How Lack Of Playing Fields Expose Nairobi Children To Danger

Children have to make do with the rooftop which has its risks and which also serves as the place for airing clothes or the corridors and sometimes the road.

However, because this is a place where every inch of the road is this or that traders territory, and because motorcycles and vehicles are ubiquitous, roads are a no-go zone for children.

And so it happened that on the eventful day, a gate to the back of the building, where a small garden exists, was open. The garden, about three metres wide, is located between the buildings wall and the compounds wall.

The parents dont know who opened the gate. The known contact of the caretaker was switched off by the time of filing this report, so we couldnt tell the property owners story.

Seeing a rare chance to play in a green space, and unaware of the danger posed by the cables above the garden that appeared docile, the children went on with their games.

Says Mr Musau: That gate (to the garden) should only be opened during emergencies. It shouldnt be opened at other times. Children dont know the hazards of where they are playing. Even those who touched that didnt know what they were doing. They do not know about electricity.

Here, the playing space is the rooftop and along the corridors, says Mr Okandi. There is no playing space. But you cant leave here and go to an expensive estate (with playing space). You have to be where you can afford rent.

Kenya Power advises the public not to build houses too close to power lines, but given that the owner was permitted to construct a house there, and because there are many other houses close to the line, one gets a feeling that this wont be the last tragedy involving the high-voltage line.

Ensure that your buildings, structures or operations are not under or very near power lines, says Kenya Power in its guidelines.

Parenting spoke with Mr Henry Ochieng, the CEO of the Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations (Kara), on the matter of playing spaces for children.

His opinion is that had everyone been playing by the rules, there would be plenty of playing spaces for children.

The ideal situation is that every neighbourhood and every development in an estate must have provision for social amenities, and that will include playing fields for children. This is something that is common sense, because you cant put up development where youre going to have people living and then you dont make provision for children to play. So, the truth of the matter is that the estates that are coming up in the recent past dont have provisions for playing fields. Or rather, the provision is there, but because of what I would call the greed of the developers, they turned those playing fields into spaces for construction, says Mr Ochieng.

So, you find that we have estates where children are forced to play on the estate roads, that poses danger, he adds.

A September 2020 report by the UN-Habitat Kenya titled the Nairobi City County Public Space Inventory and Assessment Report indicated that the capital city has more than 826 public spaces, among them 99 playgrounds, 51 sports fields, 15 parks and 19 gardens, among others.

However, most of these public spaces are under immense pressure from grabbers and are diminishing by the day.

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