Visiting one of Nairobi's many shantytowns on Friday,
Pope Francis denounced conditions slum-dwellers are forced to live in, saying
access to safe water is a basic human right and that everyone should have
dignified, adequate housing.
Residents of the Kangemi slum lined the mud streets to welcome
Francis, standing alongside goats and hens outside the corrugated tin-roofed
shacks where many of the shantytown's small businesses operate: beauty parlors,
cellphone "top-up" shops and storefront evangelical churches.
 |
| Pope Francis arriving Kenya, acknowleges cheers from the crowd. |
Those lucky enough to score a spot at St. Joseph's parish erupted
in cheers and hymns when Francis arrived, ululating and waving paper flags
printed with his photo and the "Kariba Kenya" welcome that has been
ubiquitous on the pope's first-ever visit to Africa.
In remarks to the crowd, Francis insisted that everyone should
have access to water, a basic sewage system, garbage collection, electricity as
well as schools, hospitals and sport facilities.
"To deny a family water, under any bureaucratic pretext
whatsoever, is a great injustice, especially when one profits from this
need," he said.
Francis, known as the "slum pope" for his ministry in
Buenos Aires' shantytowns, has frequently insisted on the need for the three
"Ls" — land, labor and lodging — and on Friday he focused on lodging
as a critical issue facing the world amid rapid urbanization that is helping to
upset Earth's delicate ecological balance.
Kangemi is one of 11 slums dotting Nairobi, East Africa's largest
city, and is home to about 50,000 people. The U.N. Habitat program says some 60
percent of Nairobi's population lives on just 6 percent of the city's
residential land in these unofficial settlements lacking basic sanitation or
regular running water.
Francis denounced the practice of private corporations grabbing
land illegally, depriving schools of their playgrounds and forcing the poor
into ever more tightly packed slums, where violence and addiction are rampant.
In January, police tear-gassed schoolchildren demonstrating
against the removal of their school's playground, which has been allegedly
grabbed by powerful people. After an outcry, the Kenyan government declared the
playground the property of the school.
"These are wounds inflicted by minorities who cling to power
and wealth, who selfishly squander while a growing majority is forced to flee
to abandoned, filthy and run-down peripheries," Francis said.
Francis told the residents that people forced to live in slums
actually share values that wealthier neighborhoods can learn from: solidarity
and looking out for one another. But he said it was unjust that entire families
are forced to live in unfit housing, often at exorbitant prices.
He called for a "respectful urban integration" with
concrete initiatives to provide good quality housing for all.
His message was welcomed by residents of Kangemi, who said the
city only pipes in water three days a week, Tuesday through Thursday, but it's
not safe to drink. Garbage collection goes to only those who can pay for it.
"Some people don't have toilets in their homes," said
Emily Night, a mother of two who works at the St. Joseph's HIV counseling
program. "Those that do, maybe 50 people are using it!"
Things aren't much better in nearby Kibera.
"It's difficult. There is no water. We drink well
water," said Rebecca Nanzala, who attended the pope's visit with the
youngest of her three children, 2-year-old Mary. "Some treat it, some
don't."
Francis raised the issue of environmental deterioration in cities
in his landmark encyclical "Praise Be," saying many megacities today
have simply become health threats, "not only because of pollution caused
by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation,
and visual pollution and noise."
After the visit to Kangemi, Francis received a rock-star welcome
at Kasarani stadium, where he zoomed around the track in his open-sided
popemobile to the delight of the crowd. The stadium was so packed with the
faithful that many more stood outside, unable to enter.
As he tends to do when surrounded by young people, Francis ditched
his prepared speech and spoke off-the-cuff at length about problems Kenyan
young people are facing, including the temptation to go the way of Kenya's many
corrupt officials and institutions or to go off and join an extremist group.
Francis told the crowd that the way to prevent the young from
being radicalized is to give them an education and a job.
"If a young person has no work, what kind of a future does he
or she have? That's where the idea of being recruited comes from," he said.
Kenyans make up the largest
contingent of foreign fighters in the Somali based al-Qaida-linked extremist
group al-Shabab, which has staged attacks in Kenya.
Francis also urged the kids to
resist the temptation of corruption, saying it's like sugar: You develop a
taste for it but it's ultimately terrible for you.
After meeting with Kenya's bishops,
Francis headed to Uganda for the second leg of his trip.
On Sunday, he is due to arrive in
the Central African Republic.
