Oya Oya Youth group in partnership with Mtaani radio held a cleanup activity on the 9th of October 2016. The event was graced by young people from different parts of the country, Mtaani Radio fans, aspiring leaders as well as the area Member of County Assembly (MCA) Samuel Njoroge alias “JuaKali”.
Oya Oya which is an acronym for Organizing Youths to be Alert is an initiative started in partnership with the Oya Oya show that airs on Mtaani Radio on weekdays between 3-7pm. These activities range from visiting children homes, the elderly, clean ups and team building activities.
The clean up took place along Kabiria road starting from Kivuli center and culminated at the Riruta Police station. The aim of the activity was to sensitize the community on the importance of keeping our environment clean. The construction of Kabiria road has eased up transportation as well contributed to sprouting of various businesses activities in the area that operate up to late in the night. With an increase in business activities there has also been increase in piling up of garbage in the area, thus the
clean up came at a good time.
At the moment there is no specific place where the residents can dispose the garbage but largely rely on garbage collectors and the city council to keep the area clean. On this particular day the county government provided plastic bags that would be used to store the collected garbage after which the council would provide a track that would ferry it to the Dandora dumping site. The city council encourages this form of garbage collection other than disposing it along the road and on the trenches.
Mission number two for this particular activity was also to create a good rapport between the youth and the police, thus the police station was the site for the culmination of the activity. Ideally police are key in providing service to the people – “Utumishi kwa wote”, but over years there has been a disconnect between the police and the people more so the youth. This activity offered the community an opportunity to be of service to the police.
First the youth engaged in a brief interaction with the police officers after which they were to proceed to the cleanup at the police station. According to Jamin Akevere a sergeant officer at the Riruta Police Station, “I welcome you today at the police station as its always important to stay in a clean place” further adding that he would accompany the youth during the clean up to ensure they a smooth encounter. To create a good raptor between the police and the community Akevere encouraged members of the community to volunteer information concerning criminals so they can take action in ensuring the safety of all the citizens.
The youth group has been having community activities once a month for the past one year.