Words Are a Place to Stand Journals by Young Women in Kibera, Kenya

The study analyzes 5 months of daily journal entries by young women residing in Kibera, the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings are similar to previous findings about young women in impoverished urban environments, revealing few female support networks among this population. However, results show many supportive, one-to-one relationships between among women, indicating that poverty and socialization may impede larger networks that could otherwise occur. They also reveal flexible relationships between so-called street and non-street women as well as the use of journals to create a private space in an otherwise completely public existence.