Growing up in Saika, an estate in Eastlands, Nairobi, a group of youths noticed a worrying trend amongst the people in the community who were involved in farming.

The natural sources of water for the urban farmers were the Nairobi and Ngong rivers and they were lined with waste, much of it toxic, that had been poured or washed in upstream.

“We saw women in our community using toxic water on their farms, which was a point of concern for us. We saw it fit to train them on safe farming practices for their gardens,” says John Njoroge.

The group of youths had, by that time, organized themselves, created a Community-Based Organisation and christened it Mwengenye Lifestyle, with their objective being to tackle some of their community’s most pressing needs. John Njoroge is the chairman of the group, which was formed in 2015.

They identified food security and unemployment among those challenges, and their solution came from dealing with solid waste.

The process starts with collecting the waste from the river, which is then broken down and converted into manure by being fed to black soldier flies. The manure, known as frass, is then used by farmers as organic fertiliser for their crops, with the bountiful harvests of vegetables helping solve the food security question. It can also be used as feed for chickens or pigs.

As much as the group had found success in black soldier fly farming, they noticed challenges in breaking down the waste into sizes small enough for the flies to chew.

It was taking the group as much as 15 days to produce manure, which was a slow turnover for their business.

This need saw them reach out to Safaricom Foundation, whose Ndoto Zetu initiative caters to communities’ needs. The Foundation provided them with a shredding machine, which reduces the waste they collect into finer particles for the soldier flies to chew more effectively. The time taken to break down the waste with the shredder in place was reduced to seven days, which improved their incomes.

The organisation has created job opportunities for youth in Saika Location through waste collection, gardening, animal feed sales, community training on organic waste farming, and waste shredding. The group is looking forward to roping in more youth in its waste management enterprise.

“We believe that community empowerment is not just about handouts or short-term solutions, we believe that we can solve unemployment through long term solutions such as this waste shredder which we will use for waste management to create a channel for income generation. We are open to exposing the youth in our village to how waste management can bring money into their pockets,” says Njoroge.

Watch the video below to learn more about this initiative.