“The garbage situation was getting so bad in our town, that something had to be done about it,” says Harriet Atyang, the station manager of HCR partner station, Amani FM, in eastern Kenya’s Tana River county.

Approached by the Kenya Red Cross in an effort to help the problem, Amani FM was able to go on air and get a conversation going about the importance of keeping the environment clean. This conversation led to the youth in Garsen to participate in a town-wide cleanup.

Although the county department’s garbage collection unit was doing its best, it was getting overwhelmed. “During the rainy season we see a dramatic increase in cases of Cholera,” says Harriet, “Much of which is due to poor sanitation and hygiene and the garbage situation contributes to that.”

Several young people were joined by Kenya Red Cross workers and Amani FM presenters during the cleanup operation, which put into practice all the talk of keeping the environment clean.