I went to bed last night with a sore throat caused by a horrible oil spill disaster near the Nairobi airport and woke to learn that hundreds had died, thousands more had burned and the still unfolding story needs to be told again and again to the west. Read on, if you can.
My luxury Norfolk Hotel is about nine kilometers as the crow flies from the disaster site. In that mere 5½ miles live up to 1 million people, and there are no high-rises. Nearly 90% of them in the slum only 1 mile from the airport where the fire occurred.
They live in the most miserable conditions imaginable. When I first wrote my novel, Chasm Gorge, I described a Nairobi slum but tried to focus on its better aspects. The way slum dwellers help each other, creative methods by which they eke out a living, and most of all their unbelievable tolerance of their suffering.
That was ten years ago. Today the slums are three or four times larger. The popular film Constant Gardener brought world attention to the slum, Kibera, that was the model for my description. Kibera is one of 8 slums around Nairobi, and if one dare compare one slum with another, probably the best one to live in.
How many people live there? I can’t find out. The Kenyan government can’t find out. At least 2 million, but perhaps 3 maybe even 4 million. The last good census of slum dwellers was more than ten years ago. It was so flawed, I think people just gave up. Ten years ago I would never have imagined the situation would have reached the tragedy of today.
YET…
…the tolerance for suffering continues.
We know in America what happened in the 1960s was at least partially the result of popular uprisings against the abhorrent conditions found in Cabrina Green in Chicago or Watts in Los Angeles. And those conditions compared to what is found in Nairobi today are simply incomparable.
Here’s what happened yesterday. An oil pipeline bringing super gas refined in the coastal city of Mombasa and flowing at 590,000 liters/hour ruptured around 9 a.m. The pipeline runs under a slum. This was the third major Kenyan oil pipeline spill since 2009. And frankly, compared to the other two, it was small. (Probably less than a half million liters were lost before the pipeline was shut down.)
But it has been raining unusually in this dry season in Nairobi, and the oil made its way to a river that now flows through the slums. When residents realized from the smell what it was, they frantically began trying to collect it from the top of the water.
Someone’s cigarette dropped on the river. The fire exploded back up the line towards the pipeline rupture, and in its way was the slum. In seconds, tin shacks were ashes. Giant plumes of toxic smoke filled the air. Some residents on fire jumped into the river, but it was burning. Old manholes on sewers that have been stuffed and inoperable for decades blew into the air like rockets, giant fire spraying from them.
The official death toll as I write this is only 130. It will be much more. Hundreds are missing.
That’s the tragedy.
Now, can you imagine what would happen in the U.S. or Britain or Australia if something like this occurred? Well, guess who was the star guest interviewed on all the Kenyan TV channels this morning? The director of the pipeline company. But no one felt he should be blamed. Even the tweets and comments by people who live in the slums have exonerated him.
Everyone needs gas. They think he was doing the best job he could. As a result, he was totally honest about how bad the maintenance is on the pipeline, how much less the government has actually given him to operate it than he needs.
Did the Governor of California walk into Watts as it burned? Or the mayor of Chicago strol down burned out Wabash Avenue after the fires following the King assassination? Of course not.
But here the Prime Minister of the country and virtually every major political officer was in the slums this morning talking with residents, promising better conditions, pleading for the calm which already exists.
In Kenya and all the developing world on this planet, suffering is a way of life. When people ask me how possibly we can help, my answer has been steadfastly the same for decades and decades:
First, put your own house in order. If we cannot muster the human compassion to take care of our own uninsured, unemployed and immigrant populations, how can we possibly help others?
Second, forget about little charities, church bake-outs and tiny missions building little huts in the desert. This is all wasted energy. It makes us feel good, but it doesn’t do a damn thing for the developing country. This is because the solutions – whatever they are – must be massive.
I really believe, though, this is possible. I believe we can sweep away the TParty and similar thinking people into the dustbin of history. Human compassion is greater than human ignorance, as great as that ignorance currently seems to be.
So, Americans, start at home. Not with a greater tithe to your church, but with a renewed commitment to your society and government, and a willingness to sacrifice for the good of those less fortunate. And when elements in your society appear intransigent in face of this simple dictum, punish them. Force them to respond with higher taxes on them, stiffer regulations.
Make them share the happiness they achieve through other’s sorrow.
I know there is a knee jerk reaction to find a website to contribute to the “Nairobi fire.” But what about the Pakistani floods? What about your own floods?
The suffering in the world which is a result of poverty is structural. It can be changed. Start at home with the kingpins refusing to change, because we are at the top, we can make the most difference worldwide by simply doing our job at home.
Jim – Sorry for the delay in replying. It’s been two days of engagements plus I wanted time to sort out my reply. Believe me, it could be a good deal longer than this missive!
For the most part, I agree with you. Yes, we go after fleas with a sledgehammer because we don’t have any alternatives and lack the will to find any. We do have a national Peace Institute that we are just beginning to hear from.. (It was established under Pres.Reagan.. Why then, I don’t know. I supported the Institute but not the compromises required to get Reagan to approve it. For some reason that has never been clear, the group felt it HAD to get it approved THEN, even though they had been campaigning for it for years.)
But first, a couple of minor political observations–to get them out of the way. 1) If I recall correctly, on Sept. 10, 2001, Bush’s approval ratings were fairly low. An age-old way of fixing that is to engage in a foreign war. Bush suddenly had his opportunity, and thanks to Cheney and Rove no doubt, he made the most of it, even conjuring up a War on Terror which could never be won and hence could never be ended and so would always be available for bolstering political ratings when needed. 2) The best explanation I have heard of the Iraq invasion is that Bush got what he wanted there–a base in the Middle East to protect the supply lines and engage China as necessary. All the other “reasons” are window-dressing. Cynical? or Realistic?
But where I disagree with your blog is insisting one must support governments but not churches and NGOs. Don’t sell the church short on what it can and sometimes does do over the long term. It’s both/and, not government only. And governments have to be persuaded.
Examples: (Details on request.)
1)The Berlin Airlift is one of my favorite examples of effective nonviolence, but until last year, I hadn’t heard about The Candy Bombers or (my subtitle for it) How World War III was Prevented by a Hershey Bar. It is a long story–550 pages. The initial act of kindness by two airmen flying supplies to West Berlin could have got them court martialed. But the idea got out and caught the imagination of thousands of NON-governmental types, the kind in churches and volunteer organizations. The governments finally agreed and dropping thousands of candy bars–donated, packed, and shipped by churches and volunteer organizations–to the children of West Berlin by some of the airmen flying basic supplies to the city, tipped the scales in Europe against the expected war, probably nuclear, with Russia. It’s a complicated story not fully told until historians could get at the records of Cabinet meetings, etc. The Cold War alternative was much less destructive than WWIII would have been.
2) Thousands of little bags of rice with a tag reading “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. Matthew ,” sent to the White House by citizens in churches and peace organizations, provided Pres. Eisenhower with justification for refusing to go along with those clamoring to nuke China over whatever the controversy was at the time.
3) And of course the Civil Rights Movement was very heavily dependent on churches. Missionaries had laid the groundwork over the years by telling local congregations how our segregation policies made it very difficult for them to work in Africa and Asia.
OK, these are ancient history. (It takes a long time for some stories to come out–after memoirs have been written–and read–and government records are old enough to be made available.)
More recently, I trust you did hear Nancy Pelosi’s statement publicly thanking the United Methodist Church for help in passing the Health Care bill. Republican United Methodists certainly did and castigated the General Board of Church and Society. GBCS has a lot of experience with that and replied as they always do: We did not support any particular bill; we just did what General Conference (the only body that can speak for the denomination) told us to: to support health care for everyone.
As for Africa itself, I turn to Africa University, which graduated its first class in 1994. It now has over 3,000 alums, mostly in Zimbabwe but also scattered over more than half of the countries of Africa. (The goal is 60% international students.) Many graduates are in mid-level positions in government and business. All of them have had to deal with students from other tribes as well as other countries, and with a co-ed balance now of about 50-50 in their classes and dormitories–new experiences for
many, but certainly crucial for development of Africa. Since about 1997, every student has had to take a course in Ethics. Granted, that can give them more sophisticated rationalizations, but it can also make them aware of the ethical aspects of decision-making and give them tools for making better choices if they want to. And Lord knows, Africa as well as the U.S. needs more “ethical” leaders in government and business as well as churches. Every student from about the mid-1990s on is computer-literate before graduating. United Methodist “tithes” pay the basic operating expenses of the University. Any additional gifts go to scholarships or expansion of the University–sometimes buildings, but also computer links to A.U. centers in other countries–Mozambique and I think, Sierra Leone. There is also a link with a university in Brazil. The University’s goal is to become tri-lingual, offering classes in all three of the “educational” languages of sub-Sahara Africa.
Let me close (for now!) with a report from Paul Webster in Zambia. Some 15 years ago, an African chieftan went to a UM bishop and offered 2,500 acres of land if the church would develop it into an agricultural teaching center. Paul, an agricultural missionary, was asked to check it out. He did and said that yes, it could well be used for such a purpose and by all means to accept it.
Eventually, Paul and his wife (since deceased) were assigned to it. Their neighbors were nomads, now required by government and circumstances to settle down and farm. (It’s not easy to turn nomads into farmers, as you know. It’s so boring to have to stay in one place all the time.)
Here is part of his report of what has been the result of their work the past ten years or so.
“At Mujila Falls, dedicated Christians and Congregations have been casting their “bread upon the waters” for ten years. I am here to report that your “bread” is returning to you in saved lives, surplus food that can be sold to support families, better health, lower infant mortality, longer life expectancy, and new hope that the land of Africa can support people in an abundant way. …
OUR PROJECT IS PRODUCING AROUND 2000 EGGS PER DAY AND IS PRODUCING 200 LITRES OF MILK EVERY TWO DAYS. WE HAVE 52 HEAD OF CATTLE, OVER 70 GOATS AND OVER 20 SHEEP. WE HAVE INTRODUCED STRAWBERRIES, PLANTAINS, IMPROVED BANANAS, GRAFTED MANGOS, GUAVAS, AVACADOS, ETC. WE HAVE INTRODUCED BLACK BEANS, SOYBEANS, PEANUTS AND IMPROVED WAYS OF PLANTING THEM. WE HAVE INTRODUCED OXEN WHICH HAVE GREATLY INCREASED THE AMOUNT OF LAND THAT CAN BE CULTIVATED AND THE AMOUNT OF CROPS THAT CAN BE HARVESTED. OUR AREA HAS GONE FROM A NET FOOD IMPORTER TO AN IMPORTANT EXPORTER OF CORN IN JUST THE PAST TEN YEARS. THE GOVERNMENT HAS EVEN HAD TO BUILD A WAREHOUSE TO HOLD THE SURPLUS GRAIN BEING PRODUCED. THIS HAS GIVEN THE FORMERLY SUBSISTANCE PEOPLE OF THE AREA INCOMES FOR THE FIRST TIME. THEY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO SCHOOL, EAT BETTER, LIVE IN IMPROVED HOUSES, AND EVEN BUY CELL PHONES, BICYCLES, MOTOR CYCLES, BETTER MATTRESSES, SOLAR PANELS AND OTHER ITEMS TO IMPROVE THEIR LIVES.
(Since he was asking churches for funds to buy a tractor and the mechanized equipment that goes with it, and he had complained that Africa U. was focusing only on commercial farming instead of the kind of help needed by the subsistence farmers, I asked him why he seemed to be going that route now. It turns out that some of the local farmers are ready to move to mechanized farming on larger tracts, though he intends to continue teaching the subsistence farmers at their level of need as well. I should add that he arranged for Tshala, one of the local young men, to earn his degree at A.U. Tshala is now a commissioned UM missionary and works with Paul in managing the farm and probably will take it over when Paul retires.)
Here is part of his answer to my question. “If you could have heard our report this year you would know that we have seen incredible improvements in the local infrastructure that will help this development to happen. We are seeing the construction of a large high school within 7 km of our site. We are seeing the construction of a multi-million dollar hydro-electric generation plant
on the river next to our site. We are seeing the investment of the Ministry of Agriculture in a maize warehouse in Mujila. And just before we left Zambia, the construction of a cell phone tower within sight of our house. Due to our project we have seen our Chiefdom move from last place in Maize production to first this last season. We have seen the building of a high school where we didn’t even have a grade school ten years ago. In economic development theory, we are reaching the “economic take-off” point in the local economy.”
These are the GOVERNMENT projects that have resulted from the United Methodist CHURCH teaching farm.
Granted, this is not clearing the Nairobi slums. But it is probably keeping a good many families from migrating to slums in Zambia. And the slums are not the result of millions of people suddenly packing up and moving to the cities all at once. They are the result of individuals and families (and villages?) deciding that life in the city will be better than what they can get where they are. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Oh, and when it comes to disaster relief, the U.S. government frequently contracts with church-related relief organizations to do the actual work. The United Methodist Committee on Relief NGO is often one of those organizations. (Apparently it is a separate organization set up to meet separation-of-church-and-state requirements.) It always works through local groups and organizations and cooperates with other carefully selected relief agencies they know. According to one such official who briefed a group of us a few years back, UMCOR’s area of expertise in such situations is restoring electrical power infrastructure. Go figure!
Well, this is obviously a longer answer than you expected, but I did want to give you factual information, not just opinions. If I were to go on still longer, I would ask you about your experience with some other NGOs I support, like the (Jimmy and Rosalyn) Carter Center. Incidentally, we have long had a couple of organizations that evaluate charitable organizations as to their use of funds. One of them–wish I could remember which one–recently announced they would begin surveying the groups for their actual effectiveness in doing what they say they do. That will be welcome information!
All the best to you, Jim. I’m always glad to get your news even though I don’t read your blog unless you alert me to something special. I haven’t gotten into the computer culture that much yet!
Chomee