Mathare River Flooding 2024

The Mathare river, which has been the focus of our Mathare River Rehabilitation and Environmental program, had risen to dangerous levels during the recent rain and flooding. Many people in our community have had their homes and belongings flooded and are trying to leave to somewhere safe, with little money and no government help.

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The sad state of the Mathare river has not developed overnight, but is the result of decades of neglect, in which the river became the sewage canals for industrial and agricultural waste and the dumping ground for municipal garbage. The Mathare river goes through the large slum of Mathare, which is located in the Eastlands of Nairobi, Kenya. It’s the oldest and second largest urban slum in Kenya after Kibera. Public utilities are practically non-existent. Mathare has few toilets, and the river serves as the slum’s sewerage system. Water is sold by vendors at comparably high prices, resulting in residents consuming less water than they should. Residents do their cleaning in the river, the same river into which they dumped sewage. With few systems of solid waste collection, waste is subsequently dumped into the same river. The lack of access to water, refuse, and medical facilities perpetuated health related issues including dysentery, malaria, AIDS.

MaSCA has engaged multiple community organisations and local residents in making a project to rehabilitate the river possible. The main objective of the river rehabilitation project is to improve the quality of life of people who live in the vicinity of the river. Support from residents of Mathare as well as their environmental awareness is essential for waste management and maintaining the riverbanks as green land. As well, wherever possible, work will involve training and capacity-building opportunities for local stakeholders, which also contributes to community ownership.

The area of the river located close to the Kinatco Community hall has been donated to the project as proof of concept. An acre of land has been set aside for garbage removal, landscaping and community space. Once we are successful in rehabilitating this section of the river, we will expand to other areas along the river.