Mukuru is a collection of

slums A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

in the city of

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

. It is approximately south of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

of Nairobi. It is one of the largest slums in Nairobi. It stretches along the

– Ngong River, situated on waste lands in the industrial area of the city between the Outering Ring Road, North Airport Road and Mombasa Road. Mukuru is among other major slums in Nairobi such:

Korogocho Korogocho is one of the largest slum neighbourhoods of Nairobi, Kenya. Home to 150,000 to 200,000 people pressed into 1.5 square kilometres, northeast of the city centre, Korogocho was founded as a shanty town on the then outskirts of the city.

Kibera Kibera (Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the largest urban slum in Africa.http://www.dominionpa ...

and

Mathare Mathare is a collection of slums in Nairobi with a population of approximately 500,000 people; the population of Mathare Valley alone, the oldest of the slums that make up Mathare, is 180,000 people. Mathare is the home of football teams Mathare U ...

. Mukuru comprises the Mukuru kwa Reuben,

Mukuru kwa Njenga Mukuru Kwa Njenga is a slum in the Mukuru slums of Nairobi. Mukuru kwa Njenga is among other villages in Mukuru namely; Mukuru kwa Reuben, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Sinai, Paradise, Jamaica, Kingstone, Mariguini, Fuata Nyayo and Kayaba. The population ...

, Sinai, Paradise, Jamaica, Kingstone, Mariguini, Fuata Nyayo and Kayaba villages.

Overview

Status of Paid Toilets in Mukuru (5507764586)

Located approximately south of the Nairobi CBD, Mukuru slums are predominantly a

low-income Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income

informal settlement Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement (or lack thereof) which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. As such, the inform ...

. It consists of approximately thirty villages: Kwa Njenga, Kwa Ruben, Sinai, Paradise, Jamaica, Kingstone, Mariguini, Fuata Nyayo and Kayaba. The area sits south of the Viwandani and Industrial Area. The area earliest inhabitants were labourers from the nearby Industrial Area factories who made makeshifts mainly made by corrugated iron shacks. Some of the area that Mukuru slums sits on was initially a quarry that was exploited and was never rehabilitated. Mukuru slums as any other slum in the world has been faced by challenges including crime, drug abuse, prostitution. In the slums, whole families survive in tiny one-roomed

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...

shacks. Very few homes have access to electricity and up to twenty families might share a communal water tap and

latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground (pit latrine), or m ...

. The area is considered unsafe due to the

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

caused by

incineration Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...

of varied waste, as well as the stench from the unauthorised

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

s in the slums. Fires are also common and containing them has always been a subject of debate; mainly because the makeshifts are built close to one another and their narrow or no alleys between them. The slums have a high

prevalence In epidemiology, prevalence is the proportion of a particular population found to be affected by a medical condition (typically a disease or a risk factor such as smoking or seatbelt use) at a specific time. It is derived by comparing the number o ...

respiratory diseases Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, br ...

Malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

HIV AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

and

waterborne disease Waterborne diseases are conditions (meaning adverse effects on human health, such as death, disability, illness or disorders) caused by pathogenic micro-organisms that are transmitted in water. These diseases can be spread while bathing, washing, ...

s. The slums were earmarked areas more at risk in the spread of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2017, among other slum areas in Nairobi, Mukuru was declared a Special Planning Area.

Slum upgrading Slum upgrading is an integrated approach that aims to turn around downward trends in an area. These downward trends can be legal (land tenure), physical (infrastructure), social (crime or education, for example) or economic." The main objective of ...

, initiated by the government, is an effort to provide better housing to the slum residents. Known as the Mukuru Affordable Housing, will be actualised on a 55-acre land with 15,000 housing units. Simplified sewer system is set to tackle the decades-long problem of open sewers.

Notable people

Charlot Magayi and her daughter lived here. She is CEO of Mukuru Clean Stoves and a winner of the 2022 Earthshot Prize.

References

{{Nairobi, state=collapsed Populated places in Kenya Shanty towns in Kenya Slums in Kenya Suburbs of Nairobi Squatting in Kenya

Overview

Notable people

See also

References