In the lobby of Nairobi’s Boulevard Hotel you’ll see signs promoting all manner of tourist sites, from a Maasai crafts market to animal parks to the Karen Blixen (Out of Africa) museum. For now, at least, you’re unlikely to see any signs promoting tours of Nairobi’s infamous Kibera slum, the largest slum in East Africa. But that doesn’t mean such tours are difficult t (...)
Short Take
Gullible Travels
THE ETHICS & ECONOMICS OF SLUM TOURS
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A few minutes watching news reports is all any of us need to appreciate the deplorable and despicable conditions so many people are forced to endure. Who exactly is responsible? That is the question we are afraid to address. A few dollars given to charitable relief may help for a few days but systemic change is needed if any long term improvement is to happen. Haiti is a good example: over a year later people are living in makeshift leanto tents, without sanitation, clean water, decent food or any hope of economic progress. Apparently over 80% of the people are unemployed. Yet we continue to support a Haiti government that is unable and unwilling to make any systemic changes or to work in concert with outside donors to build infrastructure housing, employment, schooling or any kind of economy that will be sustainable. As a country, we are totally remiss.