Warriors Too Young

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by Janet Wagner

is plan to collect information through interviews proved problematic. Many viewed his research as exploitation of their plight, and some of his most willing participants just wanted to convince him that they were worthy of charity. He managed to interview 126 people, mostly young males. He asked about his subjects’ origins (many residents had left small villages in search of a better life), worldview, ethos, and aspirations. From interviews with their elders, he learned something of Kibera’s history. Surprised by the low regard his subjects had for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Barcott added a third component to his research: an assessment of the efficacy of NGO programs.

NGOs, which are funded by private donors or other governments, are the residents’ only hope for emergency relief or developmental aid. (According to official government maps, Kibera has no inhabitants and therefore doesn’t receive government services.)

"Because people are so tightly packed into small huts and children play beside open sewage and garbage," Barcott explains, "Kibera is a public health concern."

"My course work and extracurricular projects formed a strong framework for my field research," Barcott says. "But I didn’t realize how ineffectual NGOs can be—some even use the slum residents’ situation for their own gain." He identified many NGO problems, including annual shifts in leadership (and consequently, in focus) and failure to include slum residents in the organization.

Barcott believes that NGOs should "help prevent conflict" rather than primarily address its aftermath "because that’s costly and often has unintended consequences." He was impressed by a sports association in another slum that gave young people structured activities, required community service, and espoused a positive ethos that was absorbed by the kids.

fter his return to Chapel Hill, Barcott pored over his research while writing his senior honors thesis and teaching a class on ethnic cleansing as part of Carolina Students Taking Academic Responsibility through Teaching. He was struck by the residents’ high regard for education—many parents will do anything to pay school fees because they see education as a way out of the slum. In the absence of free public education and employment opportunities, young people are left idle and hopeless—easy targets for manipulation. "Young males are used by political candidates to crush opposition and rally support," Barcott explains. "But they have to be instigated—from my experience such activities didn’t originate with the young people."

Barcott has created Carolina for Kibera, a nonprofit charitable corporation, to draw attention to the slum’s problems. He hopes to raise money and awareness with an exhibition at Carolina of photographs taken by children in Nairobi’s Mathare slum.

Last summer he used $400 to fund a microcredit loan program aimed at Kibera’s young people. If he secures funding, Barcott wants to help develop that NGO, as well as a sports association and a nursery school when he returns to Kibera this summer.

"I think," Barcott says, "the projects have a thirty percent chance of success and every step will be a struggle. The real challenge will be to instill an enterprising spirit in the leadership." It’s a challenge he’s eager to tackle. "I have a long-term commitment to Kibera," Barcott explains. "I made a lot of friends, and even though it was tough living, I really liked the place."

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© 2001 Endeavors, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All rights reserved.