Life in the Slums

There’s no hiding it.  It is tough to group up in Kibera, Githogoro, and Huruma and other slums with similar conditions.

Ellie's Run began in  2004 by making a difference in East Africa's largest slum, Kibera. It is a filthy, depressed, impoverished, and diseased place. 

Only one square mile large, some estimates say Kibera is home to 1 million people.

Families live on less than $100 a month – which has to stretch between $8 rent, clothing, food, healthcare and education.  As many as eight family members will live in mud huts, smashed one next to the other and sharing walls, that are no larger than 10’X10’.  This includes sleeping areas, a kitchen, living area and, if lucky, a place to go to the bathroom.  Often times, however, residents go to the bathroom in a plastic bag and fling it out of the house into the streets.

Speaking of the streets:  they’re not just lined with trash and human waste.  They’re filled with them. The area has no official public schools or playgrounds, so these streets become the place where children play all day, every day.  It’s not sanitary, and it’s not safe as many times the adults of the community are out of work, using drugs and alcohol and looking to take advantage of a child in some way.

We said it before:  it’s depressing. 

But there's more.

There is hope.

It was on that same trip in 2009 that Ellie and the team of volunteers first got to know the kids in Huruma and Githogoro .

Though Kibera is name known all over the world, there are many smaller slums nearby with equally desperate conditions.   Huruma and Githogoro are two of those places. There we find children who are struggling to work and feed hungry younger siblings. And again we find children who are full of hope, excitement, and gratitude.

Ellie’s Run for Africa exists to provide education to kids in the slums of Nairobi that cannot afford school on their own. Since 2004, Ellie’s Run has provided access to elementary and high school education. We have also funded the construction of a vocational school. We believe that education gives hope to the kids who have no other opportunities, and we have success stories to prove it!