Kibera residents have complained about being used as objects by poverty tourists.
According to an Aljazeera report, residents feel the tourists are viewing them as lesser mortals while other organisations and individuals are using them to enrich themselves.
One of the residents, Sylestine Awino, interviewed by the entity expressed her dissatisfaction with the new trend in Kenya’s capital city.
The 34-year-old mother frowned at the kind of tourism taking place in Kibera compared to what she used to see in Mombasa, where she lived five years ago.
“This was strange. I used to see families from Europe and the United States flying to Mombasa to enjoy our oceans and beaches. Seeing the same tourists maneuvering this dusty neighborhood to see how we survive was shocking,” she told Aljazeera.
Apart from the shock, she explains how she was humiliated when one tourist tried photographing her without consent.
“I felt like an object. I wanted to yell at them, but I was afraid of the tour guides accompanying them,” she explains.
She questions how the whites will feel if an African toured their homelands and tried to document how their poor citizens.
She disagrees with locals who say the activity has created employment to tour guides.
Awino also urges the tourists to look for alternative ways of helping slum dwellers as opposed to ‘using’ them as objects.
“Think of the vice versa. What would happen to an African like me in Eirope or America, touring and taking photos of their poor citizens?” she questions.