Church's Facing the Challenge of Poverty A Case Study of Korogocho Slum

Abstract

In this modest work, we are going to present the Church's Facing the Challenge of Poverty especially the case of Korogocho Slum. The first reason of choosing this topic is that we are interested in the social, economic and political problems going on today in Kenya, particularly in Nairobi. The second reason is the fact that the problems of injustice, according to our experience, find their apex in the slums, in our case Korogocho. All these social problems and their effects on human life are summarized as caused by Poverty, which is going to be our main theme throughout this long essay. In the first chapter, we are going to give a short explanation of poverty in all its forms. The second chapter will be the facts on poverty as lived and experienced in Korogocho. We will also talk of urbanization as the backbone of the birth of the slums; and the last section will be on the presence of the Church in Korogocho. The third chapter is going to portray God's intervention on behalf of the exploited, the oppressed through prophets, Jesus of Na72reth, and the Early Christian Community. Finally our last chapter will be the mission of the Church which is the hope of this research: The Church's Facing the Challenge of Poverty in Korogocho. Therefore, our final aim is, first of all, to be aware of the problems or sufferings caused by the different sort of injustices or rather the presence of unjust structure which many people are living in (e.g. Korogocho). Secondly, to take this as a challenge for us lay people and religious and also as a challenge for the Church at large.