From USA to Dandora dumpsite: The story of 19-year-old Andrew

A strong smell of rotting garbage rules over the air just above the Dandora dumpsite in Nairobi. A convoy of weather-beaten trucks loaded with waste roars their way in and out of the dumpsite.

As part of the welcoming party, is a flock of marabou stock that can be seen openly competing for ‘opportunities’ with humanity.

Citizen Digital is here to see Andrew – a young man who says he was born in the United States of America, the land of abundance, but now spends most of his precious minutes scavenging at the Dandora dumpsite.

Andrew is dressed in a stained dust coat. On his head is a plastic helmet, meant to protect his head from falling objects, but obviously it’s not doing a very good job.

“I am Andrew, and I was born in the US, in the state of Minnesota,” he says with a deep Black American accent.

Andrew says he arrived in Nairobi from the USA sometime in 2019, aged about 13 years.

“I came with my father, stepmother and her other children,” says Andrew.

According to him, fitting into the new family setting, after his parents separated, wasn’t easy, prompting him to forge his own path upon landing in Nairobi.

“I became a street child soon after landing from America, wandering on the streets of Nairobi,” he says.

 He says that the experience was brutal since he could not speak Swahili.

“I remember I didn’t have a Kenyan phone number or phone, and I didn’t know anyone. The streets were brutal and unforgiving, and kids would bully me,” he says.

“Many I guess wondered why I spoke differently, and did not know a word in Kiswahili,” he says.

After wandering on the streets of Nairobi for months, Andrew, who loves to rap, met John, known on the streets as ‘Jonte’.

John, would hold his hands, guiding him through the challenging city life.

According to John, he met Andrew on the streets, on a weekend, wandering and looking lost.

“I remember listening to him rap, like a cool kid from America, and I was impressed, and so I asked to take him to a studio to record music,” says John, vividly making reference to events that happened more than four years ago.

“He looked like a cool kid, and I actually thought he had money,” says John.

John, who himself now speaks like an American, an accent he has picked through association with Andrew, offered to help this young kid to get his footing.

The two friends would end up in the Dandora dumpsite. John’s life had revolved around the dumpsite.

Andrew was shocked, even afraid when John brought him to his workplace, a gargantuan dumpsite.

“I fell sick most of the days, probably because of the garbage and the general state of the dumpsite, but I kept tagging along because it was the only thing available,” says Andrew.

According to Andrew, the dumpsite was a ruthlessly dangerous place back then, with people fighting over small things, and some fights would result in fatalities.

“I had to be careful, very careful to survive,” he says, noting that things are much better now.

“I no longer get sick working here. I guess it’s because my body has acclimatised over time.

John says that once you have someone to guide you, then you can get accepted in the Dumpsite community.

“There are good people here,” he says.

Andrew, who has since learned a few Kiswahili words, says he has learned to survive.

“This is my home now, this is my life, but I know I need a better home, a better life,” says Andrew who has a silent dream of owning a music studio.