How Clean Water Access Is Changing Daily Life for Waste-Picker Families in Nairobi, Kenya
The families we serve here in Kenya often carry two burdens at once: At work, picking through trash for recyclables, they are exposed daily to toxic waste, dust, and chemicals, often sustaining injuries with no protective gear, and without any guarantee of income. At home, they return to a settlement where clean water arrives only a few days a week, and disappears entirely during the dry season. When water is scarce, there is no safe cooking, handwashing, or personal hygiene. Water-borne diseases move quickly through households that are already exhausted.
The families we work with are doing everything right within their means, working hard and keeping their children in school. Yet many are still losing the fight against circumstances beyond their control.
These are some of the homes in the settlements surrounding the capital city’s dumpsite in Kenya.
A Simple Tank, A Profound Change: Clean Water Access
Thanks to you, 64 families have help with that fight. Through the generous support of our donors, International Samaritan Kenya procured and delivered 210-liter (55-gallon) water storage tanks to 64 waste-picker families in Dandora. Each tank now sits in a family’s home, powerfully changing what daily life looks like, including storing clean water to drink.
These families can harvest rainwater and store it safely or store water from the tap during the scheduled days for water, hence planning properly. They can wash their hands after a long day at the dumpsite without rationing every drop. A mother can prepare her children’s meals with clean water without having stood in a queue since before sunrise. A child can come home from school and simply drink water, without being told to wait.
Clean Water and Dignity
These are not small things. For a family whose daily existence is defined by scarcity and invisible struggle, being seen and being helped restores something that poverty quietly takes away: dignity.
Mothers in Kenya picking up their water storage tanks.
Every Drop of Clean Water, Every Act of Generosity
This water tank is also a statement. It says: Your health matters. Your children matter. The work you do in one of Nairobi’s hardest environments does not make you less deserving of clean water, safety, or care.
We are grateful beyond words for the support that made this possible. Every drop counts. So does every act of generosity.
Esther Muhia, Director, Kenya
Esther’s education is in sociology, communication, and gender and development studies. She has worked in several leadership roles in Nairobi, Kenya, including at the Catholic Medical Mission Board. She has worked with NGOs and community and global organizations. Esther has successfully implemented various programs, including family and parent skills development, school-based mentorships and scholarships, economic empowerment, psychosocial support, and gender-based violence prevention programs.
International Samaritan is a Christ-centered organization built on Catholic Social Teaching. Our mission is to walk hand-in-hand with people who live and work in the garbage dumps of developing nations to help them break out of poverty.
We support students with education from kindergarten through college, and we’re currently supporting close to 1,000 scholars in Central America, the Caribbean, and East Africa.
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