Harsh reality of life on the rubbish dump
Reporter: Janice Barker
Date published: 07 December 2009
A grandmother from Salem is back from an eye-opening trip to a Kenyan centre providing food and education for children who live on a rubbish dump.
Yvonne Swindells (57), flew to Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth largest town, to work with the youngsters for a month.
She travelled with another Great Places employee, Cathy McCormick, from Warrington and they took 2,000 pairs of socks, many donated by people who dropped them in at Great Places’ offices in Union Street, Oldham.
Socks are scarce and expensive in Nakuru, but can make a big difference for youngsters, who walk long distances in shoes that can be basic and ill-fitting.
Mrs Swindells, whose Oldham job involves looking after accommodation for medics attached to hospitals, helped out at the Walk Centre, which provides food and schooling for the children who have little to eat but cabbage soup and watery porridge.
She said: “It was a life changing experience for me. The poverty is horrendous, but the kids are happy and well adjusted.
“We impose our values on them, but they don’t know any differently. They are happy to play with an old tyre in the playground.
“I would go back tomorrow. As long as children have love and attention they thrive and that is what the Walk Centre provides.”
Her four week stay involved daily chores including chopping 25 cabbages and 2lbs of carrots to make the soup for lunch, and a watery porridge for breakfast.
And a game of blowing bubbles kept the children aged three to 11 happy for hours.
Yvonne and Cathy also bought new uniforms and shoes for the pupils.
She added: “Many of their jumpers were more holes than material. It makes you appreciate what you have got at home, and basic things like running water and electricity. There are none of those at the school.
“It is made of corrugated iron with an iron roof which is extremely hot in the sun.
“Where there is electricity there are frequent power cuts, and water is delivered to the centre in tanks.”
She added: “What was more humbling is that there is a wildlife park about ten minutes drive away which is world famous for its flamingos, but 99 per cent of local people won’t have been there because of the cost of getting in.”
