'We normally collect these electronic waste from dumping areas and some are brought to us by individuals', says Paul who is involved in buying and selling of electronic waste. - For instance someone might feel that one of his electronic items is spoiled and need to dispose it, he will just sell it out at a cheaper price then it is repaired and sold to someone else. When this waste is brought in it is sorted out and those which are damaged are repaired and those beyond damaged are sold out to recycling companies. I also found out that buyers are interested in these types of goods claiming that they last longer than new ones from the shop.

Listening to music and radio through mobile phones has grown mainly among the youth in Nairobi. - After speaking to some I learnt that some do it to kill boredom while others just do it for the love of music. Unlike radios the phone is small hence portable thus one can carry it anywhere even to work and listen to music or radio while going about their duties.

African Woman and child feature services is a non governmental media organization with a vision to be a media that enhances diversity and gender balance.The organization has various projects to realize their Goal, The media Diversity center is one of its projects which publishes a Bi monthly news paper: REJECT which mainly focuses on reports on the marginalized communities and those in the rural areas. - "we normally train journalists and locate them in our content centers which are located in areas where the main stream media organizations do not have bureaus.The journalist then file stories from these communities which are then published on the Reject," says Florence Sipalla a Pr…

Orpower 4 power plant, which is located in Naivasha, Kenya operates a geothermal power plant which produces energy in a clean way friendly to the environment. The plant was started in the year 2000 and through donor funding they have been able to increase their production. - the plant uses a binary system to produce energy a system which has proved to be less harmful to the environment. With the system the waste which comes after the process is re injected back to the wells below the ground hence ensuring minimum contamination. There is also less release of dangerous gases such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide to the air hence a clean environment

Kibera residents, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have acquired a clean, cheap and reliable source of energy for preparing their meals. Through an NGO known as Umande trust, Kibera residents have managed to put up five bio centers in different villages of Kibera.. The centers provide sanitation facilities including toilets and bathrooms as well as cooking gas produced from the human waste. - Residents use the latrines at a fee of 2 Kenya shillings per visit and the bathrooms at a fee of 10 Kenya shillings per bath. Something they find cheaper and reliable since they used to take showers from outside their houses and use 'flying toilets' i.e. putting their human waste on polythene b…

"We started as 10 women who are infected with HIV and we were meeting outside my house to talk about us and encourage one another" says Pamela the founder of Kibera HIV AIDS Support Initiative Programme (KHASIP). - The group's main aim was to serve as post counseling center to help women who have tested HIV positive both psychologically and economically. when meeting they normally talk about treatment literacy and living their lives positively. They have as well initiated income generating activities and proceedings from these activities are places in the group's loans and savings scheme. four years later since the group started these women can now boast of their …

The slum of Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya will forget paraffin-power lamps in the comings months as the slum has come out with its own plans to develop and use renewable solar energy to light dwellings. - Kiblight (short for Kibera Light) is a small solar lamp made by Kibera youth to embrace the use of renewable source of energy. Kibera community youth program came up with ideas and later came up with a small lamp made of a small solar panel, ten small bulbs and a switch. The lamp is charged out in the sun and when properly charged it produces four hours of bright light and other four of dim light. The solar lamp was made to face off the lantern lamps which most residents use. The lanter…

We started as 10 women who are infected with HIV and we were meeting outside my house to talk about us and encourage one another, says Pamela the founder of Kibera HIV/AIDS Support Initiative Programme (KHASIP). - The group's main aim was to serve as post counseling center to help women who have tested HIV positive both psychologically and economically. when meeting they normally talk about treatment literacy and living their lives positively. They have as well initiated income-generating activities and proceedings from these activities are places in the group's loans and savings scheme. Four years later since the group started these women can now boast of their ability to over…

The Kibera youth reform self help group started in 2001 in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The founding youths aimed to improve their living standards and encouraging self dependency among them selves. - After involving themselves in other activities successfully they decided to keep their environment clean by clearing a big dumping site and turning it into an organic farm. With the help of private sponsors and the local authority they started the organic farm and planted various vegetables. Apart from having a cleaner environment they also felt the need of providing the residents with fresh vegetables from the farm near their households at a cheaper price, hence generating income from their…

The method known as SODIS or Solar Water Disinfection, comes as a cheap method to treat drinking water in households in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya. As the name goes this method uses sunlight radiation to destroy harmful microorganisms, which cause water borne diseases. - One is expected to fill clear water into a transparent plastic bottle, which does not exceed 3 liters, and expose it to sunlight for 1 day in clear weather and two consecutive days in cloudy weather. The sunlight kills the germs in the water and makes it safe to drink. The method has been certified by (WHO) World Health Organization. For Kibera residents the method comes as a relief due to many challenges they used to go thr…

Getting clean tap water is one of the many challenges faced by most of the people living in informal settlements in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. This is the reason why most of the organization and groups have come up with projects for providing clean water to the residents, Mizuka youth reform group is one of these groups. - They made an application to the Nairobi Water Company and they were given a tank and water connection. They now sell the water to the nearby residents at a price of 3kshs per 20 liters. The water tank is located along Kibera drive and many pedestrians also pass by to quench their thirst as they walk to their various destinations. The project has also helped these you…

Kids love playing and it will only be good for them if they play in clean and safe environment, This is what kids who resided in Kibera and now moved to the new flats under the slum upgrading project now enjoy having. - These kids now enjoy playing as Jane explains: “back in slums we used to play and our playing balls could go straight to the dirty trenches and we could also fall in the trenches at times". Kids could also go to fields back in their schools but they are dusty hence making them prone to infections like flu. The new flats however provide clean and safe environment for playing; clean trenches and slabs around to cover the dust hence a smooth play ground. The big b…

Mizuka Youth Reform Group which was started by the youth for the youth in January 2009 has been a way of improving the living standards of a group of 15 youth living in Kibera slums. - “Most of us before reforming were involved in bad activities and seeing some of our friends ending up in jails made us think twice about our lives”, says Anthony Wambua the group's chairperson. These youths are involved in money generating activities such as growing kales in sacks, rabbit keeping, poultry keeping, garbage collection and community clean ups. Part of the money generated from these activities is divided among the respective youth who were involved in various activities and th…

High food prices has been a major challenge to most people living in informal settlements. Foods such as meat which cost high price like 240 ksh per kg is rear in their daily meals, hence initiatives like Mutua's and others come in handy to these residents. - Mutua buys bones then boils them thoroughly and makes soup and meat from these bones a meal which goes for an affordable price of between 20 to 25 ksh compared to 60 ksh for 250 grammes of meat.

African colours is an art organisation which has come in handy to African artists who do contemporary visual art such as photography , painting, sculpture and jewelry. It helps such artists create portfolios and gives them a platform to show case and sell their work online. - The organisation, which was started in the year 2000, has its main offices in Nairobi city centre from where one will find a display of some of the work of art. African colours has also launched an art magazine which targets those who can not access the internet and just as the website it gives people new things /news about contemporary art and artists. This art organisation also has individuals in different African…

Waste disposal has been a major issue in most slum areas leaving sights of huge garbage and dirty trenches all over. This situation is now a thing of the past among residents who were relocated to the new flats under the slum-upgrading project. - In their new residence the ministry of housing has organized collection and disposal of garbage around each block by the residents hence encouraging them to keep the environment clean. Classes were also organized for the residents to orientate themselves in their new houses and how to maintain their water closets and sinks in order not to bring the slum habits to their new homes.

The slum upgrading project in Nairobi, Kenya, has come with a lot of good things to the new flats occupants, however kids who have moved to this place are disgruntled with one issue: walking for long distances to get to school. - These kids are still attending the schools they used to attend back in the slums since no school was built here near their new home. Parents here have also told me that they have not heard of any efforts to build a school around this place to cater for their kids education needs. Their efforts to enroll the kids to schools around this place have bore no fruit since there isn't enough space in government school and private schools mean that they should dig d…

Kenya did not qualify for Africa Cup of nations tournament but Kenyans still have every reason to watch other Africans play. Kibera residents have found a way of watching these games together in one place as in a stadium. - Rooms with enough benches and televisions installed with DSTV are found in most areas of Kibera and each one of them is named after a popular stadium for instance San Siro stadium, Sao Paulo and from there people watch football. In as much as Kenya did not qualify for the tournament, Kibera residents enjoy watching other African teams play especially those with big names in soccer like Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien. Business is also good for thos…

The former Kibera residents, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, who were relocated to the new flats under the slum upgrading projects are still happy with the move three months down the line. The main aim of the slum upgrading project is to face off the slums by relocating its dwellers to better housing facilities with high hygienic standards. - The residents express their joy by praising the decency of the houses, better security and good sanitation. They are however unhappy since they can not continue to earn their living from their small scale businesses due to lack of space and structures to run their businesses hence making life difficult for them. The kids on the other hand are very ha…

Women both young and old living in informal settlements in Kenya face a lot of challenges, from violation of rights , insecurity and poverty among other hardships, a reason which has brought women living in informal settlements to come together to share their problems and celebrate the heroes among them. - Slum woman's voice day is a day when women living across the Kibera slums come together and discuss issues affecting them from insecurity, diseases, poverty to violation of rights. This day was first celebrated in February 2009 and is celebrated after every 3 months. These women invite other NGO networks who come together to celebrate with them for instance Medcins Sans Frontières…

Getting an income for most of the youth has been a major problem especially for those living in informal settlements. But this is now a heard of among the Kibera Zulu Youth group. These young men have found ways of generating income through activites such as operating a car wash and garbage collection. - The group which was formed in the year 1994 felt that it is their duty as the youth to keep their environment clean by collecting garbage in eastates in Kibera." we felt that we can do this better by organizing ourselves and collecting garbage from households and outside" this is according to Rashid Seif who is one of the members. They charge a fee of a minimum of 20 Kenya shill…

The residents of the largest slum in Kenya, Kibera, can now use biogas for their daily energy-needing activities, thanks to their own efforts and the help of a local organization known as Umande Trust. The slum has now five bio centers in different parts, which treat human wastes, previously a public health problem, into a source of cheap and clean energy. - TOSHA bio centre is one of these centers and it's located in Katwekera. TOSHA stands for Total Sanitation and Hygiene Access. On the first floor of the centre are toilets and bathrooms, which are used by the community people at a fee of 2 Kenya shillings per visit and 10 Kenya shillings per bath money which goes towards the maintena…

Owing to the high cost of food prices experienced in most parts of Kenya Nairobi's Kibera residents have come up with a way of curbing the situation. They plant vegetables like Kale commonly known as sukuma wiki, spinach and spring onions. - They are provided with seedlings and fertilizer by a group known as solidarity. They are then expected to water and take care of the vegetables. The vegetables take a maximum of two weeks to grow. They use them for their consumption and sell to others who do not do the farming at a cheaper price. This video is part of the Voices of Africa project. The mobile reports in this project are made by reporters under training and reflect their respec…

Most parts of Kenya are facing rationing of power supply at the moment due to the reduction of the most important commodity. The affected areas go without power for 12hrs a day for 3 days a week. This situation has made work really difficult for small scale businesses for instance, Artisans, Barbershops, Salons and first food shops. - Most of these small scale businesses rely on electricity to do their work hence lack of it has led to high profit losses and in some cases job losses.

Who would think that bones could be useful? A group of young men from Nairobi have proved the usefulness of bones through crafting. They buy these bones from slaughterhouses and pick others from domestic trash. They then shape them into required shapes and make bangles, earrings, necklaces, belts. - This has been a source of employment for the group of 15 young men. They recruit and teach others who later start their businesses after gaining the experience and being perfect. This is according to Gordon Oketch who has worked here since 2003.