National Tree Planting Day
Nyayo Highrise Ward held soil like a promise today — holes dug, seedlings unwrapped, hands pressing earth firm around roots. ETCO stood with Power Engineers, EcoWB, LLWF, ESNAC, Amani Kibera, Highrise Garbage Youth Initiative, and others.
Area Chief Mr Kennedy watched the lines of volunteers; group leaders spoke plainly about why trees matter in a place where shade is currency and floods do not read speeches.
Representatives from Canaan Estate, Andolo, Lindi, and SeaFar field joined the effort. By the end, three hundred and fifty seedlings had addresses — small flags on a map that desperately needs green.
The Deputy President’s national push — fifteen billion trees — can feel far away when you are holding one seedling and hoping it survives the week. Still, today was not abstract. It was mud under nails and a shared refusal to surrender the future to dust.
Kenya talks about billions of trees; we contributed our honest three hundred and fifty toward that national dream. Water them with us: follow our environmental days, volunteer, and help us protect the saplings from goats and neglect.
Trees are not charity props; they are shade for meetings, anchors for soil, and quiet teachers for children who deserve to grow up with green in the corner of their eye.
If you passed by and saw muddy knees and tired smiles, that was the work — not performance, proof.
We will be back to check stakes, chase stray plastic, and remind each other that care is not a one-day costume.
Engaging Children through Feeding Program
Thanks to Chris and Jayne, ETCO had a warm feeding program for children at our new office—bringing joy, a good meal, and community together in Kibera.
Project Site Visit by Rotary Club of IPSWICH (USA) and Kikuyu (Kenya)
It was a great and engaging day of partnership and learning as we hosted the International Rotary Club of IPSWICH team, led by Environmental Lawyer Chris and his wife, Jane, Former President of Rotary Club of Kikuyu Hon. George Ngotho and Rotarian Yumbya for a visit to our project implementation sites. The visit provided an opportunity to review the project areas on the ground, discuss implementation priorities, and strengthen our shared commitment to sustainable environmental and community development. We also had the opportunity to visit the Nairobi Rivers Commission (NRC), where we were hosted by Commissioner Dr. Loice Kipkorir, a member of the Ngong River Committee. We explored opportunities to strengthen collaboration and align our work with the Nairobi Rivers Commission's Restoration Framework.
Community Capacity Building Training
We are currently participating in the ongoing PROVE (Public Space Governance Research, Observation, Validation and Experimentation) Pilot Programme, a four-month initiative by Public Space Networks (PSN) bringing together 11 community groups from Kamukunji and Korogocho. The programme focuses on strengthening community organizations’ capacity to manage, protect and improve public spaces as well as restoring rivers and it's ecosystems. The ongoing capacity-building training is helping CBOs and community organizations better understand the connection between public spaces, river restoration and ecosystem conservation, while exploring practical approaches and stronger collaboration among communities, government agencies, development partners and other stakeholders.