WASTE TO WEALTH

Story, photos and video by Annika McGinnis
An InfoNile project supported by Code for Africa

Story Summary

Karen Ondiek of Kajulu Village, Kenya, was struggling. After her husband died to leprosy, she was left alone to care for her 9 children on her small farm on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Though she spent days toiling in the hot sun, machete at her side, money from sales of her vegetables wasn’t enough to cover her children’s school fees. After primary school, her two eldest children dropped out. Her one-room mud house was falling apart.

But a solution came from the most unexpected of places – something usually considered a disgusting byproduct rather than a resource – human and animal waste.

Over the past three years, Ondiek has been generating the gas she uses for fuel from cow dung and human excrement.

After community-based organization Ecofinder Kenya helped her install a special contraption that generates gas from cow dung and a human latrine in 2012, Ondiek said her life was transformed.

She began cooking with the produced gas, which meant she did not have to cut down as many trees for firewood and could cook with less smoke, which was better for her health.

She used the waste generated from the gas as a fertilizer-free manure, planting a new garden of sugarcanes that did not degrade the land and waters around.

By selling her sugarcanes, manure and groundwater, Ondiek’s earnings grew, and after three years she was able to construct a new, sturdy house with several rooms and electricity.

“Since then, I’ve been very, very happy,” Ondiek said. “I feel I’m better than those who are wealthy.”

Rather than criminalizing the communities that live within and depend upon the wetlands, Ecofinder takes an innovative approach to conserving the swamps that help clean and protect the enormous lake that sustains the economies of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

From 2014 to 2017, Ecofinder worked with 12 households in the villages of Yala, Dunga, Kusa and Koguta along the lakeshores, offering families incentives that boosted their incomes in exchange for them to conserve the environment.

Some were installed with the Ecosan toilets that convert waste to gas. These toilets also generate manure used for the local farms that helps protect the wetlands around, rather than destroying them through the use of chemical fertilizers.

Other households were provided with solar lamps or helped to install water pumps.

In return, the households agreed not to plant too close to the wetland’s edge, use at least 10 percent of their land to plant trees that attract birds, and become a “farmer-to-farmer teacher,” where they opened their doors to the community, modeled their new farming techniques and encouraged neighbors to also sign so-called “conservation agreements.”

After the three years of the project, Ecofinder found through a scientific study that some wetland plants had grown back that help the swamp to purify water.

People living near the lake had also reduced their harvesting of papyrus reeds and instead practiced paddock harvesting, which allows the reeds to regrow.

There were more fish in the wetlands partly because of less cutting down of ambatch trees, where fish come to breed.

Ecofinder also found that community members’ livelihoods had improved alongside the health of the swamps.

To the staff, their model works because the team takes time to work with each farmer one-on-one to develop plans that also boost their incomes.

Ecofinder helps the farmers map out where they should plant trees, where they should keep their cows, said Richard Ojijo, a tour guide and team leader.

Instead of receiving the technologies as a handout, the households also must help finance the interventions.

For instance, during the construction of Ondiek’s Ecosan toilet, she was responsible for feeding and accommodating the workers during the 2 weeks of installment.

The project funded by CREE and the MacArthur Foundation constructed 14 hybrid biogas systems, 46 Ecosan toilets, 660 solar lamps and 602 improved cook stoves, reaching 1020 households in the swamps.

Ninety-nine entrepreneurs, more than half women, were also trained in establishing “nature-based” enterprises such as ecotourism centers and tourist activities that celebrate the animals and nature of the area.

Through the organic farming started with the help of her Ecosan toilet, Ondiek plans to start machine agriculture to earn enough for her children to attend secondary school. She, herself, dropped out after primary school.

One of her children wants to become a medical doctor; another, a teacher. The smallest one has dreams to become a police officer.

From a small project that started by transforming waste into capital, Ondiek believes they may yet achieve their dreams.

Though wetlands make up just 3 to 4 percent of Kenya’s land area, they are critical to sustaining the health of the country’s people and environment.

The swamps control floods, clean water of pollutants that enter streams and rivers from Kenya’s urban areas, and help support agriculture and livestock, especially during the dry season. This is according to the Kenya Wetlands Atlas produced in 2012 by the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme.

Wetlands are also critical in reducing climate change, as they naturally store carbon dioxide, preventing the gases from being released into the atmosphere.

But the swamps have been severely degraded in recent decades due to climate change, new dams, and encroachment by agriculture and human communities, the Atlas reported.

Wetland loss in Kenya has worsened Kenya’s current water crisis, with widespread scarcity and rationing as rapid urbanization has strained water resources.

Climate change and drought have triggered conflicts over water, especially among pastoral communities. Recent floods near Nairobi that destroyed homes and vehicles were heightened by destruction of the swamps that usually help prevent them.

Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, one of Africa’s fastest growing cities, literally doubled in size in 20 years- a change seen from space.

In 2017, about 27 percent of Kenya’s population was urban, with dramatic growth also within the coastal trade city of Mombasa and the lakeside port of Kisumu.

For the once-small, sleepy lakeside town, transport infrastructures are developing rapidly. A new port is expected to be built in the next year or two, and a Chinese-funded railway is in the works that aims to connect the Lake Victoria economies to global markets via Mombasa on the Indian Ocean.

Kenya shares Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, with its neighbors Uganda and Tanzania.

The East African nations have historically relied upon its waters for fish harvesting, especially since the introduction of the predator fish Nile perch in the 1950s fueled international exports.

But Kisumu- along with the lakeside cities of Kampala and Entebbe in Uganda and Mwanza in Tanzania- has struggled as fishing revenues have plummeted in recent years.

The issues are once again tied to the swamps. Loss of wetlands, illegal fishing, urban sewage and pollution and a nasty infestation of the water hyacinth weed have hastened the industry’s decline.

Without the swamps as their breeding grounds, the fish cannot survive.

Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute data shows that the country’s annual fish stocks reduced from 5,000 tonnes to 2,500 tonnes in recent years, The Standard reported.

As the industries have shuttered, fishermen have been forced to look for alternative livelihoods, Omondi said.

Kenya has even begun importing frozen fish from China – which are cheaper for Kenyans to consume than buying ones from their local markets.

Kenya does not currently have a national policy on wetlands, though a draft one has been in the works for several years.

The Environmental Management and Coordination Act prohibits construction, excavation and drilling in wetlands. It also gives the environment Minister power to declare wetlands protected areas, which prohibits all activities in wetlands except research, ecotourism, restoration or enhancement of the wetland.

Permitted uses of wetlands include harvesting papyrus, medicinal plants, trees and reeds on a subsistence scale, collecting water for domestic use, and fishing.

Sun overhead, the Dunga beach waterfront in the mid-morning heat bustled with activity.

Fishermen reeled in their morning catches from their wooden boats, the once brightly colored paint on the planks turned to sun-battered watercolors from years of waves.

A man carefully inserted a hand drill into the planks of a new wooden fishing boat, almost completed after two weeks of heavy work.

A woman draped bright orange lifejackets across her arm, welcoming back a Kenyan family of tourists from their boat ride in the glistening harbor.

Josephine Agong stood in a checkered apron and headscarf under the hot sun, using a knife to carefully gut a bucket of small ‘helicopter fish’ that she placed to dry on a mat made of papyrus reeds.

Others, the bigger tilapia fish, she dropped to fry in a vat of oil boiling on a stone stove.

Agong had been preparing and selling fish for a year and half at the harbor market.

Business was best when school was in session, she said. But recently, fewer small fish had been harvested from the lake. She herself had 7 children, though 2 had died.

She was happy to be using a new stove provided by Ecofinder.

Her old stove was “smokey and used a lot of fuel,” and she used to suffer from a lot of respiratory illnesses.

But her new stove used about a third of the fuel and was much cleaner, she said.

On the other side of the harbor, past the fish market, a long wooden boardwalk provided a raised walkway above the swamp below.

“Do not lean on the rails. Be aware of snakes and monkeys,” read the boardwalk sign.

Among the tourist services listed were bird watching, a Beach Ecology School, a cultural museum, and a fish aquarium.

In a cool enclosure beneath the boardwalk, the sound of chirping crickets revealed stacks of boxes of the insects: a cricket farm.

Dressed in a white polo shirt with a tan suit jacket, Richard Ojijo, the Ecofinder site conservation leader for the Dunga wetland, strode toward the watchtower at the end of the boardwalk.

Ojijo used to be a fisherman, but he turned to tourism after the numbers of fish started to reduce in the lake, he said.

Ecofinder first worked with Oijojo through his village environment committee, giving him training in ecotourism, conservation and business skills that enabled him to start his ecotourism business.

Two years ago, Ojijo was able to obtain funding from the French embassy in Kenya to build the Dunga boardwalk, cultural and ecotourism center that attracts groups of tourists to learn about the cultures and nature of the wetland.

Standing on the tall tower, Ojijo pointed toward the expanse of papyrus fields stretching off into the distance.

“See, the wetland is still here... These locals are here and they’re fighting for it. It’s a nice view, isn’t it?” he said.

Conserving the wetland has become a cornerstone of Ojijo’s livelihood, to supporting his two young children and his wife who sells fish in the market.

In the Winam Gulf wetlands, the biggest factors contributing to the swamps’ decline come from the local communities themselves, which depend upon the swamps to sustain their households.

People cut down the natural vegetation to farm, build their houses and harvest papyrus used to weave mats and other handicrafts.

While most people have lived for generations in the villages bordering the swamps, others are “nomads” – discouraged fishermen who settled along the shores to try their hand at farming.

Around the years of Kenya’s independence in 1963 and 1964, seasons of heavy rains pushed people away from the wetlands. Now, these people are returning.

Though the wetlands are now held in trust by the county government, the original residents claim that the lands actually belong to them, Omondi said.

Despite national regulations prohibiting commercial activity on wetlands, big commercial farms such as the American Dominion farm in Yala wetland have snatched large expanses of swampland for export agriculture, leaching destructive chemicals into the waterways that cause massive algae blooms.

Pollution from the farms, sewage and washing detergent also spill into the streams, surpassing the wetlands’ natural ability to purify water.

Ecofinder emerged in 1995 as a group of youth who wanted to support their communities, to help their neighbors mitigate some of these conflicts while helping them improve their lives.

Initially, the group focused on doing drama and puppetry shows conveying messages about preventing HIV/AIDS and conserving the environment.

But over the years, the youth movement grew into an NGO that runs an ‘Ecology School’ for local schools and tourists and works with communities in the surrounding wetlands to spread awareness about environmental conservation and offer incentives to protect the nature around.

For Ecofinder staff, what drives them is seeing the success stories, communities adopting practices that conserve the environment while also boosting livelihoods.

In the Koguta village an hour from town, a small mud house was erected in the middle of a large grassy field interspersed with sparse trees.

Near the dwelling, chickens and cows ambled about.

A new vegetable garden in the backyard boasted rows of baby tomato plants, the earthly scent of freshly turned soil.

Inside the house, Julias Akenge and Janet Auma Ojwang sat in matching mahogany armchairs, the couches blanketed with gold-embroidered lace coverings.

Photos and congratulatory cards celebrating graduations decorated the newly built walls. Papyrus reeds covered the ceiling.

The couple had completed their new house in January, Akenge said with pride. He pointed to the graduation photos.

Along with his first wife (Akenge was polygamous), the couple had raised 9 children.

Some had married; others had graduated from college and were working as a teacher and lab technician. Others were still in primary school.

For decades, Akenge and Ojwang had made their living as maize farmers. But flooding in the open fields often destroyed their crops, making it difficult to sell enough to afford their children’s school fees.

Hippos would also frequently emerge from the swamp, attack people and destroy crops, they said.

In 2016, they were participating in a community village savings and loans group when Ecofinder approached them to ask if they were interested in selling energy-saving stoves and solar lamps in their community.

The couple sold solar lamps to people in Koguta for 3,000 Kenyan shillings each on a weekly installment plan of 100 shillings each, Akenge said. Buyers paid using Mpesa, a money transfer and financing service accessible by mobile phone.

Ecofinder trained the couple in environmentally friendly business strategies such as finding alternative packaging methods to replace polythene bags for food and other products.

In return for the business opportunity, the couple agreed to stop cutting down trees on their land and plant new ones.

Akenge and Ojwang, like many of their neighbors, make and set mats from papyrus reeds grown in the wetland.

Ecofinder also trained them in how to shift their harvesting from time to time to allow the reed to grow back.

As the shadows lengthened in the late May afternoon, Ojwang lit the burner of the house’s shiny silver stove, heating a simple dinner of ugali (maize starch), chicken and sukumawiki (greens).

With the new energy saving stove, the household was able to save a lot of money that they used to consume buying firewood, Ojwang said.

Since the community started conserving the wetlands, “there are so many animals and plants, birds; now they have places to live,” Akenge said.

As a Lake Victoria “waterkeeper” association, Ecofinder plans to continue working with the Kisumu communities to improve their lives, driven by the knowledge of the lives they are changing.