U.S. Marine Brings Hope to Hellish Slum

N A I R O B I, Kenya, Feb. 9, 2003 -- 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.

"You cannot come to Kibera and not want to do something, to help in some way, however small," said Barcott.

Barcott chose to do more. Blessed with seemingly boundless energy, he set about mobilizing people to organize. First, he set up a Youth Sports Association, which was essentially a soccer league for boys and girls in Kibera. The key is that each team is composed of players from all the ethnic groups found in the slum.

Barcott served as referee at one of the matches over Christmas. During a break in play he said, "A few months ago, the brothers and sisters of these children were fighting each other, sometimes to the death." Now they were playing for the same team.

‘Sacrifice for Success’

Perhaps the most remarkable project funded by Carolina for Kibera is the Rye Clinic.

Back in 2000, just before he left Kenya after spending a summer in Kibera during his first visit, Barcott gave an unemployed nurse named Tabitha Festo 2,000 Kenyan shillings, which is worth about $25.

Festo used the money to buy fruits and vegetables. For the next six months she traveled to the most dangerous part of Nairobi to sell the vegetables at prices that allowed her to make a small profit. She was able to save about 13,000 shillings, about $177, in those six months.

She then quit selling the fruit and vegetables and returned to her real dream of opening a small medical clinic in Kibera. "I was aiming to start a clinic," said Festo. "My head was in the clinic the whole time."

When Barcott returned the following year, he was shocked to find a clinic in his name.

The Rye Clinic treats about 17 patients a day, from every corner of the slum. Whether the patient suffers from AIDS, malaria, or tuberculosis, Festo sees them all.

With a budget of under $1,000 per month, the Rye Clinic spends half of that money on medicine. After a promising start, the clinic is starting to struggle.

A recent financial survey indicated it might not be possible to continue to provide affordable medical services to any resident in Kibera. Some people are currently getting treated for free, others at extremely low costs. The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi donated $5,000 for purchase of laboratory equipment, but even that may not be enough.

Barcott made an unusually despondent comment recently: "Frankly, I don't know what will happen."

But the Rye Clinic's motto is "Sacrifice for Success" — and nobody in Kibera believes Barcott has any intention of quitting now.