Safiyah sold most of the stuff she found at the dump. When she hid the handful of magazines behind her back, the boy leaped at her again. But the boy’s friends had already found something more interesting in the garbage. Sometimes they beat them up or stole things from them. She had seen gangs of boys corner lone girls before. With each jump, the boy’s hands came a little closer.

She held the old magazines high in the air where he couldn’t reach them. Suddenly, one broke away and leaped at her. Not far from where Safiyah stood, a pack of small boys tussled like mangy dogs over a heap of old clothes. A thick blanket of cloud and dirty smoke hid the concrete buildings and busy roads of nearby Nairobi. Below her lay the Kibera slum, a patchwork of rusty tin roofs. Safiyah stood ankle-deep in garbage near the top of the dump. ContentsĪ few facts about life in an African slum Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.Īnd their nephews Harrison and Isaiah. Orca Book Publishers is dedicated to preserving the environment and has printed this book on paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.®

Summary: A mural on a tin shack brings hope and happiness to a girl in the slums of Nairobi. Library of Congress Control Number: 2011943725 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The Paper House by Lois Peterson