10 Letters from Kibera
Letter 5
Rape in the slums of Kibera
“Cases of rape are almost common day occurrences in places such as Kibera.”
“It’s no longer such a big deal to hear of incidences for any young girl living here.”
Recently a one-year-old child was raped to death by three men and that horrifically even included the baby’s father. The medical investigation done on the child shows that although the father denied the charge and refused to make a statement the medical evidence and the statements by witnesses indicate otherwise. The frustrated mother was sobbing bitterly when describing the occurrence. She explained that she had a quarrel with her husband after which the husband angrily chased her out of the house. When she came back in the morning she found her daughter’s body laying lifeless on the ground. Despite the police having clear evidence, the father appears to be walking freely in the neighbourhood.
Just living in the vicinity of such people and knowing that they are at large around the community makes us all fearful and each morning when we wake, is the start of another challenging day.
If this wasn’t bad enough, less than a week later after the murder of the baby we found a woman lying lifeless in the muddy rubbish strewn alleyway in front the entrance to our shack. It appears after investigation that she had been sexually abused and gang raped by a group of hoodlum men none of whom have been brought to justice so far and who may well get away with the crime. Local people live in constant fear due to these tragedies happening in the neighbourhood.
