NGONG RIVER CLEAN UP
Tomorrow is the day. Tonight, someone in Kibera is listening to rain on iron sheets and doing maths no one should have to do—how high is the water, how fast can we move the mattress, which path is still passable with a child on your back.
Flooding is not a headline here; it is a neighbour knocking at 3 a.m., a shoe floating past your door, a smell that lingers after the water goes down. The Ngong River carries more than water—it carries plastic, soil, and everything careless days have dumped upstream.
Unclogging a river is not romantic work. It is sacks, shovels, sweat, and the stubborn belief that if water can flow, maybe next week a family sleeps dry. It is also community courage: showing up when you are tired, because tired is still better than trapped.
We are showing up to let the river breathe again—so when the clouds return, Kibera is not paying the full price for other people’s waste. Come early. Wear boots if you have them. Bring gloves. Bring a friend. Bring the kind of patience that outlasts one morning. #LetTheRiversFlow
If you cannot lift a sack, you can still help: stop trash at the source, call out dumping, and remind each other that a river is not a convenient place to make problems disappear.
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.