The Power of Biography
Can anything that can be done for such women as Kanini? No one is ready to present their cry to the world."
Book cover (buy)
Thus concludes the eighteenth narrative of Slum, the book written by Genesis and Faith Njeru that is the consummation of this project of presenting the people of Kibera to the world.
About the book
After several months of building relationships with families in Kibera, Genesis and Faith – both current tenants of a small one-room house in the Laini Saba village of Kibera – wrote a book that is, in essence, a composite biography of life in Kibera. They set out to explore several questions of relevance to a wide audience:
- What it is like to live in a slum?
- How does someone ends up living in such a place as Kibera?
- Do tenants view it as a place to build a home or a tragedy to escape from?
The authors are thrilled, excited, and nervous to offer their first published work to the world, but they have and continue to trust in their Lord to bless the outcomes, whatever they may be.
Why biography?
Readers may wonder, "Is it not unnatural to write a biography about seemingly anonymous, poverty-stricken people in eastern Africa? Why would I want to read that?"
Facts are critical, but they penetrate chiefly the mind.
Stories, however, can rend the heart in two.
From Chapter 1 of Slum
It is true that traditional biographies focus on celebrities, world leaders, athletes, pop stars, or otherwise famous deceased people. Some subjects of biography have had a lasting impact on the world; others merely tap into an ephemeral moment of fame.
Whatever the case, people around the world may value facts, statistics, and news on one level, but what truly impact peoples' hearts and minds are relationships. It is one thing to read a news report about half a million people who die in a foreign country from AIDS. It is entirely different to get to know one of them through a story written by his neighbor.
Thus, the authors believe that, while Kibera has not lacked for research studies and other efforts by a host of organizations, the magnitude of the issues that daily crush the people who live there will not usually have much of an impact if only the mind is briefly engaged during an onslaught of numbing statistics. A perhaps more lasting effect may arise when the very core of an individual is pierced with insight into the real lives of ordinary people in Kibera.
Such is the premise of this book. It is an exploration of the lives of 18 families as well as the author and his wife, following his journey of adulthood as he struggles for work, finds a wife, becomes a father, and attempts to do something significant for his community.
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