AKU-NAMA - Aga Khan University

Inside Kibera, There is Hope – Africa's Second Largest SlumA million residents of Nairobi, including an AKU alumna, havebeen coping with the trauma of the recent unrestLucia Buyanza grew up in Kiberaand is an alumna of Aga KhanUniversity’s Advanced NursingProgramme in Nairobi. The fullstory was written by RobRemington and first published onFebruary 8, 2008 in The CalgaryHerald. This edited article isprinted with permission of theauthor and The Calgary Herald.One week after he was treated fora machete wound to the head,Zuberi Mije sits in an unlit roomin his tin-roofed shack in theKibera slum and smiles.“I am feeling much better,” hesays to nurse Lucia Buyanza, whotreated his cut.“I am so thankful.”After checking on her patient,Buyanza steps outside into thesunlight, where a small gardenmanages to grow alongside Mije'smud hut in Kibera, the secondlargestslum in Africa behindSoweto in Johannesburg.“You see this,” she says, touchinga small shrub. “Even in a placelike this, it is possible to growflowers.”The sprawling Kibera slum, hometo more than one million people,saw neighbour turn againstneighbour, and more than 1,000have been killed in ethnic andtribal clashes.Buyanza, 34, grew up in Kiberaand is an alumna of Aga KhanUniversity’s Advanced NursingProgramme (ANS) in Nairobi.Like Buyanza, many workingnurses in Kenya, Tanzania andUganda have been able to continuehigher education up to BScN level,allowing them to remain at theirworkplaces as they pursueprofessional development. Theprogramme focuses on issuesrelevant to the indigenousenvironment – conducting, forexample, courses for HIVprevention, treatment and care.Buyanza, who works in a clinicon the edge of the slum, treatedpeople like Mije for machete cutsto the head and legs. Others camein with poison-tipped arrows intheir abdomens. “It was very bad,”says Buyanza, who even at theheight of the crisis walked to theclinic every day from her homeinside Kibera.While most people cowered insidetheir tiny shacks, Buyanza walkedthe deserted street to the clinic,sticking close to the roadside ditchso she could dive into it for covershould violence erupt.“I was very scared.”Buyanza says people are wearyof the violence.On a regular week day, Kiberianshad refused to heed another callfor demonstrations, opting insteadto return to work and send theirchildren to school.If there is hope for Kibera, whichmeans “full of joy”, and forKenya, it lies with people likeBuyanza and others like her.“It would be good to show thenation that not all the slum areais bad.”“We, the youth, are having seriousprayer meetings in the evening toseek God's forgiveness and seeeach other as children of onemother Kenya. There are bannersof peace that have been preparedand so on Sunday we shall walkwith them around the villages toshow solidarity and peace inKibera.”Although Buyanza is Catholic,she credits her peace activism toa non-denominational IsmailiMuslim organisation.Lucia Buyanza is indeed a livingembodiment of a great tradition:true nursing leadership. We saluteher spirit and wish allcommunities peace.“I took my nurse's training at AgaKhan University School ofNursing. It is unlike other nursingschools because they teach youthat you can be things like a nurseleader, or a nurse politician, or anurse journalist. I have chosen tobe a nurse leader.”11