Oxfam in Kenya - facing up to the threat of eviction
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A meeting of paralegal workers who are fighting for
land reform and to stop the eviction of the urban poor
Photo: Crispin Hughes/Oxfam |
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Squeezed between the leafy suburbs and the centre of Kenya’s
capital, Nairobi, are overcrowded shanties which grow by the day
as people move to the city in search of work. The shanties have
few services, and people living there risk being evicted at any
moment.
Rachel Mungano describes what it was like to be evicted: "Whenever
the government came, I had to move. I had children but I had nowhere
to settle properly; it didn’t matter whether it was raining
or fine, we had no home. Finally when I moved into this house, I
said ‘I will fight’. At Muungano we are taught how to
bring people together to fight for our right for a place to live
without using violence."
"The evictions are usually very violent," says Lawrence
Opuyo, a community development worker. "People are even killed."
Lawrence works for an Oxfam-funded network of community groups called
Muungano Wa Wanavijiji. They provide legal advice and assistance
to people who are forced from their homes, and they are helping
people to fight for their rights. "It is by coming together
that you have the beginning of power," continues Lawrence.
"Since we started, not as many evictions have taken place."
Introduction
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