When Pan Paper collapsed, hopes of Webuye town died with it

Webuye St. Mathew's A.C.K. Sec. Principal Celina Owano during interview on February 18, 2015. Most schools around have been affected after the company collapsed a few years ago. [Photo/Benjamin Sakwa/Standard]

When the roar of the huge turbines at Pan Paper Mills went silent in 2009, Webuye Town, died condemning its inhabitants to a life of grinding poverty and apathy. 

Today Webuye is the tale of a ghost town where monkeys live in stone houses. Seven years on, the town survives on doses of hope that someday, the county or National Government will revive the factory.