As the 13 families in Kichinjio village in Kibera pondered their next action after they were left homeless following a fire incident on Saturday, this was not the case for some of the children in the slum.
They saw it as an opportunity to search for any property that could be useful to them and earn them some little cash.
"This is an exercise all children embrace in Kibera. They love moving to places where there has been a fire incident. They collect items that could be useful to them or the community. Mostly, they collect iron sheets that can be sold to scrap metal dealers in exchange for cash,’ said Imelda Keya.
Keya who also deals in scrap metal was, however, categorical that she does not take any item from any child without knowing where its source.
"Some other people come to search what is not theirs. They pretend to be searching for scrap metal and end up stealing from the fire victims. During yesterday’s fire many people lost their phones. The thieves pretend to be helping the affected families and if you are not careful they end up stealing the property,’ she added.
Edward Kalenje said he had salvaged some of his clothes which were in a metallic box but later found out that the box had been stolen.