Africa Awaits!

Dr. Mike Rumpel leaves for Africa in one week. 
One of the many places they will be visiting is Mathare Valley.  According to one United Nations study, 60% of the population of Nairobi lives in slums which occupy about 5% of the land. The largest of these slums in Kibera, with an estimated 1.5 million residents. The oldest and worst of the slums in Nairobi are part of a collection of slums called Mathare with a population of approximately 700,000.
In Mathare, people live in small one room shanties made of old tin and mud, often occupied by 8-12 people. They sleep on pieces of cardboard on the dirt floors of the shanties. There are public toilets shared by up to 100 people and residents have to pay to use them. Those who cannot afford to pay use the alleys and ditches between the shanties. “Flying toilets” are plastic bags used by the residents and thrown to the wind or into the Nairobi River, which is the source of the residents water supply.
There are almost as many people in the three square miles that make up the Mathare Valley as in the cities of Denver, Seattle, or Boston. HIV rates are high. Children and teenagers are often left to care for their younger siblings. 

This is just one of the many incredible things Dr. Mike will witness to grow and learn.