Inside The Slums

On a previous Word of Mouth, we spoke with NPR’s Eric Weiner about the growing trend of slum tourism where Westerners pay to visit the townships of Johannesburg, the settlements along the landfills of Mexico City, and see people living off the garbage piles in the slums of Mumbai.

It’s a fine line between education and exploitation, one that the BBC’s Will Ross learned about first hand. Ross visited the slums of Kibera, Kenya to ask whether shanty town tours are voyeurism or a boon to the local economy.

You can listen to this piece at the BBC's One Planet.

(Photo by khym54 via Flickr/Creative Commons)