My World: Kades

Kades is a slum kid, brought up in the crowded, corrugated township of Mathare in Nairobi where the streets are teeming crime, prostitution and disease.

Schooling is a luxury - one that Kades' mother could not afford - but he went anyway, and from the age of three he squatted at the back of the class.

When they sent him home, he just went back again. In the end, the teachers let him stay.

While many of his friends turned to crime or drugs to deal with the oppressive life in the slums, Kades saw his escape in the imagery of his poetry and his prose.

His purpose narrowed to getting his work published and his voice heard.

Listen to Kades as he tells his own story, set against the soundscape of the slums and interwoven with his poetry.

First broadcast Friday 5th June 2009