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Water startup initiates safe water access for Lake Victoria residents

Water startup initiates safe water access for Lake Victoria residents

WHEN Odak Onyango and Vallery Adhiambo were growing up along the shores of Lake Victory in western Kenya, clean water was abundant and not something people were concerned about. “We grew up at a time when this water was not a problem in terms of quality. There were not so many agricultural activities and microplastics,” said Onyango, a local entrepreneur who has turned the growing problem of contaminated water into an opportunity - thanks to a unique and locally applicable solution. Onyango has a master's degree in community arts and also studied entrepreneurship at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He…
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Dispossessed Kenyans demand compensation ahead of King Charles’ visit

Dispossessed Kenyans demand compensation ahead of King Charles’ visit

WHEN the then-Princess Elizabeth visited Kenya in 1952, Kibore Cheruiyot Ngasura was among a group of young men chosen to sing for her at an event near Lake Victoria. The men planned to use the occasion to petition Elizabeth to relocate their parents from a detention camp in the barren, mosquito-infested town of Gwassi, where members of the Talai clan had been held for nearly two decades on suspicion of fomenting resistance to British colonial rule. The event never happened. Before Elizabeth could make it to Lake Victoria, word came that her father, King George VI, had died. The new…
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Modern cargo ship launched as East African lake logistics boom

Modern cargo ship launched as East African lake logistics boom

KENYA is emerging as a significant shipbuilder in the East African region as the country taps into rising demand for inland water logistics on Lake Victoria and across the region. The country this month commissioned its first domestically-built modern inland cargo ship, the MV Uhuru II, built by the military-controlled Kenya Shipyards Limited, with help from Dutch partner Damen Shipyards. President William Ruto emphasized that the ship serves as a "catalyst for economic growth and development in our region." Designed for cargo transportation within Lake Victoria, MV Uhuru II boasts advanced systems capable of ferrying oil and other bulk cargo…
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The Kenyan entrepreneur turning fish waste into fashion

The Kenyan entrepreneur turning fish waste into fashion

WALKING along the shores of Lake Victoria in his home town of Kisumu, Newton Owino, a chemist, witnessed vast quantities of fish waste dumped by the fishing industry. So, in 2012, he took a leap of faith and established a business. "Every day, tonnes of fish skins were discarded and treated as waste. I saw an opportunity to turn this waste into something valuable and environmentally friendly. That's when I decided to explore the possibilities of fish leather,” the entrepreneur explained. Owino is the holder of a Bachelor of Science in Leather Chemistry from Pantnagar University, India. He also worked…
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Tanzania plane crash survivors, rescuers describe heroics laced with tragedy

Tanzania plane crash survivors, rescuers describe heroics laced with tragedy

BENSON JACOB WHEN the waters of Lake Victoria started gushing into the cabin of Flight PW494, passenger Mectrida Samuel knew she had to act fast. Around her, others were frantically trying to free themselves and keep above the fast-rising water. "We had a big crash and I immediately started seeing water enter the plane. Passengers started to struggle to rescue themselves," Samuel said, describing the moments after the Precision Air flight to Bukoba plunged into the lake in northern Tanzania. "The only thing that helped me survive was that I managed to remove my seat belt and get out of…
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Mourners weep over 19 coffins after Tanzania plane crash

Mourners weep over 19 coffins after Tanzania plane crash

WEEPING relatives of the 19 people who died when a plane crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania filed past a row of coffins in the lakeside town of Bukoba on Monday as religious and political leaders gathered for a ceremony to honour the victims. Flight PW494, operated by Tanzanian airline Precision Air and carrying 43 people, hit the water in stormy weather as it tried to land at Bukoba airport early on Sunday morning, arriving from the capital Dar es Salaam. Transport Minister Makame Mbarawa told mourners gathered in a stadium that the weather had abruptly changed from good to…
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Passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, 19 dead

Passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, 19 dead

NUZULACK DAUSEN AT least 19 people died when a passenger plane crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania while trying to land at a nearby airport, the prime minister and airline said. Flight PW494, operated by Precision Air, hit the water during storms and heavy rain, the state Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) reported. Rescuers in boats rushed to the wreckage, which was almost fully submerged, to pull out trapped passengers, local authorities said. "All Tanzanians join you in mourning these 19 people ... who have lost their lives," Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told reporters in the lakeside city of Bukoba, close…
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Solar lights help Kenyan women escape sex-for-fish trap

Solar lights help Kenyan women escape sex-for-fish trap

KAGONDU NJAGI MARY Achieng' sifted through her catch of silver cyprinid fish, sorting them into gunny sacks and carrying them to the weighing stand at Kogwang' Beach, on the Kenyan shore of Lake Victoria. Achieng' had caught the fish the night before, using a solar-powered light to lure them into her nets. The 500-kg (1,100-lb) haul would earn her 50,000 Kenyan shillings ($450) - enough to keep her family going until she next went out again on the lake a week later. Before she got the lamp two years ago, Achieng' had to stock her stall in Kendu Bay with whatever she…
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Ugandans baffled by dead perch on Lake Victoria shore

Ugandans baffled by dead perch on Lake Victoria shore

FRANCIS MUSAKA PILES of dead Nile perch have been washing up on the shore of Lake Victoria in Uganda for no obvious reason, threatening the livelihoods of the surrounding communities, locals said. Teddy Nagadya, a fishmonger in Kigungu, a shoreline village in Entebbe town, told Reuters the dead fish have induced panic. "We do not know why Nile Perch are dying yet all the other fish are not dying," she said. Uganda's ministry of agriculture and fisheries said on Sunday that hypoxia - "a usual phenomenon" - may have led to the fish deaths, although fishermen in the area told…
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Floods on record-high Lake Victoria expose need for water cooperation

Floods on record-high Lake Victoria expose need for water cooperation

JUSTUS WANZALA WOMEN dashed around open kitchens dotted across the playground of Bubango Primary School, preparing to feed the hundreds of children who now call the school in western Kenya their home. About 400 families from Budalangi, in Busia County, have been living at the school since April, when the Nzoia River that flows from Kenya's western highlands into Lake Victoria burst its banks in the worst flooding the area has seen in decades. After more than a year of unusually heavy rainfall, over 800,000 Kenyans have been displaced by flooding, according to the government. The situation has been made worse by…
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