Our funding has been reducing for a number of years, but now VSO is facing unprecedented pressures. Our vital work with people facing extreme poverty is at risk. 

We want to stay true to our core belief in the unique power of volunteering. But the reality is, we’re struggling to keep the commitments we have made to work with communities to achieve long-term change. We don’t want to turn away volunteers or leave communities behind, like those in Dandora, Nairobi.   

In solidarity. With hope. Stand with us to make sure women waste pickers like Beth aren’t left behind.  

In Dandora, 2,000 tons of waste piles up in the enormous dump every day.¹ The waste dump there is East Africa’s biggest landfill site and is encroaching on people’s homes. Coupled with the pollution, and the lack of toilet facilities, communities are exposed to deadly diseases. 

Beth and her three young children aged nine, six and three, are among around the 140,000 people living in these extremely challenging conditions in the Dandora slum.² Every day, trucks bring waste from the Kenyan capital to the dumps that surround their home. The roof on their house leaks and there’s no running water.

Beth is a waste picker and each day, goes to the rubbish dump to pick through waste to sell on for recycling. The conditions are dangerous and unhygienic. It’s a vital job but women waste pickers aren’t paid enough to feed themselves and their families. In solidarity. With hope. That can change. 

Before VSO began working in the community, Beth struggled to provide her children with one meal a day. Now, VSO volunteers have trained her to unlock the value of the waste she collects and sells at a fair price, doubling her income.

VSO has also provided waste pickers like Beth will protective clothing, including gloves, boots and overalls, so they can work safely in the hazardous environments.

Thanks to VSO training, Beth now has gained vital skills and plans to set up a small business to provide her children with the best possible start in life, breaking the cycle of poverty.

For Beth, this is the beginning. And it could be the start to many other’s stories too. We want to support more women like Beth and enable them to lift themselves free of poverty, but funding constraints are putting VSO’s work at risk. In solidarity. With hope. Please help to keep changing lives today.

Donate today

Footnotes

1. Matter, Project Dandora
2. UN Habitat