36 children aged between 3- 14 years from Athi River in Mavoko Sub-county, have been rescued from scrape trade by a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
This was disclosed by the area’s District Children Officer (DCO), Faith Kamau, who said rate of children engagement in the business is very high.
“Issue of children engagement in scrape business in Athi River has just become serious, hence need for quick intervention,” said Kamau.
In an interview in her office on Wednesday, Kamau said the rescued children were among those who used to accompany their mothers to collect scrape metals and plastic items for their livelihoods instead of going to school, thereby denying them right to education.
She said Terry Child Support and Youth Resource Centre, an NGO that looks into the plight of women and vulnerable children in the region had paid school fee for the children alongside providing alternative sources of livelihoods to their mothers.
“The organisation has partnered with Ebenezer Women Support Group in Athi River town to train the women, most of who are single mothers below 30 years on commercial weaving as an income generating activity with intent of empowering them economically; their children get enrolled at Valley Side Academy among other schools,” said Kamau.
The group’s chairperson, Amina Halkano, said already 20 of the women were under training and had known how to weave items such as bags, poaches, wallets, key and soviet holders, necklaces, table mats and earrings using beads plus other materials.
Halkano said the women were already selling the items at Mtituni market in Machakos town with intent of seeking market in Kitengela’s Maasai market, once their production became bigger.
Kamau lauded the organization for its intervention arguing that such support was best strategies towards eliminating children engagement in scrape business urging other like-minded organizations and individuals to come to the women’s recue.