Malindi nyumba kumi clean up
“Nyumba Kumi” is a Swahili term that translates to “ten houses” in English. It refers to a community policing initiative in Kenya where residents in a neighborhood are grouped into units of about ten households each. The members of these units are encouraged to know each other well, share information about any suspicious activities, and work together to ensure the safety and security of their neighborhood. The concept is aimed at fostering a sense of community, improving security, and enhancing cooperation among neighbors.
On 11th May 2024, Kwetu yetu CBO joined the Malindi monthly clean-up, dubbed/themed, “Safisha mtaa wako – Refuse single-use plastic” which took place in Malindi town in Kilifi County, from police station junction to Naivas Lamu road. The clean-up of the street was a sensitization to the businesses along the street on the need to take care of their business environment and return the entire street to cleanliness with respect to the Nyumba Kumi initiative. It was also a capacity-building event on waste segregation at collection where different bags were dedicated to a specific type of waste.
At the end of the collection exercise, when the truck came to pick up the garbage collected we realized that the loaders were mixing the waste directly into the truck. We notified the organizers of the clean-up and we had some discussion on the spot, to explain the importance of waste segregation. In attendance was the Environment Judge of the Malindi court, who also was in support of taking the waste to landfill segregation. He also mentioned that the ideal situation would be to have trucks that have compartments for each kind of waste.
