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Former Mombasa Dentist Develops App to Tackle Garbage Along Kenyan Coast
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: KENYA GARBAGE APP
HEADLINE: Former Mombasa Dentist Develops App to Tackle Garbage Along Kenyan Coast
TEASER: After quitting dentistry, Tayba Hatimy helps the coastal city collect the more than 2 tons of garbage generated daily
PUBLISHED AT: 07/19/2023 AT 11:15am
BYLINE: Saida Swaleh
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: MOMBASA, KENYA
VIDEOGRAPHER: Moses Baya
VIDEO EDITOR:
ASSIGNING EDITOR: Vincent Makori
SCRIPT EDITORS: Salem Solomon, KEnochs; Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE: VOA Original
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV X RADIO X
TRT: 2:33
VID APPROVED BY: KE
TYPE: TVPKG/RADIO
EDITOR NOTES:
((INTRO))
[[Tayba Hatimy studied and practiced dentistry for seven years before she realized her real passion was caring for the environment. Since then, she has founded a garbage collection app that helps people in Mombasa, Kenya reduce garbage along the coast. Saida Swaleh has the story.]]
((NARRATOR))
Old Town in Mombasa, Kenya. And as old as these streets are, the drainage and garbage collection systems are just as ancient.
But that might be changing, thanks to these garbage collection points. This cart pulls up outside Saida Swaleh’s door.
((Saida Swaleh, Old Town Mombasa Resident)) ((Female, English))
“I get [the plastics] from ceremonies, any ceremonies [when she goes to weddings or other ceremonies], from outside which I see, a good plastic or bad plastic, I get it. If I had that hard plastic which is not used anymore, I collect them.”
((NARRATOR))
The sacks are then taken to a small collection point, where they are sorted and weighed. Swaleh then receives a small cash incentive for a job well done.
((Saida Swaleh, Old Town Mombasa Resident)) ((Female, English))
“Most women take their plastic [garbage] to Baus Taka Enterprise [[garbage waste management service in Kenya]] because we benefit from them, which we buy their food.”
((NARRATOR))
Tayba Hatimy is the brain behind this drive. A dentist by training, she is the co-founder of the garbage collection app known as Baus Taka.
((Tayba Hatimy, Baus Taka Co-founder)) ((Female, English))
“The main feature of the Baus Taka app is the plastic segregation and trading. You segregate, then you accumulate points that can be redeemed for health services because from low-income communities, the major challenge is that they don’t have the funds to pay for outpatient services at the hospitals.”
((NARRATOR))
The app can also help locals report and stop some low-cost garbage collection services that illegally dump garbage in alleys across Mombasa County. Rahim Mwatsahu is the Baus Taka community marketing officer.
((Rahim Mwatsahu, Baus Taka Community Marketing Officer)) ((Male, English))
“Another important feature of the Baus Taka application [app] is that you are able to report illegal dumping. Ee want the community to take action by themselves.”
((NARRATOR))
And Baus Taka has been able to fill that gap, says Rahab Nderu of the Lotus Hotel.
((Rahab Nderu, Lotus Hotel Hotelier)) ((Female, English))
“What Baus Taka has done is that it has been able to build that bridge so that we actually are having collectors, we are having community members, we are having companies be able to come together and actually manage the whole plastic waste pollution problem that we are having as Mombasa residents.”
((NARRATOR))
Hatimy and others hope to give the coastal city its dignity back.
((Tayba Hatimy, Baus Taka Co-founder)) ((Female, in English))
“My dream is to have the recycling infrastructure set up in Mombasa, to have a recycling plant wasted energy set up in Mombasa so that the waste can actually be changed into energy.”
((NARRATOR))
A dream, but one step closer, thanks to the work of people like Tayba Hatimy.
((Saida Swaleh, For VOA News, Mombasa, Kenya.))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
