'Up With Hope' Addresses Waste Management Issues in Kenya Through Three East Vancouver Guys and the Environmental Youth Alliance

The underlying concept of ‘Up With Hope’ is best deciphered through the story of a twenty-year-old Kenya resident named Kaka (which is Swahili for brother). He is the leader of the Mathare Environmental Youth Group. 

Kaka was seventeen when he decided that the mountain of garbage in the middle of his community needed to be moved. The toxicity of the garbage in his slum was killing one in five children due to garbage-born diseases. Kaka gathered support and pushed Nairobi’s politicians to move the garbage.

After a relentless battle, the garbage was taken away. However, Kaka knew that the garbage would return, because there was no infrastructure for garbage collection in his slum. At night, Kaka guarded the space that had been cleared of waste. During the day, he began collecting garbage for a small fee. He didn’t force people to use his service, but he refused to allow people to dump garbage in the community. Kaka had a vision to use the empty space for a community centre, so he began building.

Enter   Justin Sekiguchi, Sean McHugh and Nathaniel Canuel and 'Up With Hope'. The project, based in Kenya, was started under the EYA (Environmental Youth Alliance).  The organization facilitates the construction of waste management centres that are reducing waste and generating revenue through recycled materials.

When Sekiguchi, McHugh and Canuel arrived to build a recycling facility, they also renovated Kaka’s community centre. In addition to reducing toxicity in communities, ‘Up With Hope’ recycling centres create jobs and revenue through recycled materials.  They finance a plastic shredding machine that's installed in the centre. The plastics removed from the collected waste are shredded and sold at a much higher price to manufacturers, who turn the plastics into building material, toys and bottles etc.  

The strength of ‘Up With Hope’ is derived from the organization’s ability to listen. Rather than providing charity, pity, and patting people on the head, these guys collaborate with pre-existing projects. As Kaka told Canuel, “Umoja ni nguvu ya mskini" Togetherness is the weapon of the poor.

“We work backwards,” explained Sekiguchi, “A lot of organizations go to these places and try to change people. They try to push programs that are built on North American perspectives. What we do is go and find community groups that are missing one piece of the puzzle, and we provide that missing piece, such as money and education. We’re not trying to be the whole puzzle.” said Sekiguchi.

It has been a serious struggle for these guys to raise over $40,000. However, the resourceful thought that has been applied to raising funds has also been applied to maximizing the impact of the money that they have raised.

The Environmental Youth Alliance and 'Up With Hope' would like to continue expanding. As they continue to look at options for more financing, they hope to build more recycling centers in other districts of Kenya. Currently Canuel is on the ground in Kenya.

If you would like to follow Canuel on his current journey in Kenya,You can check out his blog by clicking here