This archive report was first published on 17 July 2020.
On July 17, 2020, a team cleaning the Ngong River in Embakasi South, Nairobi, made a tragic discovery - the body of a 1.5-year-old infant.
This recovery brings the total number of bodies retrieved from rivers around the city by the Sonko Rescue Team (SRT) and the Comb Green Solutions groups cleaning the Ngong River and Nairobi River respectively to 25 since Governor Mike Sonko launched the monthly cleanup exercise in July 2018.
The 25 bodies include 20 infants and five adults.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko called on young mothers to seek help if they find raising babies an impossible challenge, suggesting that there is always the option of giving up the babies to foster homes.
"This is way better than dumping innocent babies in latrines and rivers," said Sonko.
Early last week, the group members found another body of an infant and reported at Kware police post.
Following the increased cases of infants being dumped in the rivers, Sonko urged troubled mothers facing life challenges to reach out to the County for help or find ways of leaving the babies near child care homes.
"I am calling on mothers to bring these little angels to us where we can help them in some of our facilities for child care instead of leaving them to die," he said.
