Kenya: Comboni priest speaks out over Africa's growing slums

A priest working in one of the slums of Nairobi said that the growing poverty of people there is one of the major pastoral challenges of the church. Comboni Father Daniel Moschetti, who works in the Korogocho slums, part of the Kariobangi Catholic parish, was addressing the Second World Forum on Theology and Liberation (WFTL), in Nairobi yesterday. He saidd that slums in Africa are expanding rapidly and that 72% of the populations of most of African cities now live in them. Fr Daniel pointed out that while the number of people living in African slums in Africa is increasing, most of them take up only 5% of the cities' land space. In Nairobi, of the estimated four million inhabitants, 2.5 million live in slums. The city has around 200 slums - one of the biggest being Kibera. Fr Daniel said the people there lived in appalling conditions, with problems ranged from poor housing, lack of water, sewerage, electricity and other amenities. "The lives of these people has been reduced to the level of sub-human, - which is quite un-Godly," Fr Daniel said, concluding that the Church is called to be the voice and liberator of the poor, and must respond to that call. The conference is being hosted by the Carmelite Centre at Langata near Nairobi and organized by Tangaza College, a constituency of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa.