mwakenya

History

Started as an estate build by the Nairobi city council with funding from the World Bank in 1977 mainly to provide housing for the growing urban population brought by industrial growth

Just like other housing project original occupants had to pay a given amount of money and based on the type of house as provided for after payment the council would then undertake to construct one room and a toilet and bathroom after which the occupant had to continue construction based on a given design

The housing projects were based on phases, that is why the estate is still divided in phases with phase one as the oldest and phase fiveas the youngest

With time the corruption in the council led to people making alterations to design and even construction in reserved spaces such as carparks, playgrounds and even movie halls

This is what led to the mushrooming of the current typical flats(gorofa)

Coordinates:   Latitude-1.25000 Longitude36.90000 Latitude(DMS) 36° 54' 0' Longitude (DMS)-1° -15' 0'

time zone: East Africa Time change from UTC*UTC+0300

Location East of Nairobi city about 15 kms

Markets in umoja –korogocho, city council stores, hawkers markets etc

Main languages Kiswahili and sheng

Matatu routes 32,42, 41 and 36

bus fare 20 kshs at ordinary times and up to 60kshs at  extra-ordinary times

House rent

• ·        single room house –between 1500 to 2500 kSHS
• ·        double room house –between 2300 to 4500 kSHS
• ·        Single bedroom house- between 5,000 and 6,000kSHS
• ·        Double bedroom house- between 6,000 and  9000 kSHS

N/b prices are arrived at based on size, location, type etc

Constituency-embakasi

Neighboring estates-kariobangi south, ngondo, Baraka, korogocho, gitare-marigo, maili-saba,lucky-Sama

Roads – juja road

Nearest town–Nairobi

Banks- severalbank branches and numerous ATM’s (co-operative, equity and post bank have branches)

Clinics-government clinics and private clinics

Baby care and pre-primary-many private baby dare care centres

Primary schools- james gichuru primary, dandora 1 primary, wangu primary school, tom mboya primary,ronard ngala primary, joy villa primary, city day primary, bishop dzomba  primary

Secondary schools-dandora secondary, freinds school

Colleges and university- no universities but several private secretarial, accounting and computer colleges

Religious institutions

• ·        Churches - deliverance, PCEA, gospel revivalcentre, PEFA, catholic, SDA among many others
• ·        Mosques- two within the estate (phase 3 and 5)
• ·        Indigenous religious churches

Famous for

kalamashaka hip-hop legend

This is the group pioneering the invent of hip-hop thecountry besides coming with a new unique hip-hop style that seeks to inform,encourage the masses on issues that affect them

In the words on a dead prez member on kalamashaka style on hip-hop,.. “Hip-hop is a powerful tool that we can use to educate those in the darkness so if a rapper grabs the microphone to rap about jewellery and material riches when his community is very poor then he is lying to the people because what he’s rapping about is not true. Our communities are poor we don’t own nothing so why should we rap about things we don’t own. The big companies pimping us so we should not easily fall in the trap,”

Dandora solid waste dumpsite

The main nairobi solid waste disposal site is adjacent to the estate and has been in operation over two decades now. In spite of the obvious dangers to the in habitats and the numerous attempts by NGO’s and civil society it is still there. In fact blacksmith institute labels it as one of the most polluted sites in the world

The good

1.      Food is reasonably priced

2.      Main roads are fairly good

3.      Businesses are more likely to succeed due to large number of customers

4.      Low occurrences of power outages

5.      Reasonable rent on houses

6.      Close proximity to banks and other financial facilities

7.      Reasonably priced support facilities such as salons etc

8.      taps don’t  usually run dry

9.      some recreational facilities such as sports stadia, social hall etc

10.  access to railway transportation

The bad

1.      Feeder roads are in a bad condition with bigpotholes and water pools

2.      TV and radio reception not very good

3.      Insufficient disposal of solid waste

4.      High number of mosquitoes increasing considerably chances of getting malaria

5.      Close proximity to estate pubs

6.      Security is wanting

7.      High number of unemployed youth that could pose major concerns such security etc

8.      Inadequate schools to meet the high number of school going children

9.      Problem of poor planning

10.  Poor communication infrastructure such as internet and fixed lined telephony

11.  poor hotel and accommodation facilities

The ugly

1.      Sewerage system in shambles

2.      Noisy due to high population

3.      No flora and fauna (trees or animals)

4.      Closeness to dangerous high voltage electricalillness that are believed to cause mental defects

5.      Insufficient transport services

6.      solid waste is disposed near the estate bringingserious implication on health

here are images of dandora