Subukia man on solo mission to conserve the environment

Isaac Mwangi uses waste to make compost manure and has planted various vegetation to trap gas emissions from the cemetery. [PHOTOS: BONIFACE THUKU/STANDARD]

NAKURU: Smoke fills the air at Subukia sub-county main cemetery accompanied by sorrowful songs and drum beats as mourners lay their loved ones to rest.

Bereaved families are later seen leaving the cemetery one by one and that’s when you see the middle aged man at the center of the cemetery holding a folk, spade and a sack busy digging in between the graves.

Isaac Mwangi is focused on what he is doing and only looks up after lorries carrying waste, collected from various centres and residential homes, head to the site. He immediately drops his tools and rushes to the where the waste is being dumped.

The 49-year-old begins separating the waste. Decomposing animal and plant matter is pushed into an already prepared hole while plastic and glass containers are put aside. He then begins to clean these containers, which he says he will resell, and buries the glass that cannot be re-used.

One might think Mwangi is a mad man who walks around the streets collecting waste, but nothing could be further from the truth for he is in fact an environmentalist.

“This is the best work I have ever indulge in. I prepare organic manure from this heap which I supply to farmers while at the same time helping to maintain sanitation at this dumpsite,” he says.

The environmentalist piles the waste in heaps them mixes them with a little soil in order to hasten the decomposing process.

Mwangi says during the decomposition process, more microorganisms and oxygen are required hence he must keep turning the waste weekly. After approximately two weeks of compost preparation, the manure is ready for use and he dries it on the surface ready for sale.

Mwangi collects between five to nine tonnes of manure every single month during the dry weather which he sells at Sh3,000 per ton. He is able to earn between Sh15,000 to Sh27,000 each month although he says his interest is not for economical gain but rather to keep the environment clean and conducive.

“I did not come up with this project in order to earn a living. Although I earn something from here, my agenda is to keep the environment clean and safe,” he says.

Samuel Kamau, a resident is among the beneficiaries of this manure and he uses it to grow maize and vegetables. He says not only is the manure more cost effective but actually does better compared to the commercial fertilizers.

Opposite the cemetery, Mwangi who was inspired into environment conservation while serving a three year prison term at Sukusa Juvenile in Kakamega has planted trees that also absorb emissions from the cemeteries.

He said the cemetery emits large amounts of toxic gases that contain sulfuric acid and nitrogen gases which, when they combine with the air, become harmful to both humans and animals. It is for this reason that he decided to plant 575 indigenous trees in 2013 and says he is targeting to put up some 10 million others.

Mwangi went to juvenile institution in 1998 after he was charged with indiscipline having fought with his teacher at Lolemeta Primary School over a bottle of beer in a drinking spree while in standard seven.

Once behind bars, the teenager was forced to obey instruction and after there months, he was trained on horticulture and attained grade 1, 2 and 3.

When he was released, he joined a group of other prisoners in Kakamega town who were intent on advancing their criminal activities. The group used to travel to major towns including Kisumu, Eldoret and Kisumu where they would steal vehicles and various valuables.

However, Mwangi wanted to follow a different path - utilising the knowledge attained behind bars. One day while traveling to carjack a vehicle, he thought of escaping, he alighted from the car they had hired pretending he was going to relieve himself only to escape from the group never to return.

To get away, Mwangi went into a sugar plantation near Lurambi, Kakamega County then hid in a sugar cane lorry that was headed to Mumias town. In the town, he met a good Samaritan whom he shared the challenges he was encountering while trying to reform after serving prison, he wanted to travel back to Subukia and improve livelihoods.

It was while he was visiting farms in the region that he passed near Subukia sub-county hospital that was flooded with swampy water and whose sanitation state was dire. He felt compelled to practice what he had learnt while serving his jail term and in the process not only improved sanitation but also promoted proper agricultural production activities.

By these efforts, community members who once shunned him now embraced him and today he mingles freely with them.