Slum Rebuilt

A few weeks ago I posted some pictures from some slums near where we live that had been burnt down. 

Yesterday, I went back to see how the rebuilding was getting along The rebuilding was complete, I could find just one place that hadn't been rebuilt, and life was back to normal. 

As you can see, many houses reused their burnt tin walls replacing with new tin only the roofs. There were still some workmen putting up some electricity cables; many slum homes have un-metered electricity provided by the landlord at a flat fee.

Other than the burnt tin walls, the only other evidence of the fire was the channel that had been dug to drain the water from putting out the fire which ended up having a lot of ash in it.

It is not really a surprise that a community built of tin shacks got built so quickly, but it was done without government intervention. I heard a rumour that the local MP, known as Sonko, a  colourful figure in Kenya's parliament and suspected drug trafficker (I probably should have mentioned that earlier) convinced the residents of the slum to refuse government handouts and let him pay for the rebuilding: well, there is an election next year!

PS This isn't Kibera, there are no international NGO's working here, Lenny Henry won't come here to tell you that living here is 'like living in hell'.