Humans of Kibera (HOK), born on Tumblr to tell unique stories of people living in Kibera slum from their own perspective, is now growing!
Following the current trends in social media in Kenya, the program has been recently introduced on Instagram under the Map Kibera account!
Follow us also on Instagram to get to know
the Humans of Kibera and their personal unique stories!
Thanks to these studies it is possible to create training programs that help rejuvenate the heart and keep it healthy. If you want to see the results for yourself, don’t wait for old age. It is not possible to change the state of health of the cardiovascular system in a month or even in a year. Currently, scientists say it takes at least 2 years of training for the heart to be rejuvenated.
“Many stories matter.
Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize.
Stories can break the dignity of a people.
But stories can also repair that broken dignity.“
Kibera News Network has been training youth from Kibera on citizen journalism and videomaking since March. The group of trainees is composed of 9 youth between 18 and 22 years old, and it’s well gender-balanced (5 females and 4 males). The training has already touched both theoretical and practical topics, such as citizen journalism and reporting, journalism ethics, scriptwriting and creation of news stories, camerawork, video making, editing, and sound.
KNN trainees during a theoretical session on citizen journalism
KNN trainees on a field training session
KNN trainees on a field training session
KNN trainees on a video editing session
Through a mixed approach of theoretical training and practical fieldwork, group and individual assignments, and working closely with the trainers, the trainees are now able to develop simple news stories from crafting the idea to the publishing part. From January, KNN has published in total 21 stories, 10 of which were produced entirely by the trainees alone. Out of the total, 3 are the investigative stories that have been published.
With the aim of aligning our mapping work with the reporting work by focusing on the same topics, a group of trainees has incorporated a hard copy of the security map developed by Map Kibera in 2017 in a video on security issues in the slum: “Is it security or insecurity in Kibera?â€. The inclusion of geographic information and maps will therefore continue with the experimentation of new embedding techniques in the videos.
As part of the training, the trainees have been encouraged to participate in external free workshops on photography organized in Nairobi by CANON East Africa. Knowing also the importance of mentorship and inspiration in the education process, they have also received a one-day motivational talk at Map Kibera’s office from Jacob Otieno Omollo, head of photography and senior editor at Standard Media Group, and Stafford Ondego, sports photographer and founder of SportPicha. Mentorship has then continued with insight on investigative journalism with John-Allan Namu, investigative reporter and co-founder of the independent media house Africa Uncensored.
Jacob Otieno Omollo on his mentorship session
KNN trainees and trainers with the two mentors: Jacob Otieno Omollo and Stafford Ondego.
KNN trainees and a trainer with John-Allan Namu.
Moreover, at Map Kibera and KNN, we recognize the value of continuous and periodical assessment of both trainees and trainers. On one hand, the trainers are evaluating both soft skills (teamworking, commitment, general behavior, etc.) and technical competences acquired during the training, through individual assessments and feedback sessions, periodical group reviews of the videos produced by them, and a written exam paired with a field assignment in couples in July. The trainees have been given also a handbook with training material developed by the trainers themselves.
KNN trainees and two trainers with the handbook
KNN trainees during a review session
KNN trainees during their theoretical exam
On the other hand, feedback from the trainees have been collected, both in individual and in group sessions, in order to evaluate the trainers, the training approach and methodology.
“I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.â€
Tom Stoppard
It was on the dawn of 12th March, around 3 am, that Kibera residents woke up to the news that one of the largest markets in Nairobi, Kibera’s Toi market, was on fire.
Most of the traders come from a bit far from the market and so they could not rescue a lot of their goods and ended up losing almost all their properties to the fire.
Those who live in the neighboring villages came together to try and put out the fire using any means they could, including having to literally walk with water buckets to and from the sources of water. One Ramsha Dee Maunda even posted a picture of himself with fire injuries after spending time trying to help put off the fire.
There was heavy presence of the General Service Unit of The Police guarding the market that morning and no one, not even the traders, were allowed to access the market and there was  no explanation given for that, many people were left guessing what the reason for that could be.
Relief came when the former Prime Minister came to speak to the affected traders and, together with the County Government of Nairobi, stepped in and offered iron sheets to help in rebuilding the structures and also help in restructuring their business lives all over again.
According to the traders we interviewed, the iron sheets, worth five million, were still not enough aid to help them restart their businesses again, and most of them turned to money lending institutions to be able to rise again from the ashes and make things work for them.
The market is so far taking back its former shape and glory and very soon, according to most traders, things will be fully back to normal.
“We are only requesting the customers to come back because the market is now operational,” summarizes Mr. Fredrick Mutinda, trader at Toi Market.
