Thriving slum economy in Kisenyi,Kampala

Kisenyi slum in Kampala

By Hellen Nyamweru:The intertwined issues of urban growth and the prolification of slums,now a home to very many Ugandans is one of the touchy subjects  today.Slum free cities are the latest buzzwords in urban development terminology.Slums have  always been blamed for  causing cities' failure but is this the real truth?.The mapping team in Kisenyi I,II and III have  a different  story;Deep in Kisenyi slums  exist a beehive of activities  from the many businesses that operate in one of the largest slums of Uganda.

A chapati vendor busy at work

Garment shops,salons,laundry shops,food stalls,tailoring shops,jua -kali metal works businesses ,motor cycle (boda boda ) seat covers businesses to mention but a few are  some of the thriving businesses within this vast slum.Slum dwellers survive on these businesses to bolster their  finances,some  having to operate several  small businesses to make ends meet.

Tailoring and home seat covers making

Several markets/trading centres also exist in these slums where the buyers have high purchasing power because the slum is much populated.These small businesses have helped shield slum dwellers from the recent global economic crisis in a capitalist state like this where there is no form of social assistance for the poor. People have made these slums their homes and some of these issues as to them contributing to the economy and having so much untapped potential should be put into consideration before pushing them out of the city and labeling them as the 'unwanted'.One must put in my mind that slums are driven by livelihood availability patterns coupled with non-availability of  affordable housing and other services.

The Uganda slum dwellers federation in these slums have always desired to live in better areas and they continue to save from the little they get everyday.Most have businesses that are doing well and from which they manage to save into the urban poor basket .During the recent mapping in Kisenyi,several slum dwellers with businesses were interviewed and the most striking feature  of the responses was the fear of apprehension which is palpable especially for those who have already faced eviction threats.In Kisenyi III,Abu Bakr Kawoooya is working with 60 members of Luzige saving group to design and make motor cycle (boda boda) seat covers.

Motor cycles (Boda bodas) seat cover making

The business is successful but the group's biggest concern is the prospect of evictions as much of the land around them was recently bought with subsequent evictions.''We fear we are soon losing our business''-Abu Bakr Kawooya.

Presently,slum dwellers within the federation in Kisenyi are saving everyday for they know nothing as clearly divides the empowered from the powerless as the control over money.

Kisenyi Federation members showing their savings books

These are their own resources, {a shilling a day}which they are proud of rather than waiting for handouts and grants to trickle down to them in stingy driblets from some bogus poverty alleviation program and the like.And when this shillings grow,they  will start thinking  of what to do and  then go ahead and do it, owning every mistake and success there is,eventually developing their area.All this therefore challenges the cliche that slums are  just  residential colonies of a people who blight the city,it shows that they are also  vibrant economy entities that can support themselves.Developers might also be forced to consider  slums developing their settlements through organic growth and taking the slums as open economies all together in the near future.