“Growing up a little girl, Kibra was beautiful. You could stand here, look out and see as far as your eyes would let you see. Now look at it.”
Once situated among bush, mango trees and green grass, this Nubian family's home rests nearly in the middle of Kibera. The house is almost 100 years old and is one of the oldest structures in Kibera.
Without land to cultivate and unable to compete for decent employment, many Nubians depend on rental income to survive. The majority of people in Kibera live in dilapidated rooms and huts. Nearly all the structures in Kibera, including Nubian homes, are considered temporary structures.
In 1946- 48 British authorities realigned the Uganda railway to travel straight through Kibra, destroying many Nubian homesteads. Since then, most of the original land provided to the Nubians has been lost to the development of middle class estates and to the huge number of people moving to Kibera. People walk along the tracks that separate the Makongeni and Mashimoni sections of Kibera.
“The British would give you a plot number and would say, That’s your place. This is your identity. But now, all I can do is say to myself, Where did this land go?…We are being squeezed into extinction.”
A Nubian woman and children stand in front of Nyumba Kubwa or ‘the big house’. It is one of the oldest Nubian buildings in Kibera and a place where Nubians helped hide Jomo Kenyatta and other Kikuyu during the Mau Mau rebellion.
The area of Gatwekera was once predominantly Nubian and used as grazing land. The Nubians called it Kathirkher which meant ‘plenty of blessings’, but since the early 1990s the area has been inhabited by people from other tribes.