Mama Simba Women Continue Litter Removal Campaign

Last week we organized another clean-up effort with women from our Mama Simba program to remove litter from the landscape and replace plastic bags with reusable tote bags.

The women collected more than 2,000 pieces of plastics and metals from in and around Sasaab village in Westgate Conservancy, Samburu. The women learned how plastics can be harmful when burned or when thrown into the rivers.

Women line up to deposit the trash they collected from the village.

Guests of Ewaso Lions assisted with the removal of trash by truck.

Like last time, Sasaab Lodge assisted in the effort and took the trash away for recycling.

The excitement of the women was contagious. Spirits were high, kids were laughing and helping, and after 3 hours of collecting plastics…not a single smile had left their faces.

“Before I would always wait for Sasaab river to flow which is about once a year. I would run down to the lugga and throw all my rubbish in there. I didn’t know where my rubbish went. Now I know that it is very bad for the environment to do that and I will never do it again.” – Munteli, a member of Mama Simba

Women from our Mama Simba program participated and received a reusable shopping bag.

Highlights

– 54 women from the Sasaab village participated.
– More than 2,125 pieces of trash were collected over 2 days.
– Most of the trash comprised of plastic of plastic containers of food and water.
– Ewaso Lions distributed 54 reusable bags to the women.

We have two remaining locations to complete the clean-up in Westgate. These will be challenging locations to work in as they are close to the shops and markets and there is a lot of trash! We believe it will take more than a week to clean up each location and hope to work with the school kids on this as well when schools re-open in September.