Almost a year after commissioning the Immanuel Afrika’s (I-Afrika) biogas project in Kikuyu, Airtel has received regional recognition for the CSR Initiative of the year at the East African Industry Awards Ceremony held on 27th August 2015 in Nairobi.
Funded by Airtel, I-Afrika’s biogas digester went live helping the institution produce enough biogas needed for cooking and boiling water. As a result, this initiative will save the institution thousands of shillings that could have been used on gas and coal that was used to boil water and prepare breakfast for the kids in the morning. In fact, I-Afrika Director Peter Nduati said that before Airtel commissioned the biogas project at the institution, they used to spend Ksh8, 000 on 2 tonnes of firewood per month.
The institution is located in the outskirts of Kikuyu Divison, in Lusigetti town. It was started in early 2008, with the aim of rehabilitating street boys and enrolling them in school or vocational education.
The biogas digester has improved their health by providing a safe, renewable and cheap source of fuel that’s easily available and sustainable than firewood. The technique uses cattle waste to produce methane gas for lighting and cooking. The dung is collected in a “digester,” where microbes break it down and release methane, which is captured in a cylinder and piped straight into the Centre’s kitchen.
Bio-slurry removed from the digester at the end of the process is being used as natural fertilizer, resulting in better crop harvests at the Institution’s farm where they grow maize, beans, potatoes, kales among other crops which is used to feed the children therefore further reducing the costs of feeding the children.