How it all started

Pastoralists from Turkana and Pokot in Northern Kenya moved to Kitale in search for an alternative means of survival and a better life owing to drought, famine and conflict over scarce natural resources thirty-eight years ago. These nomadic tribes had been forced out of pastoralism and had now been forced to Kitale, an urban lifestyle, without any trade or urban survival skills.
With nowhere to go they settled on the Municipal Council’s dumping sites in the town. At first they lived near a slaughter house (Machinjoni), but later they had to be moved. Cholera had struck the residents as a result of poor sanitary practices. The water sources at the site had been contaminated as a result of heavy rainfall. They were later settled in Kipsongo which means the "Place of the Dogs." This was going to be their home. Currently, more than 2,500 people (about 300 households) live on the 6.5 acres of land. The number currently stands at a population of about 13,450.
The poverty levels of Kipsongo are extreme. The living conditions are desperate. On arrival I actually thought the residents were not Kenyans until they showed me their identification documents (IDs). They even voted in the last election, they told me. The sitting Member of Parliament lives near the neighbourhood. But yet, Kipsongo remains forgotten; the residents desperate, sad and desolate. They are known as beggars in Kitale town. They are associated with societal evils including criminal activities, drugs and underage prostitution. The refugees were given jobs as cattle herders before slaughter while they raised the calves of expectant cows. This in addition to the free meat, milk and local liquor were quite appealing.
Their houses are made out of intertwined trees-branch twigs and covered with waste plastic bags. During the rain the plastic bags fill with water and being too heavy for the twig frame cause the huts to collapse under the weight. Other times, they would accidentally catch fire and the highly combustible structure would cause destruction even on to other houses in the raging flare. The community members still mourn many of their own as a result of such accidents.
As rare and as distant as it is, firewood is the main source of energy in this village. The residents have to walk to Mount Elgon forest to fetch it, an activity that is labour intensive besides being illegal. Those who then sell it have to contend with the fact that the cost will be too high for the residents hence not make much if at all. In the end all the residents in this village end up in the dumpsites within the town in search of food.
I was also told that the Municipal Council of Kitale had not recognised this settlement. When I verified this, a council officer told me that, it had wanted to resettle the residents of Kipsongo on a patch of land in Kitalale, 17Km from the town.
“This was very far,” said an old villager in Kipsongo.
“We are manual labourers and we always rely on the town for our daily lives. Taking us away from Kipsongo is as good as killing us.”
Basic service provision, the prerogative of the council, that should be rightfully provided to all the residents of Kitale is visibly lacking. There are no water or sanitation facilities in Kipsongo. Solid waste from upmarket residential areas of Kitale is still dumped in the region they settle. They are unable to pronounce the good they have seen since settling in the village. None of the residents in the slum has a legal document of ownership on the land. Recently the residents have been put on an eviction notice because their 35-year settlement has been sold to a private developer to construct an ultra-modern residential facility!
To date the sight of the residents of Kipsongo is associated with poverty but for how long? And there is nowhere to turn but rely on their lifestyle – fetch from what everyone has thrown away.