The only hills in sight composed of a cinderblock sprawl of informalsettlements built on top of one another, many fortified with only cardboard and laminate.
Most people stay in informalsettlements and are unemployed, which makes it difficult for parents to pay school fees and to help their children with school matters.
The World Bank, too, whose work in developing countries long emphasized grand infrastructure projects like dams and bridges, is now financing modest but significant improvements in the world's informalsettlements.
To deal with the pressing housing problem, the government has shifted its emphasis from building new brick and mortar houses toward in-situ upgrading of existing informalsettlements and providing access to services.