The once clear waters of the Ngong River are currently either black or grey in color with a sulfur-like smell that has made life impossible for the neighbouring communities.
The Ngong River running through Kibera, the most populous slum in Nairobi, is choking with human, industrial and medical waste which has replaced aquatic life forms and other essentials. The slum convulses in water stress, chaotic stench and open sewers.
The Ngong River, a pale shadow of its former self, is an open sewer with visible industrial chemical pollution, raw sewage and plastic waste. Over the years, the government has tried to rehabilitate the river with no much success, raising the question whether the regeneration program is a fallacy or cosmetic.
However, all is not lost. A group of youths have shunned complaining and taken upon themselves to clean the river and make their dwellings clean and livable.
The Mazingira Yetu Organization has mobilized one hundred and ten young people from the Kibera sub county to restore the Ngong River.
The holistic river restoration exercise involving construction of abolition blocks, solid waste separation centers, sewer lines repair, cleaning up of the river and offering job opportunities to the youth is indeed a game changer.
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