Hope for the Future
A community takes root in Kenya.
What began in chaos has become a community.
In 2007, a disputed presidential election plunged the east African country of Kenya into violence. As a result, more than 1,000 people were killed, and more than 600,000 people found themselves forcibly evicted from their homes.
Habitat World first visited with some of these families in 2009 (“All for a Purpose,” March 2010), as a group of 120 of them banded together to rebuild their lives in a place called Maai Mahiu. Acquiring land collectively and partnering with Habitat Kenya, the first families were at work constructing their Habitat houses. The sturdy stone walls under construction only highlighted the torn and tattered tents that the group of families currently called home.
Today, the settlement has grown into a community that seems like it has always been there. As building continues and the 335 total planned homes near completion, real change can be seen in the faces of the families who live here — and can be heard in the laughter of a child now growing up in Habitat home.
1 of 17 Teresia Kwambuka Silal prepares a meal of beans for her 2-year-old daughter Mary Terian. Silal and her family have been living in a makeshift tent since their home in Narok, Kenya, was destroyed during violence that followed a disputed presidential election in 2007.
2 of 17 Silal and her family were among thousands forced to flee their homes as a result of the conflict. In the town of Maai Mahiu, about 45 minutes outside of Nairobi, 120 of these families formed a self-help group and collectively purchased land in the area.
3 of 17 After acquiring land, the self-help group — called the Maai Mahiu Displaced Peoples Community — partnered with Habitat Kenya to build houses. Construction workers deliver a truckload of stone blocks to the Habitat site.
4 of 17 Professional mason Samuel Ngure sets stones on one of the new Habitat houses.
5 of 17 Linet Gesare Maroko is another member of the Maai Mahiu self-help group partnering with Habitat. Like all of the families in the group, she and her family live in a tent near the site of their future Habitat house.
6 of 17 In the background of the tattered tent that Maroko and her family call home, their Habitat house begins to take form.
7 of 17 Maroko touches the newly laid stone walls of her family’s future Habitat house. “I believe this is all for a purpose,” she says.
8 of 17 As part of her sweat equity work, Maroko splashes water on the freshly laid stone walls in order to clean the dust that builds up during construction.
9 of 17 Silal visits the ruins of her former home in the Narok region where she had lived since 1992. Her brother was killed in post-election violence, as she and her four children were turned out of this house, which was then destroyed.
10 of 17 Life inside the tent that Silal and her family have lived in since shortly after their forcible eviction from their home
11 of 17 Today, though, Silal and her now 4-year-old daughter Mary Terian live in their sturdy, safe Habitat house.
12 of 17 The family was able to leave their tent behind and move into a Habitat house in 2009.
13 of 17 Where once she prepared greens on the packed dirt area just outside her tent, today Maroko and her 10-year-old daughter Cynthia Moraa cook a meal together inside their home.
14 of 17 No longer forced to live in a cramped and uncomfortable tent, Maroko drinks tea inside her Habitat house. “After so much struggling, there is always hope in the future,” Maroko said as her house was being completed.
15 of 17 In what was once a dusty field, a tall hedgerow carves out each homeowner’s plot. This community is home to Habitat’s 500,000th house worldwide and ultimately will total 335 houses.
16 of 17 Those who have seen the site before and after say it sometimes seems as if the houses have always been there.
17 of 17 The changes for these Habitat families go beyond the now sturdy walls that they inhabit. Young Mary Terian has a healthy laugh, an uncontrollable giggle that comes from strong lungs, happy memories and the security of a safe and decent home.
