In my rural home area in Western Kenya, I was always alarmed by how local artisanal miners were handling toxic heavy metal mercury. My rural area is renowned for gold activities, from large-scale miners doing exploration activities to local miners extracting gold with mercury. Mercury is a heavy metal, toxic in nature and liquid at room temperature, which can be used in the extraction of gold. It is a matter of serious concern. Reading about the Minamata convention during my time on campus and even now and what happened to the people in Minamata, Japan, years back, makes me understand the gravity of the situation. However, it seemed not to raise any alarm to my rural folks, from local administration to parents engaging in this mining activity. The situation was getting out of hand as school-going children began engaging in mercury use. They see their parents or someone older doing it, and they end up exposing themselves unknowingly and innocently …

KECBO (Kakamega Environmental Conservation and Beautification) is a community-based organization registered in Shinyalu Constituency, Kakamega County. The organization’s main objective is to advocate for safe mining and mineral processing approaches among artisanal gold miners in Kakamega County and specifically champion for eradication of mercury during gold processing, which is a common practice among artisanal miners in the area. As an alternative to mercury use, the organization is advocating for adopting biotechnology, where bacteria prevalent in the area will be used to extract gold from the ore, a process known as bioleaching.

Our amazing team of regulars and part-time volunteers is committed to helping others. We take our convictions and turn them into action. Join us! Detoxify land! Protect families from mercury exposure! Eliminate toxins from cosmetics! Appreciate beauty!