| The Constant
Gardener
On location in Kibera
The opening scene of the Constant Gardener was filmed in Nairobi
at the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. Kibera is a sprawling
shantytown of approximately 600 acres with an estimated population
of 800,000 people (some say 1.2 million), most of whom live in makeshift
huts – and lacking sanitation, running water, and electricity.
 The
'streets' are a labyrinth of raised pathways and shallow trenches
winding among streams of raw sewage. The main drag is a working
railway line that bisects the shantytown. Residents set up shop
along the tracks, laying out anything of conceivable value to anyone.
Poverty in Kenya averages 56%, which means that 15 million people
live on around $0.80 a day; Kibera residents live on even less than
that. Hundreds of people walk along the road to the slum at the
beginning and end of every workday they are going to and from work
so as not to pay around 30 cents for bus fare.
In addition to the absence of even the most basic amenities, the
residents are severely afflicted by the AIDS epidemic; it is estimated
that one in six Kenyans is HIV-positive. As in all of sub-Saharan
Africa, the number of orphans in Kibera rises daily while the social
services needed to look after them are all but nonexistent.
"Africa will live within me because of a couple of very different
memories," says Fernando Meirelles, director of the Constant
Gardener. "There is the amazing landscape and the people who
warmly received us. It's such a beautiful place. But I can never,
and will never, forget the problems the continent has, which were
so much bigger than I was expecting. And what of their future? When
I think that one in six Kenyans is HIV-positive and it's not just
HIV, it's hepatitis, it's tuberculosis, and all kinds of illness
all over Africa... it's frightening. It's hard to have hope for
the future, and yet we must."
Oxfam has been working with communities in Kibera for many years
to help improve education and sanitation. View
some photographs of our work to improve sanitation and education
in the area.
|
act now
