NAIROBI, Aug 26\u00a0\u2014 Using a crutch to bear her weight, 85-year-old Molly Aluoch trudges from her mud-walled room on the outskirts of a sprawling Nairobi slum, shouldering a sack of used plastic to exchange for a shower or a safe toilet.<\/p>\n
For the 31 years she has lived in Kibera, Kenya\u2019s largest informal settlement, water and sanitation have remained scarce and costly\u2014often controlled by cartels who charge residents prices beyond their means.<\/p>\n
The Human Needs Project (HNP) seeks to mitigate that. Residents can trade discarded plastic for \u201cgreen points\u201d, or credits, they can redeem for services such as drinking water, toilets, showers, laundries and even meals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith my green points, I can now access a comfortable and clean toilet and bathroom any time of the day,\u201d Aluoch said.<\/p>\n
Before, she would spend 10 shillings (RM0.33) to use a toilet and another 10 for a bathroom, a significant chunk from the residents\u2019 average daily income, 200 to 400 shillings, before food and housing costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt meant that without money, I would not use a toilet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Unable to use Kibera\u2019s pit latrines owing to her frailty meant she would have to resort to \u201cunhygienic means\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now, that money goes towards food for her three grandchildren.<\/p>\n
Aluoch, a traditional birth attendant, is among some 100 women who collect plastics for green points, helping them access water, sanitation, and hygiene services.<\/p>\n
She takes her plastic to a centre 200 metres\u00a0from her home, where one kilogramme of recyclable plastics earns 15 green points, equivalent to 15 shillings.<\/p>\n
The project serves some 800 residents daily, allowing them access to modern bathrooms, clean water and menstrual hygiene facilities\u2014services that are out of reach for many Kibera households.<\/p>\n
Since 2015, the project has distributed more than 50 million litres (13 million gallons) of water and more than one million toilet and shower uses.<\/p>\n
In 2024 alone, it distributed 11 million litres of water and enabled 124,000 bathroom and toilet uses.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u2018Days without water\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
With water a scarce commodity in Kibera, it is common for vendors to create artificial shortages to inflate prices, forcing residents to pay more than 10 times the normal price.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s water service charges between $0.60 and $0.70 per cubic metre for connected households, but by comparison, Kibera residents have to stump up as much as $8 to $19 for the same amount.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting water was hard. We could go several days without water,\u201d said Magret John, 50, a mother of three.<\/p>\n
Today, her reality is different.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe water point is at my doorstep. The supply is steady and the water is clean. All I need is to collect plastics, get points, redeem and get water,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
John, who has lived in Kibera for nine years, says the project has been a game changer, especially for women and girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccess to proper sanitation services guarantees women and girls their dignity during menstruation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, with 10 water points spread across Kibera\u2014pulled from a borehole with a daily capacity of half a million litres\u2014NHP shields some residents from informal vendors\u2019 exploitative pricing.<\/p>\n
The project\u2019s dual mission is to meet basic human needs while tackling Kibera\u2019s mounting waste problem.<\/p>\n
HNP\u2019s director of strategic partnerships Peter Muthaura said it helps to improve health and the daily living conditions in Kibera.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people cannot access dignified toilets and bathrooms, the environment bears the impact,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It also fosters development, he said.<\/p>\n
In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Kibera residents delivered two tonnes of recyclable plastic, with around 250 women directly engaged in daily collection and delivery.<\/p>\n
For Aluoch, every sack of plastics and every green point earned goes beyond clean water and sanitation: it restores a sense of dignity.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy prayer is that this project spreads to every corner of Kibera, and reaches thousands of women whose dignity has been robbed by a lack of sanitation services,\u201d she said. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n
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