When, in 2009, Ms Omido explained to her employer that their business of battery recycling could “end up killing” the people living near the plant, she was asked never to talk about it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the first of many times she was told to be quiet, but she did not do as she was told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 31, the business management graduate had just joined Kenya Metal Refineries, a firm in the coastal city of Mombasa which was recycling car batteries to extract the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toxic fumes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n She had been asked to commission an environmental impact assessment, but when she presented the expert’s report the company directors did not act on its findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The battery melting process emitted both toxic fumes and a discharge that seeped into the neighbouring densely populated Owino Uhuru community. It affected both the air and the water, causing illnesses the residents could not understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n