SOCIAL LIFE IN MATHARE.

It goes without saying living in the Mathare slums is far from beds of roses. The people living in these slums adopt anything and everything to get by and to make life more tolerable of course depending on what the subject thinks makes his/her life more tolerable. Some opt for religion as their ultimate comfort, other opt for drugs etcetera etcetera. Suffice to say that Mathare is a panorama of lifestyles entwined together by a basic concept. Survival. It is the name of the game. A game in which only the fittest survive.

Crime to start witth is a rampant phenomenon. Cries and shouts of foulplay are a comonplace during the day and are even worse during the nights. Heart wrenching cries are often heard from a person crying for help as thugs invade his or her home but more often than not to no avail. People have known better than to go out lest they are spotted and be the next victim. Some think that the cry could me a dummy to get them to open their doors for the real thing.

It is almost always the doing of young guys who have no employment and have absolutely no source of income.These people are in most cases slaves to drugs and are in dire need of ways to support their expensive habbits. They are left with little choice but to seek the fastest way to get some cash and quench their crave.

They employ as petty a crime as the snatching of watches to the breaking into houses and robbing anything sellable in the black market. Some decide to pick pockets in public transport vihicles. Some are con artist in the city centre that choose their prey expertly and politely and patiently lure them into their traps. Some do the hardcore thing and break into houses at night and brave the threat of being killed lest their forcefull approach is put into question. Precisely, they do anything to get an easy buck.

Living bellow the poverty line hardly describes the kind of life the people of Mathare live. In fact it is in so many cases a gross understatement. Most of the slum dwellers are extremely poor. Some live in conditions that would otherwise be deemed impossible for human survival. Mothers and their children have hunger as the tune of their lives as many stay and sleep without food. It is never certain whether or when they will get fed. It is imposible to imagine what these poor people go through. Poverty has led to so many problems nutrition being a major one. Most of the kids are malnutritioned and some are even born with nutrition based complications.

It pains to see these tiny pale eyed children gazing into space. Through the many days of suffering they have known better than cry all the time. When possible, they play little games to try and put themselves occupied. Those who are too hungry to engage sit and watch the others. It is quite a sight to see them try to smile at you yet you can see through their eyes that it hasn't been an easy road.

Some of them resort to a spiritual lifestyle for only God can be trusted. It costs them nothing and it gives them a sense of value and that is important. To know that despite all there is a day they will live a better life. The belief of eternal immortality. A life of peace that no amount of money could posses. A sense of nourishment that only the subject can understand. Peace like a flowing river.

Some resort to drugs. This is one of the "escape route" taken by the majority of the people living in the slums.