They study next to one of Africa's largest trash dumps. They're planting bamboo to try to cope

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Armed with gardening hoes while others cradled bamboo seedlings, students gathered outside their school in Kenya's capital. They hoped the fully grown bamboo would help to filter filthy air from one of Africa's largest trash dumps next door.

More than 100 bamboo plantings dot the ground around Dandora secondary school, which shares a name with the dumpsite that was declared full 23 years ago. Hundreds of trucks still drive in daily to dump more trash.

Allan Sila, 17, said sitting in his classroom is like studying in a smelly latrine.

Acrid smoke billowing from the burning of trash fills the air every morning, hindering visibility and leaving some students with respiratory issues.

“Asthma is a disease that is commonly known,” Sila said.

The school’s principal, Eutychus Maina, recalled being greeted by the smell and smoke when he was posted to the school last year. He knew he had to do something.

“My motivation for initiating the bamboo project in the school was to mitigate the effects of the dumpsite. It really pollutes the air that we breathe," he said.

He said he researched online and came across the use of bamboo. He believes it will help reduce the cases of respiratory infections in the community.

The fast-growing bamboo has been promoted by the United Nations and others for its high uptake of carbon dioxide.

Aderiana Mbandi is an air quality research and policy expert at the United Nations Environment Program, based in Nairobi. She said the impact of air pollution is felt in all parts of the body including the brain, and the best way to reduce its effects is minimizing exposure.

The seedlings the students began planting last August are already nine feet (three meters) tall. The giant bamboo variety is expected to reach 40 feet when mature, depending on soil conditions.

Students hope the bamboo will help transform the school compound into a green haven in the litter-strewn Dandora neighborhood.

The publicly funded school relies on donations to afford the seedlings that retail at 400 Kenyan shillings ($3) each.

But the school management is determined to keep going until bamboo lines the 900-meter wall that separates the school and the dumpsite.

The Dandora dump occupies about 50 hectares (123 acres) of land and receives more than 2,000 tons of waste daily from around Nairobi, home to 4 million people.

Its stench can be smelled kilometers (miles) away.

UNEP, in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute, deployed sensors to the Dandora neighborhood from October to April to monitor pollution levels from the dumpsite.

Out of the 166 days monitored, only 12 had a daily average of excellent air quality according to World Health Organization guidelines.

Nairobi’s air is also polluted by emissions from secondhand cars that make up much of the city's transport. Other pollutants include smoke from industries that are often located near residential areas.

The Dandora school is also planting trees including jacaranda and grevillea.

Student Josiah Nyamwata called them easy to obtain and easy to plant. "The other advantage is that the trees will be helpful in order to boost our air circulation around our school,” he said.

The air isn't the school's ' only challenge. Vultures from the dumpsite are a nuisance at mealtimes. Students guard their plates from being snatched.

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People scavenge recyclable materials for a living, at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, April 22, 2024. Students at a school next to Kenya's largest dumpsite are on a mission to try to purify the air with bamboo. They have planted more than 100 seedlings along the wall that separates the school from the trash dump that was declared full 23 years ago. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

People scavenge recyclable materials for a living, at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, April 22, 2024. Students at a school next to Kenya's largest dumpsite are on a mission to try to purify the air with bamboo. They have planted more than 100 seedlings along the wall that separates the school from the trash dump that was declared full 23 years ago. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A student enters the Dandora Secondary school in the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, April 22, 2024. Students at a school next to Kenya's largest dumpsite are on a mission to try to purify the air with bamboo. They have planted more than 100 seedlings along the wall that separates the school from the trash dump that was declared full 23 years ago. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

The Dandora Secondary school in the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, April 22, 2024. Students at a school next to Kenya's largest dumpsite are on a mission to try to purify the air with bamboo. They have planted more than 100 seedlings along the wall that separates the school from the trash dump that was declared full 23 years ago. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

The Dandora Secondary school, separated with a mountain of garbage amidst smoke from burning trash at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, April 22, 2024. Students at a school next to Kenya's largest dumpsite are on a mission to try to purify the air with bamboo. They have planted more than 100 seedlings along the wall that separates the school from the trash dump that was declared full 23 years ago. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday toured flooded regions in the southwest, where rivers have swelled and caused flash floods and landslides after heavy rain and severe weather.

Scholz canceled his attendance at an election campaign event in Saarland, on the border with France, and instead wore rain boots as he walked on a partially flooded road in the village of Kleinblittersdorf together with regional Gov. Anke Rehlinger.

Emergency services have responded to thousands of requests for help in the state capital of Saarbrücken. Several buildings in the city had to be evacuated as houses and cellars were flooded. Cars were partially submerged and streets filled with water. The city set up alternative accommodation in schools and established a hotline for those affected.

There was no immediate information about the exact scale of the damage. No casualties have been reported.

Scholz assured the state of Saarland of the federal government's solidarity. “Unfortunately, it is not the first time that we have to manage a big natural disaster and therefore we will of course look at what needs to be done here now and what is necessary,” he told reporters.

Saarland has already implemented first steps to release financial support, the German news agency dpa reported.

The German weather service in the meantime lifted the weather alert for Germany as rain is expected to ease slowly. Authorities in Saarland said such flash flood only happen every 20 to 50 years.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, centre left and Minister President Anke Rehlinger visit Kleinblittersdorf, Germany, which was hit by flooding, Saturday, May 18, 2024. Scholz has toured flooded regions in the southwest, where rivers have swelled and caused flash floods and landslides after heavy rain and severe weather. (Harald Tittel/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets the emergency services who were deployed to help with the Saar floodings in Saarbruecken, Germany, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Helmut Fricke/dpa via AP)

A man makes his way through a flooded road in Lebach, germany, Friday, May 17, 20924. (Harald Tittel/dpa via AP)

The highway entrance to the A620 in Saarbrücken is flooded as heavy continuous rain has caused multiple floods and landslides in Saarland, western Germany, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Laszlo Pinter/dpa via AP)