Restoring landscapes through community mentorship and clean-up activities
Komb Green Solutions is a CBO based in Korogocho, a low income settlement area in Nairobi, Kenya. The youth led organisation focuses on River Nairobi clean-up, environmental restoration and community mentorship. It has 35 members who are reformed youth.
The CBO has converted a former dumping site to a sprawling park dubbed the “The People’s Park” complete with an urban vegetable garden, a tree nursery and multiple ‘chill spots.’
Part of the organisation are a group of women who are doing more than merely restoring the ecosystem, they are restoring their community too. The women are all drawn from Korogocho. Before joining Komb Green, they engaged in either commercial sex work, sold illegal drugs and cheap alcohol within slum and/or did menial jobs. Komb Green has given them a space to productively engage and contribute to achieving a goal bigger than themselves.
The women are led by Lilian Ogola, their chairlady. Others include; Celine Anyango the treasurer, Ann Wangui the Programs Coordinator together with Lilian Nabwire and Sheila Sanya who are both members.
They are passionate about mentoring young girls in their community to combat the “epidemic” of teenage pregnancy linked to high rates of unsafe abortions and young mothers prevalent in their community. Ann wangui, for example, a former acrobat with Sarakasi Dancers group, runs an acrobatics program for young girls to keep them engaged and provide them with skills that can be leveraged to generate an income. They also donate sanitary towels to teenage girls and teach safe sex practices and family planning methods. This is to mitigate unplanned teenage pregnancies. A memorial Park has also been established in the park where they bury the bodies of aborted babies that end up in the Nairobi River and are discovered during clean up exercises.
Half of the produce from the CBO’s vegetable garden is used for a feeding program and the other half sold at the local market. This program was started during the COVID-19 Pandemic where vulnerable children and families are treated to lunch every Saturday.
Komb green also conducts mentorship sessions for children where they are taught about environmental conservation. Lastly, the group also engages in pig and poultry farming as income generating activities.
