Kenya: Toxic dump, transcendent music

By Magdalene Mukami and Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Korogocho in Kenya’s capital Nairobi is among the most dangerous slums in the East African country, with high rates of domestic violence, poverty, crime, and narcotics abuse, among other woes.

One might think that growing up is a normal passage of life, a right granted to everyone, but not in Korogocho, one of the biggest slums in Kenya and home to over 300,000 people.

Growing up in “Koch,” as many local residents call it, is no easy task.

“If the police don’t kill you for being involved in petty crimes, then thugs who are everywhere will rob you and stab you or even shoot you,” said resident Grahm Njenga, 17.

“If you survive that, then we have the trash dump which causes so many diseases. If you survive all that then like all the people from around here, you can survive by scavenging at the dump for food and valuables,” he added, confirming that one man's trash is indeed another man's treasure.

- Dark side

What Njenga has not been told is that even the Dandora dump, which brings food to the table for many area residents, has a sinister side that few realize.

The site is the largest dump in Kenya, getting 2,500 tons of garbage a day from households belonging to the 3.5 million people who live in Nairobi.

Njenga and his peers used to spend hours every day collecting plastics and metal from the mountains of garbage to make toys which they later sold.

But a study conducted by the United Nations on 300 students from the Korogocho area found that more than half of the children were found to suffer from respiratory and waterborne diseases, and some 30 percent of the children had been poisoned by heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, chromium and lead.

The heavy metals were found in the water, food, soil and vegetation collected from around the site.

Thirteen-year-old Jason Ojwang explains that he climbs mountains of hazardous waste every day, rummaging and scratching through medical, industrial, organic, and toxic waste, sometimes in bare feet.

“I have to collect as much scrap metal and plastic as I can so that I can support my brothers and sisters,” he said.

“At first I was afraid of getting cut by broken glass, or pierced by used syringes, and the bad smell, but I got used to it. Even though I have asthma I can’t stop helping my family, as going to school won’t feed us,” he explained.

- Hope

But here there is also hope for the slum children.

Elizabeth Njoroge started a music school in the Korogosho slums, an institution which has so far enlisted over 650 children to transform their lives through music. The children come in whenever they want -- in little but rags, in bare feet, it does not matter, everyone is welcome.

Ojwang is among those who visit the Ghetto Classics Orchestra to play musical instruments, hoping that one day he will become a famous classical composer like Beethoven.

“Playing music has given me new hope and I get better and better every day,” said the young teenager. “I can even play three instruments. I couldn’t have learned this if I had spent all my days at the dump. Being here will give me a bright future.”

The Ghetto Orchestra has changed the lives of many children in the slums, taken many out of a life of crime, and offered them a promise for the future.

Njoroge says that some of her students have had the chance to play not only locally but internationally. She says this is how she is changing the lives of children in the Korogosho slums, by providing them with a promising future when society turns a blind eye.

- Tough environment

“The environment that we operate in here in Korogosho is very, very difficult for the kids,” Njoroge told Anadolu Agency, as a noisy class was in session.

“The actual environment is very tough because we have the trash dump just behind us and it often sends toxic smoke our way. There’s a lot of crime, a lot of robbery, a lot of sexual violence, and it is very depressing for the kids.”

Over her shoulder students could be seen playing violins, drums, guitars, trumpets, euphoniums, trombones, and tubas, among other instruments.

“We also have a lot of extreme poverty here,” she explained. “You don’t have even something to eat, let alone go to school. Even having clothes to wear is always a challenge for the kids.

“Our children being here in the music project keeps them away from crime, it makes them role models for their brothers, their sisters, their neighbors.

“If they can stay out of crime and succeed, hopefully that will inspire other people around them to want to do the same.”

- Optimism

17-year-old Linet Akinyi, who joined the project three years ago, is sitting on a bench playing a famous song on a guitar by Kenyan Afro-pop band Sauti Sol while singing passionately in an ethereal voice.

She says that even though her father always tells her that the guitar will not take her anywhere in life, she is optimistic that one day she will become a famous musician with roots in the Korogocho slums.

The United Nations has called on governments in Africa to support youth to fight poverty and unemployment, both of which are very high in Sub-Saharan Africa, to realize the 17 global goals for sustainable development by 2030.

Mohammed Yahya, the UN Development Program’s Africa regional program coordinator, told Anadolu Agency that the youth of today will be adults by 2030, so “achieving the goals is a youth issue”.