"Neema" in Kiswahili means "human work with God's blessing"
Nairobi slums Kenya is classified at the 152 position in the Human Development Index (UNDP Report 2006). The World bank has ranked Kenya as one of the four most unequal countries in the world, with the wealth and income skewed in favour of the rich. 50% of Kenyans live below poverty line.
Nairobi is an example of a city experiencing rapid urbanization and its subsequent dramatic effects. It’s population has been consistently increasing, rising from below 120.000 in 1948 to 3 million in 2003 (UNHABITAT). The projections indicate that the city will continue to grow at the same fast pace in the near future. Most of the growth of Nairobi city is a result of rural-urban migration. Between 1971 and 1995, the number of informal settlement villages (slums) within the Nairobi divisional boundaries rose from 50 to 134, while the estimated total population of these settlements increased from 167.000 to some 1.886.000 individuals in 2003. These settlements tend to be marginal, located in marshy areas, near railway lines and next to dumping sites. Slum population is poor, unemployed and has no access to health, education and opportunities for skills development. The average monthly income of one family in the slums is about KShs. 1.500 (Euro 18) and more than half of families consist of single women with one or more children.
Disease is a permanent condition for slum population. Lack of access to essential obstetric prevention and care services is a crucial factor that contributes to high maternal and infant mortality in the urban slums and high incidence of children congenital disabilities related to unassisted pregnancy and delivery. In urban slums the median age at first sex is 12 years, and the slums female adolescents are the most vulnerable to early pregnancies, HIV infection and STIs.