The past week has been filled with meetings, visits to Kibera, and personal explorations. This photograph illustrates where all the community peacebuilding work happens in Kibera. Women love to meet around the "watering hole" to do the wash and chatter about the upcoming elections. Different tribes meet here and quietly discuss how to bridge Tribal differences. Many women, when they marry here, marry into a Tribe that is not their own. Although at times initiators of violence (they sing songs that communicate that if the husband comes back without harming the other side, he is not welcome home), the impending election and memories of the violence in 2007, have put a stop to teh singing of these songs. Instead, according to my translator the women are advocating for peace.
The main pathway through Kibera is a railtrack that is still in use. In fact, while I was there, a train came, horn wailing to alert children playing, people walking, and vendors to move out of the way. There is a sense of strong community here despite theft, rape and murder. Like any city, people make their livings as best they can, and protect each other against violence.
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