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Mathare Valley
Mathare Valley is one of the largest slums surrounding Nairobi,
the capital city of Kenya, and its population is estimated around
250.000 to 300.000 inhabitants. The valley used to be a stone
quarry, which is still visible in the morphology of the area, owned
by Indian businessmen during colonial times and it was sold to
several real estate-cooperatives around 1964. Hundreds of people
had already settled there as illegal squatters on the verge of
independence in 1963 when several exhausted sites of the quarry
closed down. They migrated from rural areas either in search of
employment in the nearby city centre or as displaced people after
being chased away from the ‘white’ settler farms.
Mathare Valley is three kilometres away from Nairobi city centre
and is located in the Eastlands area. The Eastlands area is
notorious for its high crime rate and low-income families and within
Eastlands Mathare Valley stands out particularly. Mathare Valley
is more than other slum communities in the Eastlands area a
concentration of crime, poverty and deprivation. It is at the same
time a centre of activity, energy and creativity.
The absolute extremes and the rawness that characterise Mathare
are very much overwhelming when you first visit this slum as an
outsider.
It feels like walking into a pressure cooker of life.
the capital city of Kenya, and its population is estimated around
250.000 to 300.000 inhabitants. The valley used to be a stone
quarry, which is still visible in the morphology of the area, owned
by Indian businessmen during colonial times and it was sold to
several real estate-cooperatives around 1964. Hundreds of people
had already settled there as illegal squatters on the verge of
independence in 1963 when several exhausted sites of the quarry
closed down. They migrated from rural areas either in search of
employment in the nearby city centre or as displaced people after
being chased away from the ‘white’ settler farms.
Mathare Valley is three kilometres away from Nairobi city centre
and is located in the Eastlands area. The Eastlands area is
notorious for its high crime rate and low-income families and within
Eastlands Mathare Valley stands out particularly. Mathare Valley
is more than other slum communities in the Eastlands area a
concentration of crime, poverty and deprivation. It is at the same
time a centre of activity, energy and creativity.
The absolute extremes and the rawness that characterise Mathare
are very much overwhelming when you first visit this slum as an
outsider.
It feels like walking into a pressure cooker of life.