Kawangware is a slum

Slum

A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...

 in Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

. It is about 15km from the city centre of Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

, to the West. It is between Lavington Estate

Lavington, Nairobi

Lavington is a suburb of Nairobi, Kenya. It is a high income residential estate located northwest of the city centre. Lavington belongs to the Westlands administrative division of Nairobi...

 and Dagoretti

Dagoretti

Dagoretti refers to an area in western Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Administratively it is one of eight divisions of Nairobi. The Dagoretti division is divided into six Locations...

. It has about hundreds of thousands of residents, many of whom are children. Water supplied by the city authority is not available every day. Safe drinking water is expensive in Kawangware.

A Kawangware Primary School, Kawangware School and Kawangware Academy exist. Many children in the slum do not attend school, however. Kawangware has supermarkets. The population is ethnically diverse. Kawangware has a library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

. Many persons in Kawangware are HIV-positive. Kawangware has a medcial clinic. Most people there live on less than USD$ 1 a day.
Other informal settlements in the Nairobi area include Huruma

Huruma

Huruma Estate is a residential estate located in the northeast of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. It borders Kariobangi and Dandora to the East, Moi Air Base to the south, Mathare to the North and Eastleigh to the West.- Notable residents :...

, Kiambiu

Kiambiu

Kiambiu is a slum in Nairobi, Kenya with 40-50,000 residents. Kiambiu is located 4 kilometers East of the center of Nairobi...

, Korogocho

Korogocho

Korogocho is one of the largest slum neighbourhoods of Nairobi, Kenya. Home to 150,000 to 200,000 people pressed into a 1.5 square kilometres, northeast of the city centre, Korogocho was founded as a shanty town on the then outskirts of the city. In 2009 it was estimated to be the fourth largest...

, Mukuru

Mukuru

Mukuru is the god worshipped by the Himba people of Namibia. Mukuru is an omnipotent deity. The deceased ancestors of the Himba are subservient to him.More strictly, Mukuru is not exactly "the Lord, the Divinity" but the link for man with him....

 and Kibera

Kibera

Kibera is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, located from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the second largest urban slum in Africa...

.