Slum Ministry: Justice and Peace and Human Rights
Kibera Christ the King Human Rights Office

The Office of Human Rights (OHR) was started in 1998 to take care of the legal aspects and legal problems of the inhabitants of Kibera. Its main aim is to respond to the specific needs related to Human Rights and to offer legal advise to Christ the King parishioners and broader Kibera community.

The Office of Human Rights provides education and awareness rising on human and legal rights with particular emphasis in areas of good governance, civic education, land, children rights, rights of accused, workers rights, etc.

Sine its beginning it has had a strong emphasis on Civic Education in the small Christian communities of the Parish and the H.R. office has played an important role in creating awareness of their rights among the people of Kibera.

Civic Education in Kibera
The OHR works at the grass roots level through the small Christian communities and groups within Kibera by planning specific actions such as prayers, campaigns, peaceful demonstrations and by developing courses on different issues, e.g. children's rights, family rights, etc.

Civic Education on the National Referendum 2005
on the Kenyan Constitution
The Christ the King -Kibera Human Rights Office made a campaign on civic education to prepare kenyans for the National Referendum.

"The Church, according to the Catholic Bishops of Kenya, is not only the "Conscience of Society", but also the educator of society's conscience". Catholic civic education is the ongoing provess of increasing awareness about a citizen's rights and duties as well as helping the growth of a commom commitment towards greater solidarity. this involves informing citizens about clear moral principles, training them to acquire intellectual and social skills and - the more difficult part - transforming mentalities and attitudes.

The Catholic Church has accompanined this process by repeatedly providing a clear set of guiding principles thus far.

The booklet "Understanding your Constitution" was the main instrument used in the civic education. The main body of this booklet is a comparison between the Draft Constitution of Kenya, accepted by the Kenya National Conference at the Bomas of Kenya, 15 March 2004, and the Draft Constitution of Kenya presented for a Referendum to Kenyans by the Attorney General, Amos Wako, August 2005.

The booklet enable the readers to judge for themselves where the "Wako Draft" proposes constitutional reforms Kenyans longed for or else old values put in a "new wineskin".

Legal Aid and Conflict Resolutions
Activities in this area include Legal advice, Mediation, Alternative conflict resolutions, Counselling, referrals.

Most of the clients looking for legal aid are cases of workers rights, inheritance, women's and children's rights and problems between tenants and owners of the houses.

Advocacy
This area has three main components:

• At grass root level advocacy is done within the existing community infrastructures to advocate for change in the structures and policies that are detrimental to the community and prevent their access to rights.
• At national level, the office collaborates with other organizations to support national campaigns that lobby for positive change on issues affecting the slum dwellers.
• At international level, the office liaises with appropriate groups both locally and internationally especially on issues of land and housing, evictions and slum upgrading.

A msall resource centre of materials on human rights, violence and legal issues is established within the office. The materials collected enavle the office to plan effective programmes. Some materials are translated in Kiswahili to increase awareness to the community.

Capacity Building
The Office aims at building the capacity of community members, partners and staff.

The trainig focuses on:

• Organizing and facilitating meetings, creating awareness and holding seminars with the aim of educating parishioners and other key stakeholders in Kibera and those living in the informal settlements.
• Providing legal representation for deserbing clients and where necessary, referring these clients to volunteer advocates or NGO's who are able to respond to their legal problems.
• The Office of Human Rights also aims at seeking out experiences for staff members to further develop their skills. Internal and external training will allow staff to participate in professional dialogues to share their work and learn from others.

Campaign against chang'aa in Kibera

Every morning between 5.00 and 6.00 vehicles bring jerricans filled with chang'aa into Kibera. While chang'aa is illegal, it is manufactured and sold in large quantities in the slum areas of Nairobi. The local drink is highly toxic and often laced with poisonous substances to increase its potency. Chang'aa is the favoured brew for the poor because it is cheap, available and leads to immediate intoxication, People drink chang'aa out of despair and hopelessness. Not surprisingly, chang'aa is the source of many of our problems in Kibera.

This illegal brew has caused an increase in HIV/AIDS, poverty, unemployment, crime, domestic violence, loss of dignity, illness and even death.
In May of 2003, parishioners at Christ the King Catholic Church - Kibera, launched a campaign against chang'aa called "Kibera United Against Chang'aa, Kibera United for life." The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness about the dangers of chang'aa and to ask the government to enforce the laws that prohibit the manufacture and sale of chang'aa.

In November of that year, the parish sponsored a talent show in which over 50 Kibera musicians performed original songs that addressed the theme of chang'aa. ]he judges, internationally recognized musicians Eric Wainaina, Suzzana Owiyo and Rufftone, selected the top 7 performers. The following month, these artists along with Kayamba Africa and Bakulutu joined the talent show winners and put on the first ever live musical concert in Kibera. This album, RHYTHMS OF LIFE, is a compilation of the winning songs and contributions from each musician who participated.

RHYTHMS OF LIFE is not a traditional album. Many of these songs are gritty and raw. They tell a story most of us don't want to hear, a story of pain and loss. But listen closely because these voices are also charged with a message of hope and a call to find a better way. This album offers an insight into the complexity of life in Nairobi's largest slum - the frustration, despair, joy and vitality - that are the essence of Kibera.

It is our hope that all of the people of Kenya will join us in this campaign to rid Kibera and other slum areas of chang'aa. Join us in celebrating the RHYTHMS OF LIFE.

I want to give my personal thanks to all of those who have contributed so generously to this album Eric, Suzzana, Rufftone, Kayamba and Bakulutu - thank you for sharing your talents and your solidarity with the people of Kibera. Thank you to the inspiring Kibera musicians who persevered to make this album. I thank each of you for sharing your light. I have no words to thank Kerubo Okioga, Brian Okutoyi and Leonard Mbuya who were the head, heart and soul of this project from start to end. I especially thank Maurice Oyando of Next Level Productions and his team. Thank you, Maurice, for believing in this dream and for making it come true. I also am grateful to the Bodewes family especially Teddy for their support. Finally, for inspiration and heart, I thank Sr. Denis McCorthy, mm and my Telluride sisters in arms.

Christine Bodewes, June 2005, Nairobi, Kenya.

Korogocho, St. John Parish, Justice and Peace
The Korogocho Justice and Peace group has been very active in the Debt Campaigns of 2005 and 2006. They organized seminars to create awareness among the people of Korogocho, on the impact of the Public Debt in their daily lifes. They organized sports competition on the debt issue, and participated very actively in all the demonstrations and events around the Debt Campaign.

The youth group made songs on the problem of the debt. One of them G8, G8 became quite popular among those working towards the cancellation of the Public Kenyan Debt. The drama group made a drama on the impact of the Public debt in the daily life of the poor, and the accrobats and dancers provided entertainment during the Public events on the Debt.

Launching of a book and a game for Peace
St. John Non-Formal School in Korogocho has launcheed and a new game aimed at creating and enhancing peace in the area.
Fr. daniel moschetti (Comboni missionary) who is the parish priest coordinated both productions, all in the interest of peace. The bilingual book Tuka Pamoja comprises pupils' own selection of photos, and their verbatim written comments explaining their choices. The result is a collection of rough-cut gems.

Deputy principa, Daniel Ochola, is credited for his untiring efforts in bringing the book together. "We gave pupils cameras and told them to shool anything that was a symbol of peace, or anything they thought were the fruits of peace" explains Roseline Atieno who is one of the teachers in charge of the local Peace Club. The innovative game played by two, involves casting a dice on the hand-drawn map of Korogocho. The dice should land on a specific point for a player to gain points.
The Peace Club members are helped to identigy some causes of conflict, and then they are shown how to deal with them.

Justice and Peace Commission at St. Mary's Mukuru Parish
St. Mary's Mukuru Parish has a Justice and Peace Commission formed by members representing the Small Christian Communities and the Parish Centres in different areas of the parish.
The members of Justice and Peace received a regular formation to help them to address the needs of the community for a transformation of the injustices.
The formation is also followed by the leaders of the Parish and of the Centers.
Some of the problems that the members of the parish have to face and to which they would like to find solutions are: the open gutters which flood over when it rains; the poor housing; violence; problems at work; etc.