Dandora estate is known for its massive dumpsite which serves most parts of Nairobi's Eastlands area. The estate is also known for its high rates of violent crime with thugs stealing from both locals and visitors on a daily basis. Other crimes common in the area include trafficking and abuse of drugs
However, one man has come up with a strategy to change the face of the estate, which had public open spaces before 1978 when its development was being financed by the World Bank.
Evans Otieno, who is popularly known as "transformer", for his passion to transform the image of the estate, is the proprietor of Dandora Believers Garden. The garden, a green and recreational space created out of the dumpsite, is now frequented by local and international visitors.
A former criminal who used to terrorise residents, Otieno opted to shun the vice and use his love for nature and passion for creativity to earn a living. However, as Otieno tells City Biz, some of the spaces became dumping sites since people did not know their purpose while others were grabbed for private developments.
With the help of some of his friends, Otieno opted to transform part of the dumping site into a conservation space with the aim of preserving nature and providing a green recreational area for residents.
"I decided to transform this dumping site into a garden where people can come to chill out and a safe place for kids to play with swings, bouncing castles and other items," he says.
A City Biz team marvelled at its beauty and serenity despite the filthy around it. The main Dandora dumpsite is located a few kilometres away.
Within the garden are also different facilities including a library where book lovers can visit and read their favourite books in a serene, stress-free environment. The space is also home to different species of birds which find this place a friendly, natural habitat. Some of the bird species found at the garden include House Sparrow, Common Bulbul, Village Indigo, Pied Crow, Feral Pigeon, Garden Wabler and Red Eyed Dove.
Otieno tells City Biz that the birds come to the garden on their own since it's friendly to them and they are not harassed by anybody. Looking around, there are bird nests in several trees within the space. There are also several birds that patch on the compound's trees and shrubs.
Other than the library, there is also an open-air space for group meetings, kid's playground, a fish pond, a rabbit hatchery and sitting and resting spaces for all types of people. The space is also "self-contained" in the sense that it has toilets.
To access the place for any of those reasons, one has to pay Sh50 per person and Sh2,000 for group events. He says that although there may not be many activities taking place on weekdays, the place is a beehive of activity during weekends when photo sessions for weddings, birthday parties, shooting of music videos, and kid's fun moments, among other things, take place.
He also says the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) has seen many neighbouring schools bring students to learn about nature, including different types of plants, animals and nature conservancy.
"If you look around, most of the trees are edible fruit trees and there are common plants around our communities. We have partnered with Kenya Wildlife Service to accommodate some wild animals such as tortoises, birds, fish and other animals to enable our people and children who have never seen them to learn about them here" Otieno says.
On a low month, Otieno says he takes home an average of shSh30,000, which he says is able to accommodate his bills.
"The money may be little but for me it is fulfilling, coming from an activity that I enjoy most and which is a legal venture. I am not even looking at the profit part of it but its benefits to the community and its ability to create employment opportunities for local youth," he says.
According to Otieno, a private developer had offered Sh1.4 million to take over the place to build a residential flat. However, he refused the offer and instead chose to pursue the venture.
"If I was money oriented, I could have taken the offer and started another business or used the money for other purposes but I didn't and I don't regret the decision," he tells City Biz, adding that a residential flat could only have benefited an individual and not a community.
His efforts have received both local and international recognition with Sweden's Finance minister Anders Borg visiting this space in 2017. He has also received several awards including one for the Best Child-Friendly Space Kenya, which earned him good money. The initiative has also been acknowledged by UN-Habitat Public Space Network, Nairobi Metropolitan Services, and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
