This archive report was first published on 21 September 2019.
On the outskirts of Emali in Kajiado County, a Chinese railway campsite has defied the harsh sun-baked landscape with a lush garden of banana and avocado plants.
The campsite, which hosts staff quarters and a concrete beam manufacturing workshop for the railway line, was established in 2014.
According to Wang Huan Yang, the China Construction Communication Company Ltd official in-charge of the camp, the garden was created to make the compound habitable and beautiful.
"When the railway project started, this place was bare and hot. There was an urgent need of making the compound beautiful. We included bananas and avocados in the landscaping design of the campsite to make it habitable," Wang said.
The campsite sourced all the landscaping fruit trees from local suppliers, with Allois Mwaiwa, a farmer in Emali, supplying all the suckers.
Workers harvest the bananas daily for consumption at the campsite, with more than 100 bananas ready for harvesting during a recent visit.
"We harvest them before they ripen," said Dickson Ekesa, the gardener in-charge of the project.
The bananas have enabled the campsite to significantly cut down on the cost of food supplies and have also become a source of income for the local community.
"We have turned out to be a breeding ground for bananas. We invite farmers and local institutions to collect suckers for free to establish their farms," Wang said.
The campsite's innovative approach to landscaping has inspired other institutions, including Sultan Hamud Primary School, which borrowed the idea and used it for its own landscaping project.
