After the floods, the GBV: The double tragedy for women in Kenya’s informal settlements

When the rains finally came to Nairobi at the beginning of March, many residents were grateful: The dry season had been long, and the city desperately needed a reprieve. But then the nightly showers turned torrential, and residents across the city’s informal settlements began to worry.

In Baba Dogo, a small slum along the Mathare River, locals watched on the evening of 6 March as the waters began to surge, rising up the banks and washing over the footbridges that they relied on each day. As the night wore on, the floodwater flowed over the deep ravine and into the neighbourhood’s lowest – and poorest – homes.

As water pooled around her ankles, Florence Owilo joined her housemates in scrambling to the rooftop of their low cinderblock building, passing small children between them up to the corrugated metal sheets, hoping they’d be safe from the floodwaters.

Other residents were on their roofs, or sheltering in apartments on higher ground. Consolata Owoko, 17, and her 12 family members – all of whom shared a small ground-level unit – made their way to an upstairs neighbour’s balcony, crowding together and watching the flash flood carry debris downstream.

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