Kenyan Women Uses 50,000 Plastic Bottles to Build Decent Home for Orphans

A Kenyan charity organization has put smiles on the faces of dozens of orphans after building a decent plastic bottled house for them.

Dear Diary Initiative Kenya, founded by Nafisa Khanbhai, collected 50,000 plastic bottles and used them to set up a modern orphanage in Kilifi County.

The Restoration Children Home, which is built on top of a hill in Rabai near the Mazeras-Kaloleni Road, houses 38 orphans aged between two and 18 years.

The orphanage looks like a palace in a remote village where most houses are made from mud and makuti.

The house has a smooth plastered wall on the inside and features a neat kitchen, dining area, study and living room, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and washrooms.

13-year-old Christine Mesaidi Ngui is one of the orphans living in the new house and says she can now sleep peacefully, unlike their previously dilapidated mud house where they used to be rained on.

“We are happy and thank God because we are no longer getting rained on,” says Ngui.

The plastic bottles appear like protruding bulbs, giving the house a beautiful and unique touch.

Khanbhai said her quest to build a decent home for the orphans bore the idea to use plastic bottles as an initiative to clean up the environment.

“When we visited the orphanage in 2015, the children were living in a sorry state, the house was built with clay and makuti and the boys were sleeping in the kitchen. We saw it wasn’t the right way to live especially for orphans,” Khanbhai said.

For the past 25 years, Khanbhai has dedicated her life to helping persons with disabilities and orphans, having been born with Spina Bifida. She holds charity events to raise funds to help the orphans get food, clothes, water, and fees.

“It has been a long journey but we thank God Khanbhai has helped us. Now the children happily live in a decent house,” said Restoration Children’s Home founder and caretaker Margaret Makule.