U.S. Marine Brings Hope to Hellish Slum
N A I R O B I, Kenya, Feb. 9 -- The beat of the drums is infectious. So is the energy of a tall, white man in the middle of a circle of drums.
Rye Barcott, 23, a young officer in the U.S. Marines, chose to spend his vacation in one of the worst slums in Africa. In fact, the Rhode Island native chose to spend the recent Christmas holiday here in Kenya, away from friends and family back in the United States, fully aware that at any time he might be ordered into action in the Persian Gulf.
Being a Marine is Barcott's sworn duty. Being in Kibera on a recent sunny Sunday afternoon is his passion.
For Barcott is also the founder and current president of Carolina for Kibera, a small humanitarian organization based out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Its purpose is simple: to help the people of Kibera, one of the worst slums in Nairobi, Kenya's capital. But it is an enormous challenge.
In Midst of Terrible Conditions, Simple Solutions
Kibera is a miserable place. Some 600,000 people are crammed into a space roughly the size of New York's Central Park.
There is virtually no running water, no sewage-disposal system, and no schools. The government doesn't even officially recognize the fact that more than half a million people live here.
Some families have been here for generations. Other families come from all over Kenya and, often illegally, from other parts of Africa in the hope of finding work in Nairobi. Instead, they find themselves not living, but barely existing, in the worst possible conditions.
Kibera is also a cauldron of inter-tribal conflict.
Barcott came to Kibera in the summer of 2000 on a fellowship to study youth culture and ethnic conflict. He had a basic knowledge of Swahili, the lingua franca here, but it didn't take him long to become nearly fluent. It was a skill that would serve him well as he moved around the dusty, notoriously dangerous, back lanes of Kibera.
He had regular contact with people in Kibera; he actually lived in the middle of the slum. It was then that something touched his heart.
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