yes. I think it's a problem. It is a problem. Yeah. A lot of people drink it. Yes. And even very early in the morning, right? Like most of the people when they feel like they're depressed and they cannot afford to get a proper liquor, they go for that. How much does it cost?

50 shillings. A shot. And a shot. It's very strong. So when you take it, you definitely will black out within 10 to 20 minutes. Seriously? One shot. You black out. Does it kill people? Last week we had some two people who died. They just fell down and vomited blood. It's That's normal. Someone throw kids throwing stones. Throwing rocks. A rock just landed here. Be careful of your head. Yeah. Is there any drug use here? Yes. Maybe marijuana weed.

Yeah. And we also have some pills. We call them tap top. Mad people at the rehabilitation centers, they always been given pills to regulate the brain. But now the normal people, if you use it, you black out. So people like to black out in the middle. Let me show you some of the samples. I think I have some here. That's here. Wow. And then these are the top. That's the pills. Maserati. Yeah. Is it like ecstasy or is it's like an antiscychotic medication. Yeah. And they're different sizes. Oh, wow. This is Mercedes.

Wow. So, they have luxury car brands printed onto the pills. Oh, wow. Crazy. What does it make them feel like? So, when they use the drugs, it makes them feel like they're in a different world and they can sleep while standing snoring. Even if you tap them, they don't feel anything. Is it's not fentinyl, is it? Or is it opiates? I'm not sure what they're using because I've never tried it, right? Because I know it's dangerous. If someone can use it and stand while standing, then that thing is not good.

This is the back of the slum here. Look at this. Kevin was just saying careful putting your camera up there cuz a motorbiker can come and just grab it. The Uber driver this morning was telling me that there's lots of snatching crimes in Nairobi. Yeah, that's a normal crime in Nairobi. People driving along on motorbikes mainly and they just snatch your phone out of your hand. They ride mostly in the estates and snatch their phones there. Then they get back to the slums. Oh, so they go to the more expensive neighborhoods and then come back here.

Yeah. Right. So that's what they do. It's like a job for them, right? Is that a good business? Not a good business because when you're caught, your penalty is death by burning when you're caught by the mob justice. What do you mean? Uh like they tie your hands and legs. Uhhuh. They put kat eye on your neck. They pour some on your neck. Katie. Car. Yeah. On your neck. Then they pour some um foil on you and then they light it up. They pour petrol on you and they light you up if you get caught snatching phones.

Really? Yes. And your motorbike also will be banned. Who does that? The people of the slum even outside the community. Really? Yes. Oh wow. Mostly Nairobi. Okay. Is that common? Very common. Yes. And the police are okay with that. Um when you're caught by the mob justice, the police are not involved unless they're getting called that we caught a thief and the thief is dead. Come pick the body. They'll come very quickly. They take the body to the city mog and that's it. And they don't care. They don't care about anything because the people are helping them to do their job.

Yeah. You see some shoes behind me hanging on the cables there. So really interesting because of the crime here, you know, it's quite rampant. There's some initiatives to turn all that around. When somebody wants to join this local car cleaning, they throw the most expensive shoes that they've ever stolen on this cable here to show that they are ready to give up crime and live a more directional life here in Kra, Africa's largest slum. I can sing any song.

I can sing. Five song. Let's hear it. Yeah. EVERYBODY A BAD MAN. SHE want to surround my girl with everybody. She want to surround my girl with a piston. Everybody she want to surround my girl with a piston. I going to run WITH A SPIN [__] MACHINE GUN. OH YES. Oh no [screaming] no. Oh yes. Oh n baby girl you going to fear mother baby girl you going to fe and God I love any animals God is love any people in this Kenya in Africa in America in Egypt God is love anybody in Kenya and Egypt yes That's right. What was your name? Sorry. Mitch. I'm Nick. Nice to meet you. Pleasure. Yeah. So, we're here with Mitch. And Mitch is the Bitcoin man of Kira, right?

You look like the Bitcoin man. You look great. Bitcoin to the world. I've noticed a lot of signs around on stores. They accept Bitcoin for buying things like avocados, tomatoes, vegetables. So, is Bitcoin really popular here? Yeah, Bitcoin is quite popular here. We trying like to do away with fiat currency because it doesn't give any value to our people. You know, the more you keep your Bitcoin, the more it keeps on appreciating. That's why we are now urging them to accept it and also to save it for their future. So for example, if I hold on to a,000 Kenyon shillings for a year, it would lose value. But if I hold that value in Bitcoin, maybe it makes 60% or something.

Automatically, it will always appreciate. So how does the transactions work? I'll show you around. What do you like? Uh oranges. Avocado. Avocado. Yeah. So I'll have one avocado for you and one uh orange for me. This how we will pay. All right. I'll go to my wallet. Then I'll go to send. I'll scan the QR code. Yeah, it has picked amount. Yeah, I'll pay 50, Bob. Then I'll swipe to confirm my payment. It has gone and she has received the money. Our phones are Bitcoin phones. You see, you love Bitcoin.

Yeah, I'm a Bitcoin. A true Bitcoin. And here's the avocado with Bitcoin. Bitcoin avocado. Yeah, Kenya has some of the best avocados in the world. How many people here use Bitcoin when you say percentage? We have like uh now generally we have like 600 people. Yeah. I just want to take a quick second and say thank you to Sy for sponsoring this video. Traveling to countries like Kenya often means dealing with SIM cards, roaming fees, or unreliable Wi-Fi. SY is an ESIM app that gives you data as soon as you land on the runway. One of the best parts about SY is that you only need to install the ESIM once. After that, it works for any plan you

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15% discount off your data plan. A huge thank you to SY for sponsoring this video. Let's get back to the video. So, here's a detailed look at the house. It's just made out of there's so much rubbish. Obviously, it's mixed in, but they also mix in weeds to add reinforcement with the clay. When you put concrete, you put steel rods. Here they have dirt with wood rods. Here's a bit more of a strong rock design. You got a jacket on, man? Yeah. You know hot sweat? I don't. I don't sweat um or I didn't sweat at the time.

You got very nice shoes. Thank you. How do you keep them so clean? I am just used to walking in this uh community. So this is a higher quality. Yeah. Right. And so the people with a bit more money can live in houses like this. Yeah. The people with stable jobs. And what is a stable job here? Just earning enough having a good business that runs well with good profit. What's business? What kind of business? Maybe a big shop or maybe hotels.

Oh, really? And they live here? hotels here. It's different with what you know as hotel. Gotcha. There's a really strong sense of community here. Everybody knows everybody. Like walking down the street, high fives everywhere. Super welcoming. Not asking for money. I haven't really been asked for money by anybody or anything like that. So, really nice vibes here. A bit different to what the taxi driver was saying, but maybe it's just cuz who I'm with. I don't know. But definitely doesn't feel super dangerous or anything like that. I think definitely its old reputation still hangs over its head, but it's obviously changing.

This is the charcoal for cooking. Yeah. This is what most people would cook with here. Yeah. This is charcoal. The charcoal. What's cooking on the top? Chapati and beans. This is beans. Chapati and beans. Yeah. And this is chapati. Train tracks go right through the slum here. Apparently, the train tracks were here before the slum was built and then they built the slum around it. So, the train still comes through here. People are actually looking through the garbage as you'll see in many places around Africa. There's a guy looking through the trash and the goats eating the trash. So, people not get hit by train sometimes.

It was uh maybe some years back, but now it's things have changed. It's different because whenever the train is coming, they're always hooting like again and again. So everybody knows. Yeah. So everybody knows that they're not supposed to be here when the train is coming. Were there some incidents before when people got hurt? Yeah, there were incidents someone's leg head in different places. But if that happens now, I believe that it's maybe someone was killed somewhere else then thrown on the truck.

It happened last week. There's a guy who was killed and was thrown somewhere. Then it stopped and the body was moved. He's on the train proceed. Oh, so somebody put a body on there and somebody saw the body and then stopped the train so it didn't look like a cover up murder. 5 10 years ago this place was really dangerous but now it's much better. So 10 years ago it was very dangerous. When you come into the slums you could not even come with your camera into the slums unless you come with a big crowd of police. Now things have changed. Ka slam has become something different. the most of the people trying to do community work and supporting each other.

You know, I've visited places all over the world and a lot of places seem to be getting worse, but this is seems to be an example of positive change. Yeah, sure. So, well done to you guys. Thanks. So, you can see here behind me, this is the original part of Cuba. So, it's actually founded in 1950s. It was an area set aside for the Nubian people by the government and then it expanded onto this side of the river in 1998. It's currently 15 kilome squared area. It's really hard to kind of get an idea of how many people are here because you know there's lots of undocumented people. So it could be north of a million. Absolutely gigantic. Hey bro,

you good? So this is like a local shop and buy your rice everything here. How much does a bottle of water cost here? Yeah. This is 25 shillings. Yeah. Hey, and I need water. I'm so thirsty anyway. Hi, man. This is the house you grew up in. No. We've been moving from different parts of the community. Okay. To get ourselves here. So, this is where your parents sleep.

Yeah, that's my parents bedroom. Very hot in here, eh? Yeah, it's hot. Yeah. My camera is overheating cuz it's so hot. Yeah. Yeah. So, here's your kitchen here. Yeah. This is the kitchen. Oh, cooking on gas. So, that's quite a luxury, right? Cuz a lot of people on charcoal when you cook, you sit on the couch. Yeah. You sit on the couch. You prepare your food. Make sure it's ready. Then the family can have it. This is the bedroom. for the boys. Ah, so we have three kids. who are living here with the parents, our sister, then the two brothers.

How many siblings do you have? Seven. Yeah. Only seven. Five. Five boys. Two girls. Your parents are busy, huh? Very busy. So when you want to shower, you bring this bucket and you go into here and you bathe in here, right? Yeah. Wow. A very rare shower see. So this is like a luxury, right? Cuz it's private. Yeah, not everybody's lucky enough to have one of these for the family. The houses that we're looking at now, this is the upper class of the slum, right? So, these are the people with a bit more resources.

You see, now we have like three rooms. Most people live in houses like this. This is dirt. Oops. See, you touch it and it falls apart. And then these guys are very lucky that worked very hard obviously and they've got the solid rock. Be very careful here. Look sharp edges all direction. Hello. Nice to meet you. It's very sharp edges here. Definitely need your tetanus injections. Those kids just says you pay me in sweets. Streets here are incredible. Look at this. Hello. Wow. This is Hi. It's amazing. Lots of sewage there, but separated from the main road here. Pathway.

All clothes hanging out. One of them hit me in the face before it was wet. So, freshly washed clothes. These are actually just sticks dug into the concrete here. It's a tree. Like amazing intricate details here. Look, nails bent over. This is the school. This is the school here. Yeah. Careful. So, what's this room here? So, this is the kitchen. This is the kitchen of the school. Yes. How's this look to you guys? A bit different to the school kitchen that you guys grew up with. Coming down into the main part of the kitchen of the school

here. So, for breakfast, the kids have milk, tea, and bread. How many kids go to this school? Dudo 250. Then we have 29 children are living here. Orphans. Orphans live in what rooms are they? Somewhere else. We are going to show you all the rooms. Oh wow. So you've got kids of all different ages in this area here with different classrooms. These kids are smarter than me cuz I have no idea what any of this means. And do the kids like to come to school? Do they enjoy it? Yes. The reason was why most of the kids like to come into the school is because uh they get breakfast and lunch which they're not paying for it.

It's like free. Any donation that comes to the school supports the school. Do you have a website? The school doesn't have a website. We are working on it because it's also a little bit expensive. I'm sure there's somebody watching right now that could make you a website. Sure. I'll put your email address. Put it there. Yeah. Then they can help us. Any web designers out there that want to help these guys out with this beautiful project here that really turning the slum round into a positive direction. You can clearly see that. So all these kids here, the ones that are dancing, these are all orphans. So it's the weekend today. That's why the school's out. So we're here with

Clarence and you're the matron of the place, right? Yes. So you look after all these kids full time. Yes. Amazing. Is that must be quite a emotional job. Yeah. What are some of the stories of the kids here? They hard lives they must have come from. Right. Some of them we got them from the street and some of them they don't have parents. The youngest is 3 years old and the oldest one is 19 years old. What's the story of the 3-year-old? What happened to the parents? Do you know? They died. Do you know how they died? We don't know.

Not sure. Well, you're doing such amazing work. Thank you. Thank you so much. Some pretty sad stories that we've just been told. A lot of the young girls in these neighborhoods are very vulnerable and a lot of them even get abused by their own fathers and extended families. So very vulnerable kids. So the they used to have places for them to sleep here, but it got a bit dangerous. So there's actually another area for the girls to sleep. The girls used to sleep in rooms like behind these curtains, but there's no security. And so people would come in and um do the unthinkable.

Hello. Nice to meet you. The matron's taking us to where the girls sleep now. It smells really nice in here. Yeah. You got perfume in here or something? No. Oh, it smells really clean. The girls room. Yeah. So, it's very secure, right? Yes. Can see the bars on the outside and padlocks and everything. That's really great to see. So, how old are the girls that sleep here? Uh, from 19 to 12. Here is the smaller girls room where I do sleep with them. Oh, you sleep in here? M. And that's your bed?

Yes. Oh, wow. That's nice. So, you really look after them, eh? Yeah. So, you don't get paid to work here? Really? I'll leave the information down below because you know obviously people are working so hard here and volunteering their time and you know a little bit of a donation goes to all the operations of the orphanage and the school and then you know obviously trickles down to the people that make it possible. As you know, if you've followed this channel for a while, I've been to a lot of slums around the world and all different continents. And that was definitely one of the most positive that I've been to. And such a beautiful story of how it's changed. It's something so positive. I will leave the information

again cuz obviously there is still struggle, crime, and horrific things going on there, especially with the young girls and things. There's a Kber action uh bank account there that goes directly into the projects like the orphanage and the school and things. I'll leave that there and you can use companies like wise.com and worldre.com not affiliated at all. These are just tools that I use in Western Union and things can get it to these accounts if you're able to understand of course no pressure or anything. We're going to discover more of this insane city in the next video. So stay tuned for that. And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night from massive Nairobi here.