On 20 November 2023, gumboots won the fashion vote along the Ngong River — mud climbing ankles, rake teeth biting plastic, someone laughing because the alternative was crying.
ETCO worked alongside Power Engineers, Ecologists Without Borders (EcoWB), the German Embassy through UN‑Habitat, the Nairobi Rivers Commission, local groups, and Nairobi Governor’s “Green Army.” Chiefs showed up — Madam Elizabeth led three chiefs — alongside the Assistant County Commissioner, putting administrative weight behind community sweat.
What we moved
Three hundred and twenty people were sensitised; one hundred and five joined the clean‑up hands‑on. Two hundred and fifty metres of riverbank were cleared. The scales told the blunt story: 3.4 tonnes of wet waste and 0.23 tonnes of dry waste — bags dragged uphill, flies defeated temporarily, dignity restored a little.
Drainage is not glamorous policy; it is whether your child can walk to school without wading through filth. Conversations like this matter because they connect symptoms — flooding, smell, disease — to systems that can change.
The Green Army’s presence mattered — not as spectacle, but as proof that city leadership can show up beside residents instead of only speaking about them.
When the bags were counted and the bank looked steeper, nobody pretended the river was “fixed.” We simply left clearer than we found — and more awake to what must come next.
We are grateful to everyone who came and to those who cheered from afar. Rivers need repeat visitors, not one‑day heroes. Stay close for the next outing — #LetTheRiversFlow — and help us keep partners at the table.
