TUKO JUU 2 SANAAAA

STAKEN Recycling Company was awarded the Number one Environmental Conservationists in Nairobi from the Ministry of Youth. Apart from this shiny trophy we don't get anything else, which doesn't suprise me but I still think it's a cool thing to be titled.

I'm not really crazy about the fact that I usually write about myself on here. Especially since I am now realizing that I don't even know most of the people that read this. This thing started out for our friends back home to keep up with what we are doing. But for those of you that read this who don't even know me and enjoy it and share it with other people, I don't think you realize how great that is.

So our businesses have taken a short break to look for ways of up scaling. This basically means looking for money so that we can buy and shred more plastic. We have locked in funding from OXFAM and they are going to be giving us a nice injection of cash to pump into the businesses so that we can pay bills, buy more plastic, and pay wages (Kaka and the workers have been volunteering since 2007!). Any money that the business has made since it started has just gone right back in to the company meaning that all the workers have sacrificed their wages to keep the business alive. I would like anyone to find a group of youth in Nairobi and tell them "Hey we have this idea but you have to put your blood and sweat into it and you won't get paid for years" and see how long they stick around... It's impossible.

For some reason I have been lucky enough to work with young people who have sacrificed so much for a business for nothing in return. I can't stress how fucking rare this is. And the craziest part is that they say their lives are boring when the business isn't running. I'd have to agree. Riding on top of trucks around the city, swimming around in mountains of plastic, long days in the centre throwing plastic around, welding, grinding, laughing, screaming is what makes this business the best thing in our lives.