Nairobi            The ACORN Kenya leaders in Korogocho were set to have a planning meeting in the chief’s compound there.  Traffic had been fairly smooth.  The leaders wandered into the compound in ones and twos, and soon we were ready to begin.

I had been here several times over the last fourteen years since ACORN Kenya launched in a large room with over 250 people right next door to where we were meeting in the bigger meeting room.  Part of the ceremony after the launch of something new involved planting a tree.  One of the leaders, Daniel Kairo, who was there then and no. We both looked at the tree that we had planted.  I had thought at the time that it wouldn’t last a month, but found myself amazed looking at this fourteen-year-old tree now over twenty-five feet tall.  The tradition took on new meaning and promise for me.

The local leadership was coming together at a good time.  A week before, twenty-five members had done an action on the local authorities demanding garbage pickup.  The response had been almost immediate. City of Nairobi trucks were out over the next days, tackling the issue.  The thrill of victory enlivened the discussion.

There was much more to be done, but there was a fly in the ointment.  The ward manager, responsible for sanitation, was not available at the action and had been the primary target.  He had promised to meet with the leaders to negotiate a more permanent plan on the coming Tuesday, so this was a planning meeting to prepare for that scheduled discussion.

Listening to the back and forth discussions, as first one and then another, made comments, the ward manager was painted as a ghost like presence who was never seen at his office in the compound.  His disappearance the day of the action was usual, rather than exceptional.  There were many questions about his failure to do his job and doubts that he would fulfill his promise to actually attend the scheduled meeting.  More of the planning migrated from the scheduled meeting and more to the necessary, larger action, where they would mobilize their members to hit even harder and stronger if he again failed to appear.  Additional targets above the manager were county officials, who also had offices in Korogocho, were then debated.  The leaders also talked about how to increase the turnout using promos and interviews scheduled with ACORN’s partner radio station, KOCH-FM.

As an observer, listening to the new and old leaders in the room, it felt like the organization was turning up a notch.  Having often been reticent about taking action, but now having seen it in work, they were filled with the spirit.  The GenZ protests throughout the capital also were a factor that several mentioned in the vein of, if they can do it, why not us.

It was good to meet old comrades and engage new ones as well.  Leaving to door knock with ACORN Nigeria’s organizer, there was a quickness to our step as we hit the dirt road and engaged people along the footpaths of Korogocho.