Nutmeg Radio

Not too far from Nairobi’s City Centre lies Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa.  Unfortunately, it has been incredibly difficult to accurately determine the number of residents in large slums across the developing world.  The estimate is that Kibera houses anywhere from 600,000 to 1.2 million residents (and I use the term “houses” loosely) in a space of approximately 2.5 square kilometers (or 1.5 square miles). As a side note, Map Kibera (www.mapkibera.org) is an interesting new project in Kibera to start to map the area and start to provide some order in a relatively chaotic area.  That this project is necessary in a place with the population of many major cities attests to the level of disorganization that ails slums in developing nations.

For anyone fortunate enough to live in above average conditions, walking through Kibera or areas like it is a must.  Spending time talking to residents and learning about the conditions that they have become accustomed to inevitably makes you question comfort, relative privilege, and the arbitrary privileges that are bestowed on those lucky enough to be born in the developed, stable locations.

It’s the type of place you want to send all those kids from MTV’s My Sweet Sixteen.  As a matter of fact, all reality show casts should be required to spend time in places like Kibera so they can get some perspective.

Founded in 2001 by Rye Barcott, Carolina for Kibera (CFK) began as a community-based sports program to help prevent ethnic and religious violence in Kibera.  Barcott, together with Salim Mohamed who was managing the Information and Management Department at Mathare Youth Sports Association (which is an organization that requires its own write up and will get it), started off with with a small grant from the Ford Foundation.  One of the programs that took off is the CFK Youth Sports Program that addresses ethnic violence, youth unemployment, and public health.  The program brings together young boys and girls of different ethnicities to play football and requires teams to be ethnically diverse.  They also run the only all girls football tournament in Kibera.

In order to participate in these programs, participants must follow a code of conduct and give back to their community through garbage clean-ups and public service initiatives run by the kids.  Since 2003, over 5,000 youth in Kibera have participated in CFK’s programs.

CFK is just another example of the many organizations across the globe using football for good.  You can learn more about CFK’s work at cfk.unc.edu.