Local youth stand beside the newly installed signage for the future Amara’s Tsavo Community Center.
In the heart of Tsavo—where the sun commands the landscape and the red earth tells stories of resilience—something remarkable is taking shape.
What began as a quiet vision—a hope to transform a vacant piece of land into a sanctuary for leadership, learning, and environmental action—has officially broken ground. Thanks to a pivotal USD 1,700 contribution from our supporters, the dream of Amara’s Tsavo Community Center is no longer just an idea on paper. It is rising—quite literally—from the dust.
Laying the Foundation for Change
If you were to stand on the site today, you would feel the shift in the air. Under the leadership of Jacob and Nick, our team has worked tirelessly to clear the land and define the boundaries of what will soon become a hub for innovation, learning, and community connection.
Jacob and Nick on-site, overseeing the ongoing PET bottle wall construction to ensure every “eco-brick” is perfectly placed.
We have already reached our first major milestone—our Micro-Goal. Visible signs of progress now mark the site:
- Official signage confirming the center as a recognized and active community project.
Members of the local community help put up the sign for the future Amara Conservation Center. - The first “outdoor classroom”—a large shaded meeting space currently under construction. This structure will host Wildlife Club activities, leadership sessions, and community dialogues, providing a vital refuge from the Tsavo heat.
Turning Waste into a Sanctuary
The team hard at work filling bottles with fine dust—a labor-intensive process that forms the foundation of our sustainable construction.
We are now entering one of our most ambitious phases: the construction of The Living Hall.
In Tsavo, plastic waste continues to scar an otherwise extraordinary natural landscape. Discarded PET bottles persist in the soil for generations, disrupting soil microorganisms and degrading the local ecosystem.
As we began assessing the problem, we realized something powerful: Tsavo does not only have a waste challenge—it has an untapped resource.
From waste to walls: A completed section of our PET bottle construction.
We plan to lead a targeted clean-up along a well-known plastic dumping corridor on the Mombasa–Nairobi highway, with the goal of collecting more than five tonnes of plastic waste. From this effort, we will use 3,000 PET bottles to construct a community hall using eco-brick technology.
Women, elderly and youth filling bottles with fine dust. We are ensuring our builders have the proper respiratory gear to stay healthy while they work.
By filling these bottles with soil to create durable building units, we will permanently remove nearly half a tonne of plastic from the environment—while transforming it into a space for learning, dialogue, and leadership.
Collected plastic waste, packed and ready to be transported to the center.
Protecting the Builders Behind the Walls
Local Women assisting in filling bottles with soil to create eco-bricks.
This work is demanding and hands-on. Filling bottles with dry soil generates significant dust, and much of this labour is carried out by local women.
Our commitment to sustainability extends to people—not only the environment. A dedicated portion of our funding will provide high-quality respiratory protective equipment for the women filling the bottles with dust and the masons constructing the eco-brick walls. We are determined to build a healthy environment without compromising the health of those who make it possible.
Transporting the completed eco-bricks to the site, ready to be turned into the walls of the community hall.
Water: The Heartbeat of the Nursery
A green sanctuary cannot exist without water
Our site sits above a shallow water table, making it possible to dig a 25-foot well. This well will serve as the foundation for our Indigenous Tree Nursery, a central pillar of the center’s environmental mission.
Once the well is completed and fitted with a manual pump, our Wildlife Clubs will begin cultivating native tree seedlings to support local reforestation efforts and combat deforestation in the surrounding communities.
Through this work, young people are learning that they are not only residents of Tsavo—they are its guardians.
Building with the Earth Beneath Our Feet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1-VeF8uh_U
Sustainability is not a slogan at Amara’s Tsavo Community Center—it is built directly into the walls.
Alongside our eco-brick construction, we are using Interlocking Stabilised Soil Blocks (ISSB). Conventional brick production relies heavily on firewood, accelerating deforestation. Our manual ISSB press allows us to use soil directly from the site to produce strong, sun-cured blocks.
This approach offers clear advantages:
- Carbon-neutral production – no firewood is required.
- Improved thermal performance – helping keep indoor spaces cooler in Tsavo’s extreme heat.
- Long-term durability – structures designed to serve the community for generations.
The Journey Ahead: Why Your Support Matters Now
Together, we have already demonstrated what is possible. In a short time, a vacant plot has become an active construction site—and a growing symbol of what community-led sustainability can achieve.
We are now entering the critical “Water and Walls” phase.
Our next goal is to raise USD 5,000 to support:
- the completion of the well,
- acquisition of the ISSB manual press, and
- installation of a small solar system to power daily operations at the site.
Every contribution is an investment in a cleaner environment, stronger community infrastructure, and a more self-sufficient future for Tsavo.
Will you help us turn red dust into a green future?
Join the journey and support the build:
https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=D3ABTEZ34Y7E4