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Change is inevitable. However, who gets to experience change when poverty is the accepted status quo? How can the tides of change move in favor of the poor? And what keeps everything from going back to the way things were before?
In Nairobi’s informal settlement of Mukuru, Jane Weru and Patrick Njoroge of Akiba Mashinani Trust must find answers to these questions while working alongside a community of 300,000 people living in poverty, without access to basic services and teetering on the brink of eviction.
Special thanks to Jane Weru, Patrick Njoroge and AMT- Akiba Mashinani Trust in Nairobi, Kenya.
Support for “A Common Pot” is provided by IDRC Canada.
Follow the Grassroots Justice Network on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @grassrootsjn, and share your thoughts with us by emailing community@namati.org.
Dorice Bosibori (Archival Tape) [00:00:01] My name is Dorice Bosibori. I live in Mukuru. I’ve lived in Mukuru now for 14 years. I joined Muungano wa Wanavijiji-
Jane Weru, AMT [00:00:12] Dorice hadn’t lived for long in Mukuru. She had come from her home village in Kisii. So she had come to Nairobi, almost like a new migrant from Kisii, which is more towards the western part of Kenya. So Doris comes to Nairobi and she is surprised by the living conditions in Nairobi because where she comes from, there may be many problems, but the problem is really not sanitation. So she comes and she finds that in this big city of many lights, sanitation is a big, big issue. And she is faced with indignities of being a woman in this area. And one of the things I remember Doris telling me is how when her family came to visit her from upcountry- And of course, they thought they are coming to Nairobi where things are bright and clean and new. And they came to her home and she had prepared, and she had cooked a beautiful meal for them. But after they had eaten, like is likely to happened to all of us, you need to go to the small room. And so they asked her, “Doris, can we use your small room?” So then she walked them through the settlement to the common bathroom that she had to pay for for every use. Now at nighttime, it is not possible to go to these paid toilets, because many times they close early. And even if you wanted to go, it is very unsafe for a woman to go. So, many women told us that they keep buckets or tin cans under the bed. And during the night, those are the tin cans they use. A Mukuru home is only one room and this room is small. It’s only ten by ten feet for a family of 3 or 4 people. So what does that mean? So as a woman, you really have to use your tin pot, your tin can in front of your children and your husband. It is a very humiliating experience, especially as a woman when you have your periods.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:02:56] Many of us don’t think twice when we go to the bathroom. And to talk about going to the bathroom can be taboo. But in the informal settlement of Mukuru in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi, it’s something that people, women especially, must think about constantly. Things like sanitation and access to water- the basic services that so many of us take for granted – that is where our story begins. In this episode, we go on a journey with the grassroots justice organization AMT- Akiba Mashinani Trust. What begins as an effort to prevent evictions and to keep people in their homes, soon grows into a massive participatory grassroots movement- an entire settlement of over 300,000 people organizing themselves and participating in a fight. Not only for their basic rights and services, but also for dignity and justice. I’m your host, Poorvi Chitalkar.
[INTRO STING]
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:04:07] This is A Common Pot, a podcast where we explore stories and recipes for social justice and systems change from around the world.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:04:27] I’m sorry. I keep forgetting. I keep forgetting to unmute.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:04:33] This is Jane.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:04:34] My name is Jane Weru. I work for Akiba Mashinani Trust, and I’m the executive director of the Trust.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:04:42] Akiba Mashinani Trust is located in Kenya. Their focus is on informal settlements. AMT has been working with the informal settlement of Mukuru in Nairobi for years now. They work closely with the larger social movement in Kenya called Muungano wa Wanavijiji. The movement emerged in the mid 1990s after a spike in forced evictions of informal settlements.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:05:07] My name is a Patrick Njoroge. I work with Akiba Mashinani Trust. I am the deputy director.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:05:13] That’s Patrick. Jane and Patrick are a powerhouse team. And when they talk about Mukuru, you can hear how closely they’ve both come to know the community.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:05:24] Mukuru is a very dense settlement. It has about 100,000 households living in about 689 acres of land. It is very dense and it has very few services. The road network is made up of mostly footpaths that connect with very, very few motorable roads. And one of the most amazing things is that a road is not always just a road. So if you go to Mukuru at around 6 p.m. in the evening, Mukuru is abuzz. It is abuzz with mothers coming from work stopping by the food kiosks to buy vegetables. Young bachelor men buying cooked chapati along Chapati Road. And you can imagine the aroma of chapatis cooking on the street. It is full of children as they come home from school. They are playing- they are playing ball. Others are cycling along the newly paved roads that are in Mukuru. Some are even skating. So the roads in Mukuru are not just a place where public transport moves from place to place. They are a public space in which children play and they’re used in different ways, at different times. So as it gets darker in the evening, you find old men moving out of their houses with their chairs, which they place in the middle of the road because nobody uses the roads at night. Nobody has their own private vehicles. So immediately the public transport stops moving. The road becomes the evening sitting room for the old. And they talk and they chant. And the children continue talking. And as you sit there, you can hear people cheering, “Man[chester] United on the other side and the clapping of hands. And you can also smell the whiff of unclean drains. So it’s a mixture of good and bad. But it is home to the people of Mukuru. It is a vibrant- it is a living settlement that is full of hope.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:07:38] Mukuru was initially government owned land. It was supposed to be used for industrial purposes. And so the land was leased out on a type of long term lease. These leases were given to favored industrialists and other people who had connections to power. The terms were clear. Develop the land within two years, or give it back to the government so someone else can develop it. However, the land never got developed, but those who had the long term leases held on to them. Meanwhile, semipermanent structures were built instead and landlords began to make money off residents moving in. Today, the 689 acres of Mukuru is filled with over 100,000 households. And then, in 2012, a group of men came to the AMT office in Nairobi. Jane was there and remembers the day.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:08:32] And they came and they told us that they had been informed that if they did not buy the land in which they lived, they would have to leave. So they asked us whether we could lend them, because we run a small fund- whether we could lend them some money to buy the land. And we said, “Yeah, probably.” So we started negotiations.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:08:55] However, before they could finalize the deal…
Jane Weru, AMT [00:08:58] We had another and another group of people coming to us with the same request from the same area. So we realized we had a structural problem on our hands and that we really needed first to work with the residents to prevent evictions. We mobilized people to demonstrate against evictions. And eventually we managed to get an order- a temporary injunction- against the evictions, working closely with Katiba Institute.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:09:30] But this was just a bandaid on a much larger issue, because Mukuru isn’t just a vibrant community. It is also a valuable piece of land.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:09:40] The value of the land in Mukuru has gone up exceedingly. Today, an acre of land costs at least about $1 million. That’s not a little money, especially in Africa. And so there’s high demand to push the people who live in Mukuru out of the land. And for many years we’ve been fighting for this land to remain in the hands of the poor.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:10:08] So imagine this: you’re experiencing poverty and you’re currently living on a piece of land where you’re constantly being threatened with eviction from your landlord. Meanwhile, you still have to keep the lights on and pay your bills, and to make sure that you don’t give anyone any further excuses to kick you out. And on top of that, your fellow citizens and your own government have some pretty big misconceptions about who you are and your value to society.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:10:36] I think many people think that informal settlement dwellers just sponge off the city and that they do not pay for services. But this is not true. Informal settlement dwellers pay way more for way less and much poorer quality than everybody else does within the city of Nairobi. What happens, and the reason why they pay way more than everybody else, is that the state is absent. This vacuum is filled by middlemen. In Nairobi, we call them cartels.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:11:13] These cartels steal services from the state, including utilities such as water and electricity. Then they sell those utilities to people living in informal settlements at prices that are roughly twice as much as what the rest of Nairobi’s residents pay. It’s what they call-
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:11:31] The poverty penalty.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:11:34] Patrick breaks down just how this poverty penalty works.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:11:39] For instance, water. Water in Mukuru is normally sold in 20 liter jerrycans. So a jerrycan of water in Mukuru will sell for about 5 to 20 shillings, for the 20-litre jerrycan. If you are to buy the same amount from the utility company, the same quantity for the 20 litres, you’ll pay about $0.60. So that means they pay in Mukuru are paying between about four shillings to about 19 shillings more than the rest of the city.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:12:20] Jane, Patrick and the team at AMT realized that they had a larger question to ask themselves, if they were going to take on the poverty penalty that so many people in Mukuru had fallen prey to.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:12:31] Who actually owns Mukuru? Who runs this place? How is the place governed? And how is it linked to both state agencies and informal leaders?
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:12:48] Jane and Patrick are members of the Grassroots Justice Network. In this network, practitioners use research to answer such questions and use the evidence to drive change. Through their research, they came up with all this information on how the cartels’ schemes were siphoning utilities from the state, and how it wasn’t just the residents of Mukuru who were losing money. The Nairobi city government was also losing money.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:13:13] Using this research, we approached the Nairobi City County, and we told Nairobi City County, “Are you aware that this happens within the city?” And they said, “No.” And when we shared the data about the poverty penalty than the residents of Mukuru face, they were shocked because they believe that informal settlement dwellers don’t pay for services. So that’s when they asked us, “So what can we do to resolve this challenge?”
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:13:45] Then, I think luckily, Jane, having the legal background, said, “Let’s go and figure out something and we’ll come and give you an answer.” And we then proposed: we went Mukuru to be declared a Special Planning Area.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:13:58] And that if they declared Mukuru as a Special Planning Area, we would begin the journey of working with the residents to look for common solutions to the challenges that they faced.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:14:11] And the county said, “Okay, then let’s do that.”
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:14:14] This is the crux of legal empowerment: combining the power of law with the power of people. In this case, AMT used a legal provision that was already on the books to declare a Special Planning Area. And the coupled that with community organizing. But what is a Special Planning Area?
Jane Weru, AMT [00:14:32] In Kenyan law, county governments can declare an area that has special development opportunities or challenges as a Special Planning Area. Once declared as a Special Planning Area, county governments are required to develop plans for the redevelopment of that area that take into consideration the unique opportunities and challenges that that particular area faces.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:15:00] And so, it was up to AMT and their partners to convince the government that not only should Mukuru be declared an SPA, it should be declared an SPA for the purposes of developing the land for the existing residents, a majority of whom were living in poverty. How did AMT convince the government to pay attention?
Jane Weru, AMT [00:15:20] I think, first of all, was the realization that- of the numbers. I think they were surprised that so many people lived in this area. And then the realization that you cannot evict 100,000 households. You can’t just wake up one morning and bulldoze 100,000 households. So this was kind of like a done deal. This problem wasn’t going to go away. And they needed to begin to resolve it. I think the second also were the public health risks to the city, because almost every year, Mukuru would have an outbreak of cholera. And Mukuru is situated very near the airport. And so it was- I think the government realized that it was a huge reputational risk waiting to happen.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:16:22] AMT also knew the value of Mukuru, economically speaking, from the research and calculations that they had done on how much these cartels and so-called slumlords were making off the residents living there.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:16:35] I think, you know, just the idea when you see an informal settlement, you just think poverty! No money! But they realize, no, this is a vibrant area. This has a vibrant economy. And we just shared 94% of the people who live in Mukuru are tenants and they pay rent to slumlords. And in Mukuru at that time, they were paying around 2000 shillings per a ten-by-ten shack…with no services. So if you do your math, the slumlords were collecting tax-free almost at that time, $2 million every month in rents.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:17:17] Essentially instead of cartels and slumlords making money, the government realized that they could be making that money instead. But AMT wasn’t holding meetings with government officials in back offices to make these arguments. Although they used their legal knowledge and training wherever possible to propose ideas, they also wanted to make sure that this was a fight led by the people of Mukuru.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:17:41] I think also was something that also- that also helped, is the persistence that the community and the organizations supporting the community had in their quest for changes. We would do every other day a demo, whether to the county or to the ministry, and would walk from- from Mukuru to the central business district where the county offices are. It’s about like six kilometers. They would walk, come and share their demands.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:18:15] And they even had a song.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:18:18] They see as and closed the doors because they were- we have a Swahili song that, “If you see them, please close the doors!” You know, I won’t sing because I’m bad at singing. Jane, remind me the tune! What the kids used to say?
Jane Weru, AMT [00:18:35] [Singing in Swahili]
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:18:41] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:18:44] [Singing in Swahili] Funga milango wanakuja.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:18:49] Yeah!
Jane Weru, AMT [00:18:51] It means, “Close the doors. They’re coming!”
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:18:58] In 2017, Mukuru was declared a Special Planning Area. It was a big win and the result of a multi-pronged approach. But in the world of grassroots justice advocacy, big wins are often just the start. From here, a planning process had to be drawn up. And in order to make decisions on how the conditions in Mukuru would be improved, people themselves needed to get involved and stay involved. AMT didn’t want passive participation from the people of Mukuru. Instead, they saw this as an opportunity to transform the way that community participation was done and decisions were made. And so they got to work.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:19:44] One of the things that happened after Mukuru was declared a Special Planning Area is that we realized that we needed data and information as a basis for planning. And so we worked closely with the residents of Mukuru to count every single house and to map every single toilet and to identify every single water point. And from this research, we established that there were only 3,500 pit latrines in Mukuru, serving a population over three- of over 300,000 people. So roughly about a thousand people per toilets. And so we started talking to the women and asking them, So what does it really mean to not have a toilet?
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:20:47] And this is where Doris comes in. The same woman from earlier who Jane knew, the woman who had to break the news to her houseguests that there was no bathroom that was remotely close to her house. Doris was a community activist and a leader in Mukuru. She was a member of a women’s collective that rallied together long before the SPA process even began.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:21:10] So we said, let’s walk with women. Let’s mobilize women. When a woman speaks to some people, we always listen.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:21:18] And the women to start with were quite shy. They didn’t want to talk about this openly. But over time we said: you know something? If there’s a failing, it is not our failing. It is not our fault that we have this problem. And so we must begin to talk openly about these issues. And the women said to not have a toilet that is accessible as a woman is a big challenge, because the only toilets that that were available to most of the women were paid toilets where you- you have to go and pay for every use. It also provides dignity- dignity and just a sense of self-worth, because there are things you should never be forced to do in front of others. So they said they wanted- because not all plots had toilets. Very few, in fact, had toilets. So they said they wanted a toilet that is connected to the sewer in every plot, so that they are able to go to the toilet if and where they needed to go. So that is what the women said. And that’s why we said this is something that cannot wait. And the women said, “We are too pressed to wait.”
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:22:38] The “Too Pressed to Wait” campaign targeted the Kenyan government’s public health department. The women demanded two things. One, that an inquiry be set up on the public health conditions in Mukuru. And two, that a planning process be put in place to address these public health challenges. The wheels of community participation were now in motion. And AMT was paving the way.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:23:02] The declaration happened. The county said, we have to- to do integrated development plans and these development plans have to be anchored along the county departments and the different thematic areas along the county departments.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:23:16] Eight consortia were created. Seven to focus on big issue areas: education, health, environment, water, sanitation, land and also issues of planning and infrastructure. The eighth consortium developed the community organizing structure and started training community members. Muungano Alliance, which included AMT, Muungano wa Wanavijiji and Slum Dwellers International, worked closely with this consortium.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:23:48] I think many times we ask ourselves, how do we organize in a big amorphous area like Mukuru? And for us, I think just the realization is that you must begin to organize based on how people are already living and how people are already structured, because there’s a certain logic that exists in the way people even plan their homes and the way they organize their living spaces. So that the basis for organizing within work is therefore based on the way people have built their settlement, the plot, the household and the plot. And this means that even at your plot level, through this organizing system, you begin to know your neighbor. Your neighbor is no longer for a foreigner, it’s somebody that you discuss and you work with, because you have to discuss about who cleans the toilet tomorrow, because it is one toilet being shared by ten people. Who will clean the toilet tomorrow?
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:24:58] It’s also important to note here, AMT and their partners weren’t just working with one large informal settlement. Technically, Mukuru is made up of three settlements.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:25:09] So you have Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, and Mukuru Viwandani.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:25:15] Okay, you are now about to hear a bunch of numbers. What’s important to remember is the scale. AMT is working with 100,000 households and 300,000 people and they want to make sure that everyone can participate meaningfully. That requires creating a system. To create an organized system with equal distribution among the villages, AMT divided the whole of Mukuru into 13 segments, each segment holding about 8000 households.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:25:47] How do you then, within that segment, then develop a structure that then is able to create representation for people who can’t speak on behalf of the rest of the communities? So then we started again within each segment, we’d go back to the household level. So in Mukuru, as Jane had mentioned, it’s- we have courtyards of ten houses on average. So that what you call, if you go to Mukuru, you find people saying that’s a plot of ten houses. So we would take data of all the people within those courtyards. And courtyard members of households there would select someone who can be their representative. Then these courtyards, ten of them, will join together and form a cluster of 100 households. So these clusters were areas where communities would come together and start discussing the issues that affect them.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:26:45] So for every 100 households also known as a “cluster,” there were ten representatives attending meetings to discuss issues. And then one representative would be chosen to go further up to the segment level and represent the cluster. And the community mobilizers- the people we talked about earlier who were receiving training- they would help implement this whole organized approach.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:27:10] So that is how then the community was able to feel they participated in this process, because they structured it to give everyone an opportunity to contribute. And the views that were given at the segment level were not individual views, but views of the community at the cluster level had discussed and agreed upon.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:27:31] It was exciting to see community members feel ownership and responsibility towards Mukuru, but this process was not without its roadblocks. The process disrupted the status quo for those who had held power for so long, in particular the cartels and the landlords who had charged exorbitant prices for services.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:27:52] Yeah, it was not easy, especially because you’re dealing with a lot of people. So when the Declaration happened, I think to some people, to a majority of the people, it was a good thing. But to some that felt that we need to not celebrate, we need to fight it. And I think the first challenge that was in this process was the misinformation.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:28:15] For example, to facilitate data collection, community mobilizers would help paint numbers on each of the doors to track houses. But then structure owners would get their own paint and paint over these numbers, trying to thwart the data collection process. But then…
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:28:32] Then after like three months, the same structure owners called us and told us- says, “Patrick and Kimani- and Kim.” They used to call him Kim. “So, I know we painted over the numbers that you had given to our households, and we have really thought about this in SPA idea. Now we think it’s a good thing. Can you come back in to do the numbers for us so that we don’t feel like-” because they thought that maybe they would lose. So can you come re-do the numbers?” So, it was a process.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:29:04] But not all challenges worked themselves out as naturally. Sometimes there were real risks to people’s safety.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:29:11] For instance, there was one meeting we held in one of the settlements- called the Viwandani settlement. And we are holding our meetings, with the mobilizers. And as we’re doing that, a group of guys from the community led by youths came and stormed the meeting and started saying, “You guys have to leave this place and we don’t want to see you again.” I even got text messages from one of the leaders saying, “We have heard what you are doing. Take this as a warning. I don’t want to see you back in Mukuru.”
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:29:47] But the stakes were too high and the community wasn’t going to give up the fight. They knew that there was power in numbers and they stood together. They also drew inspiration from historic struggles for freedom and justice in Kenya, which bolstered their courage for this one.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:30:04] Really, because we had- we had majority of the community on our side, and we would brainstorm with the community mobilizers. We know it’s- this is going to be risky. But what we’d say, of course, the other person would have a bit of fear, but what we all agreed is that, “Let’s all come together.” So they would even say- give examples like in the Kenyan struggle for independence. “We had a very small group of Mau Mau fighters. So let us also be like that group. I want to be remembered as a person who made a change.” So I think that kind of group support really helped us and everyone to continue. You give each other motivation and encouragement that it’s all going to be fine if we stick together.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:30:51] And despite all of these challenges, Patrick and Jane started to see some real successes in Mukuru. They had managed to mobilize the community and get them invested in the planning process. They had also convinced the government that a community led planning process was the right way to go. These successes were hard fought, and they didn’t want the momentum to just fizzle out. They had to make sure that the community stayed invested and the government stuck to its promises.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:31:20] Before the 2022 election, the community of Mukuru said that they need to hold their leaders accountable. They need to have to sign an agreement with them. And they asked us, Akiba Mashinani [Trust] – AMT – and they asked us to help them facilitate the discussions that can help them develop a manifesto. And the role of this manifesto was to ensure that the community can speak in one voice and can bring together all the issues that they wanted addressed by the incoming leaders. So the community held a meeting per segments, and they got views from the community. And then one of these views is then, most of them really wanted the plans that they developed that were touching on every area to be plans that can be continuously be implemented by the incoming leaders. And the people of Mukuru developed what we call the Mukuru People’s Manifesto that articulated all the issues. Then they held town hall meetings with all aspiring leaders, “You have to sign if you want us to work with you, you have to sign this manifesto and promise to work on these issues as highlighted in the manifesto.” And each leader signed the manifesto.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:32:42] Government leaders at all levels were feeling the pressure to sign on and support Mukuru’s community-led development plans.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:32:50] And the moment that the implementation started, and you see the President coming to Mukuru almost on a daily basis, during COVID-
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:32:57] Just to be clear, we’re talking about the President of Kenya.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:33:01] So the President would go there every other week to check the progress. And the fact that the President said, “Let us start implementing Mukuru, and have it as an example that can be used for the rest of the informal settlements in the country. I think then you feel after the struggle, after a lot of years of working, at least something has happened finally that is able to impact the community and at least community can start getting what they had- they are requesting.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:33:34] Yeah, definitely. I think the Mukuru SPA is something that is talked about a lot here in Kenya, an appreciation that this is a different way of doing things.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:33:50] And remember Dorice, the beginning of our story?
Jane Weru, AMT [00:33:54] So today I am happy to say that Dorice, who was one of the pioneers of this movement, has a toilet. She is one of the beneficiaries of water and sanitation campaign. And today she does have a toilet.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:34:13] And it helps that AMT continues to maintain a sense of urgency with a clear vision for the future. Even though the people of Mukuru now have more access to basic services, there are many other issues that remain. Issues that, if they’re left unaddressed, will continue to impose a penalty for those experiencing poverty.
Jane Weru, AMT [00:34:33] Yeah, I think the Mukuru people- the land question, the land challenge in Mukuru still needs to be resolved. And I think it needs to be resolved quickly. And so that- because there are some things that the Mukuru people will find difficult to access. Mukuru has six schools, six public schools, against 150 informal schools. And these public schools only take 10,000 kids. And there are about 50,000 kids that are not accounted for. Nobody knows whether they’re going to school, or they’re not. So it is imperative that the land question is resolved and the schools are put in place. Otherwise, we are really caught in intergenerational poverty. A big, big challenge to Kenya.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:35:32] At its core, this whole story is about building power within the community. And AMT has learned that the agency and power that the community has built during this process not only stays with them, but multiplies over time.
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:35:47] What we did was, for instance, the training of the community mobilizers and the community mobilizers then use the information they have to reach out to their fellow communities and share that. And that goes on mulitplying. And we have seen that how that works with how communities are able to mobilize resources to do things on their own, because of the information and experience they got. You have community then working for organizations, out of being a community mobilizer to someone at our organization saying, “We want to work with you.” And I’ve even seen also government, like, for instance, during the census, the community mobilizers were the ones who the government would say, “These are the guys who used to collect data.” They become the enumerators for government during census. I think for me, one of the strategies is where you support the communities to empower them to take action on their own. So you create the community agency that helps them to understand their issues and through that understanding, be able to help them organize and help them mobilize and organize their- their fellow community members. And together develop a shared vision that together, all of them can rally around. I think for me, because at the end of the day, an organization is just an outsider. At the end of the day, the people who should push for the changes they seek at the end of the day, is the community.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:37:21] This podcast is about stories and recipes for systems change. And so we asked Jane and Patrick if you had to choose a real recipe, a dish that represents the essence of the struggle for social justice and community participation in Mukuru, what would it be?
Patrick Njoroge, AMT [00:37:37] I think the dish that represents our story is githeri, and githeri is a food that is a mixture of beans and maize. And why githeri? It’s because githeri takes time to cook. So, you have to boil beans and maize. It can even take four hours, five hours, six hours before it cooks. But when it cooks, you also need to- that’s not the end of it. You can eat githeri just as you boil it. Once you boil it, you can just eat it. But you can continuously make it nice. And add other ingredients, spices to make it better. So as it is, you can eat it, but you can always improve it and make different dishes out of it. That makes it- you can add like cabbages, carrots. If you have some meat, you can add it to it. So, I think that’s why we feel that, because the struggle takes time. When you’re cooking githeri, most people will sometimes use firewood, so it’s smoky.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:38:44] Patrick says that the githeri can cause people to cry, because as it cooks over the fire, the smoke from the burning wood will cause you to tear up. But at the end of the day, you have a hearty meal that’s not just for yourself. All that time cooking over the fire, all the adjustments of ingredients. It’s all worth it. Because the beauty of githeri is that it’s a meal to enjoy with your family, with your community.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:39:41] This episode was hosted by me Poorvi Chitalkar. Our managing producer is Jackie Sofia. Audio engineering and sound design by Mohamad Khreizat. Editorial support by Marta Almela Menjón and the Namati Communications team. Additional support by Anuradha Joshi. A very special thanks to Jane Weru, Patrick Njoroge, and the Akiba Mashinani Trust for sharing their story. Thanks also to Canada’s International Development Research Centre, whose support makes this work possible. A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes of Grassroots Justice, is a production of Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network. To join the network head to w-w-w dot GrassrootsJusticeNetwork dot org and follow us on social media: on YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook @GrassrootsJN.