October 20, 2025 • 32 mins
Phyllis Omido is just a few months into a new job, when her infant son starts to get sick. Fevers, dehydration, hospitalisation - Phyllis is scared. Then the doctors give her some shocking news: Her son has lead poisoning. The metal smelting plant where Phyllis works, just outside Mombassa, Kenya, is leeching toxic chemicals into the water of the nearby river. And her son isn’t the only one who’s unwell: she believes the factory is poisoning the whole community.
So Phyllis turns campaigner, and starts gathering stories from all over town. Children with skin burned off, babies dying in the womb, women with mysterious fatal illnesses… And she’s going to force her employer, and the Kenyan government, to pay attention. It’s a fight that will see her life threatened, and her dubbed ‘The Erin Brockovich of East Africa’.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, girlfriends.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This episode includes some discussions of violence and infant death,
but you'll also hear from the woman who risked everything
to save an entire village who all started to fall ill.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
She's amazing.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
So about three or four months into my job, my
son started having fevers. Of course, he and Keno and
a child has fevers. You test from malaria, typhoid, you know,
tropical diseases.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Phyllis's son is getting sicker by the day, but the
doctors can't figure out what's wrong with him.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Phyllis is terrified.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Eventually he had to be hospitalized because he had lost
a lot of water, was becoming dehydrated, his eyes well watery,
he had become very weak.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Then one day, a friend visits Phyllis at the hospital
and asked an unexpected question.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Phyllis, have you tested for lid poisoning? I asked him why?
He said, but we see you with your son at
the office almost every day. You have your son in
the office with you, don't you think it would be
exposed to lead poisoning.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Lead poisoning wasn't even on the doctor's radar, so they
sent her son's blood work to South Africa for testing.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
When their blood work came back, he tested positive for
lead poisoning.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The numbers are shocking, thirty five micrograms of lead per
destla sair of blood. The World Health Organization says anything
above three point five for children is dangerous.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
But what was most terrifying is the fact that the
pedetricians told me that the hospitals were not equipped to
teste or to manage lead poisoning for Phyllis.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
This is beyond alarming.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
They were not trained, so they didn't know what to do.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So if a doctor tells you that you know it
kills everything in New, it shut does everything in New.
But it also motivated me to start doing my own
research on what is lid poisoning in how I could
address it.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
This has not come out of the blue.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
You see, Phyllis works at a metal smelting plant in
her local town. For months, she's been trying to tell
her bosses that she believes their factory may be poisoning
the community.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I interacted with the community and they told me that
they had noticed that the air had become very toxic.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
They could not breathe.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The water that seeped from the industry into the river
had changed the taste of the distant metallic.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But the company won't listen, she says, and now her
own child has been poisoned.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Then I realized I was the only one who could
save my son.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Phyllis is about to begin a fight that will make
her the enemy of an entire industry, one that will
go to great lengths to keep their dirty little secret
under the radar. The question is how much is Phyllis
willing to risk to save the community. I'm Anisonfield and
(03:11):
from the teams at Novel and iHeart Podcasts. This is
the Girlfriend's Spotlight, where we tell stories of women women Today,
(03:36):
Phyllis saves the people from poisoning you.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
It's two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Philis Amado is a single mother looking for a fresh
start in Mombasa, Kenya.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I was a young girl at that time, very young,
recently moved from upcountry. A got the job as admin
and human resource and therefore I was in charge of
you know, licensing, employment and all that in the organization.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
The company hiring Phyllis is called Metal Refinery. Since two
thousand and seven, it's run a smelting factory recycling lead
acid batteries in the village of a Weno Whuu.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Just outside Mombasa.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We know who is a small place with a few
thousand residents.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
It's often described as a slum.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Of course, I was offered a very good pay, I
was given a car, and for me, those were really
big incentives. And of course it was an opportunity to
give my son a better life, and my siblings were
also depending on me.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
From day one, something doesn't feel right about this job.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Even sitting in the office, you realize that there was
a really pageants mill. I was lucky because my office
had an ac so I would go in and close
the door, but still there would be that you know,
you're eyes are stinging, there is a smell of sulfur.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
One of Phyllis's first tasks, it's a completely something called
an environmental impact assessment, so she brings in an expert
to assess how the refinery is operating.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
The expert advised me that the negative impacts of the
company far outweighed the positive in terms of environmental and
health impact to the community the workers. He told me
that the location of this melter was wrong, that it
needed to be moved, and that is when I first
actually absorbed and understood the magnitude of what this meant
(05:36):
for us.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And am I right in thinking that.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
In spoke to some of the other women who led locally,
and I had also noticed some problems.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yes, so part of my work also was public relations.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I interacted with the community and they told me that
they had noticed that the air had become very toxic.
They could not breathe, the children were coughing at night.
The water sipped from the industry into the river had
changed the taste of the water in the river that
it tasted, you know, bitter, It tested metallic, And so
(06:11):
they had their own suspicion already that something was going wrong,
but we did not have any scientific proof that something
was actually wrong.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
At that point.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Even walking around the town of Awayno Hur, right next
to the factory, Philis could immediately say things are not right.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
When you walked on the playground, you could see particles
of lead on the playground. When you walked into the community,
you would feel these particles landing onto your skin.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
You would see them in the air.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And then she makes Calvin Kelvin.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Was a lovely little boy. He was very naughty. He
loved to play football. He's an orphan living with his grandmother,
and his grandmother really dotted over Kelvin a lot. Unfortunately,
one time, when Kelvin was playing football on the playground,
he was trying to catch the ball and he stepped
(07:05):
into the affluent living metal refinery and it completely burned
his foot.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Toxic waste from the smelting plants were seeping into the
soil in the children's playground. Well, Calvin's being treated at
the local clinic, Phyllis decides to get his blood tested
for lead poisoning.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Was I think around thirty five at the time that
we tasted thatty five micrograms, but decilit of lead in blood.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
And what should be your lead levels in your blood?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Anything above five micrograms the decisitive lead in blood is
indicative of lead poisoning. So he had thirty five as
a child, so that was alarming. But the sad thing
was that we tested him after three months and it
went up up to thirty seven. And then we tested
again it went up up to forty something, So his
(07:54):
blood lead levels kept going higher and higher when metal
refinery was open.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Armed with this evidence, the breathing problems, the metallic tasting water,
the burns Fellows schedules.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
An urgent meeting with her managers.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
That was very a larmed at what I had found.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
And I had assumed that if I presented these reports
to the managers that they would be receptive and immediately
look to protect life, not just the environment, but the
life of the community. But they immediately told me to
stop what I was doing, that this would be given
to one of the expatriate or managers who would deal
(08:36):
with it, and that I should just concentrate on human resource.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Did you get the impression that they already knew that
this was happening.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yes, I got the impression that they already knew.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And then comes the moment that changes everything.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
So about three or four months into my job, my
son started having fevers. The hospitalized him, they put him
on a drip.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
His diagnosed with lead poisoning, and Phyllis decides to take
matters into her own hands.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I would read day and night about incidents of lid poisoning,
how they are managed.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I got as much information.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
As I could how do I best help these children,
And that is exactly what I started to do.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
At the hospital.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
The doctors aren't addressing the root cause, they're just treating
her son's symptoms. So after a few weeks, he's discharged
and it's Phyllis who reads up on how to reduce
his blood lead levels, things like drinking lots of milk,
eating bananas because foods with lots of calcium helped to
displace the lead. Phyllis meets with her bosses again to
(09:41):
tell them that her son is being poisoned.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And not only that, I had then tested ten children
from the community and all tend her tested POSITI for
lid poisoning. I think I had hoped that they would feel,
you know, ashamed, and do something about it, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Phillis says.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The company offered her money in return for an agreement
that she wouldn't disclose anything she had discovered. She told
me she took the money she needed it for her
son's treatment, but she didn't sign their silence agreement. Instead,
she quits her job and starts her own organization, the
Center for Justice, Governance and Environmental Action, a nonprofit fighting
(10:25):
for environmental justice. She starts to look deeper into what's
happening to people in a we know.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
A whou The most affected, of course, were children because
they play in the soil We tested over one hundred
children and ninety percent of them tested positive full aid poisoning.
But also the women paid the most severe consequences.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
In getting to know the community, Phyllis meets a local woman,
a twenty four year old newlywored who is desperate to
have children.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
But every time she got a pregnant, she would miscarry
and miscarriage.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
She got five miscarriages. Fels sense.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
She warns the woman to stop trying to get pregnant.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
You have to stop because you have high light levels
in your body. I think two hundred and seventy two
micrograms of lead in her blood. And I told her
it's not going to happen. You have to stop. And
she kept insisting that she had faith that she would
carry this child.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And eventually things do go differently for her.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
She carried her baby to tom and she gave birth
exactly one week after giving bad. She died because her
lead levels were too high. Her blood would not pump
her interest and she died. She left her child. I
went to test him at bath. He was one positive
for lead poisoning.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Then Fellas meets another woman.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
She got pregnant. The child died in her womb. By
the time we got her to hospital, her womb was
completely destroyed. Because the child would not survive, her womb
was removed, so she's unable to give back ever again
because of the highlight levels in her blood.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
The true horrors of what's really happening around the factory
are coming to light. After the break, Phyllis takes her
fight to a national level and raises all hell. Phyllis
(13:01):
is horrified by what she has discovered around metal refinery,
smelting factory and we know a huru. Local people are
struggling to breathe, children burned as they play, babies lost
before birth, brand new mother's dying, the levels of lead
in their blood simply too high to survive. She hears
heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
These women deserved better than what they got from what
they said in you know the corporation that set.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Up one story in particular, wunts Phyllis.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I'll tell you about the first time that I met Sammy.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
A local five year old boy she got to know.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I asked Sammy, you know canan dialect swahilia? I asked him, Sammy,
how are your loved ones? Which is a normal, gritty
and Sammy said, I don't love anyone. I love you only,
and of course I fell in love with with Sammy.
At that point he had my total hat and from
that time I nicknamed him you only in Swahili, and
(14:02):
I called Sami new it too, It's only you.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Samy's been breathing and lead pascors every day of his
young life. The dust and smoke, what the local was
called acid rain from the factory's chimneys has burnt his
skin so badly that it's literally peeling off. He's in
and out of hospital constantly.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
And when Sammy was hospitalized this time, I knew that
it was a bit serious. And after I finished my work,
I had planned to see Sami, but I was not
able to see Sammy. So I went home and his
mother called me at night and asked, are you going
to be able to come and see Sammy? And I
said no, let me talk to Sammy and I was
(14:42):
on phone and he asked, are you coming for me?
I said yes, Are you bringing the car to pick me?
And I said yes. All you need to do for
me is get better and I'll bring the car to
pick you from hospital. And I asked him, are you
going to get better. I said, yes, I'm going to
get better. So I said, okay, fine, you get better.
Tomorrow is another day. I'll pass by and see you.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
That's who I am. Phyllis gets a call from Samy's mom.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I picked the call and I asked her, Catherine, are
you okay?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Is Sami okay? And she told me Samy has left us?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
And I did not understand how Samy has left us. Yes, sir,
what do you mean Sammy has left us? She said,
Sami is gone. Sammy is gone. He's not breathing. I
told him, don't move him, don't move his spotty because
I don't believe that Sammy has died. Don't do anything
(15:36):
until I get there. So I drove and went to
hospital and Sammy was there on the bed.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
But Sammy was gone. Samu was dead.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
The acid from the chimneys had completely damaged his skin
so that at the point of death, Sammy's skin was
not able to hold onto his body. If you touch him,
this kid would come off. So he died a very
painful death. There's nothing that anyone would have done to
bring him back.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
At that point, in the midst of her grief, Phyllis
tries to get Sammy's medical files as evidence, but the
hospital flat out refuses.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Maybe when they will manage to get through, maybe a
court or or something to get Sammy's fire out.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I hope you do. Sammy sounds like a really wonderful
little boy.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
He was really cute. I'll send you a picture afterwards.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Everything Phyllis says in a we know Huru. Every tragedy
she witnesses makes her more angry, and the lack of
concern from the company behind all the suffering just makes
her more determined to act. She starts writing letters, first
to Kenya's National Environmental Management Authority NIMA.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
I include the results of the children that were sick
and told them that something was critically wrong. They needed
to take a second look. And the reaction the first
letok that they wrote to me was that they were
ready to defend themselves against any accusations that I brought
against them, and that they were not privy to what
I was accusing them of. And I wrote back and said,
(17:21):
I'm not accusing you. I'm telling you that children are
falling sick and I've.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Given new proof.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
She writes.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
The government officials agencies basically anyone who might listen. Every
single letter includes those devastating blood test results for the
response crickets, it's time to get the community involved.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
At first, I worked with the women, mostly because they're
the ones who were awaked underlive.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
To what was going on.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Unfortunately, most of the men were employed inside the smelter.
So when I started the most sets, the women that
went with meet the women that sat on the committees.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
It is the women that you know, worked with me
that journey.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
In twenty twelve, Fellows organizes a mass demonstration, but things
go very wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
So I was in the community, you know, mobilizing, asking
the women to come out.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Some of the men also to join us.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
The kids were playing and everything, and then suddenly there
were loud bangs and there was police everywhere. There was
tear gus and they kept asking where's this woman, where's
this woman? Then where's Phyllis? And so I came out
and said I'm here, I'm here.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
She does not expect what happens.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Next they dragged me. They were pulling me and you know,
beating me. I lost my shoes. By the time they
got me to the road from the community, I had
no shoes. They made me sit down there, and then
they made me watch the most horrific scene in my life,
because they started going door to door breaking the houses.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
People in Oweno, who are usually and maybe two three
dollars a day, barely enough for food and sustenance, and
the police go in and completely destroy all their belongings.
Is clearly designed to break Phyllis's spirit and send a
message to anyone thinking of supporting her.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
And they made me sit there for almost six hours
as they did this, and of course people ran away,
they fled because they had never seen anything like this,
and so I was arrested together with sixteen other community members.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Philip spends the night in a police sell. When the
morning comes, she discovers something heartwarming. The entire community has
spent the night sleeping outside the police station waiting for her.
When the police take her to the courthouse the next morning,
everyone follows.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
And the courthouse was packed with members of the Nahu community.
And when they read my name, when the judge said
Phyllis Omido, the environmental activist, and I accepted that, Yes.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
My name is Phyllis Omiado. I'm an environmental activist.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
And that was the first time that I actually accepted
my role as an environmental activist.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
That's the moment Phyllis is no longer just a worried
mom or whistle blowing employee. She's officially a thorn in
the government side. She starts community petitions and pushes those
all the way to the Kenyan Parliament.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Of course, the parliamentarians came from Nairobi, they came to
the community. They did their own tests and they got
very horrific results, worse than what I got. They got
up to four hundred and twenty micrograms by decility of
lead in blood.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Remember the safe level is three point five for children.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
This is four hundred and twenty.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
So we wrote a petition to Parliament and then we
wrote a petition to Senate. They both did their own investigation,
removed their own reports, but nobody was bothering within government
how to get justice this. Smelters were still operating. In fact,
at that time they had even licensed most smelters in Mombasa.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
We had three smelters in Mombasa at that time.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
All this noise is definitely getting attention, unfortunately not the
kind Phyllis was hoping for, because being labeled an activist
has painted a big target on her back. After the break,
Phyllis has her closest call yet after you. One evening,
(22:05):
Phyllis is walking home from church with her young son.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
It was getting a bit dark and when I got home,
as I was opening the gate, there were two men
that were standing there, so I just said hi, and
I proceeded to open the gate. I assumed maybe they
were watchmen from the neighbors, or they're just passer by,
but they moved close to me and they had guns.
And I put my hands up, like to surrender, because
(22:31):
this is what we see in the movies, and I'd
never experienced something like this, so I put my hands up.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
He hit me and said put your hands down. So
I put my hands down and.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
They started, you know, roughing me up. One of them said,
we are told you are standing up to men in
this society, and I said, no, I'm not standing up
to any man. I'm from church right now. There's nothing
I've done.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
At first, Fellows thinks maybe they just want to rob her.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
But one me and said, you're very rude. Said you
think you're not too much. You think you're not too much,
that's why you're standing up to people in this society.
I realized then that these people are not thieves. They
are not just arm drobbers or something. These people had
been sent by someone.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
To intimidate her for her activism.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
So I told them, okay, I'm here. I promise you,
I'm not going to run. I'm not going to do anything.
Allow my son to go inside. I'll stay here. Then
you do whatever you want with me.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
The two men start arguing with each other about what
to do with her son.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
I opened the gate, pushed my son in, I locked it,
and then I threw the key inside. I think that
even aggravated him more so he hit me and I
fell now on the floor, so my head was down
and I could hear my son screaming, and I was
very afraid because I thought maybe they would shoot through
the gate and shoot my son, you know. And I
(23:53):
kept trying to gather attention to me and not to
my son. I kept, you know, trying to talk and
you know, telling him I'm here. Just you do whatever
you want.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Leave my son Ali, And then like something out of
a movie, her neighbor's car pulls up.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
The headlights hit the scene like a spotlight.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
And he was I think he was drunk at that
time a king, Why are you sleeping? Why are you
on the floor?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You couldn't script it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Phyllis's drunk neighbors stumbles onto the scene and scares the
attackers off.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Live in and lift us there. And so I went inside.
I picked my son. I told my neighbor, please please
drive me to my friends.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Please.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
That night changes everything for Phyllis. She packs up her life,
takes her son, and leaves Mombassa for good or because
she dared to speak up about children being poisoned. And still,
she says, Metal Refinery, the international corporation behind all all
this suffering, won't listen, The government won't act.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
It's time for plan be.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Phyllis and her team at the Center for Justice, Governance
and Environmental Action find another way to stop the factory.
They pressure the Kenyan government into passing a vital law, a.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Legislation that banned the export of LID and lid a
Louis because what they were doing was they was melting
and exputting pure LID out of the country, so they
were unable to export. Because then we got the port
police to start impounding any containers containing LID living the
port of Mumbasa.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
They flipped the whole argument.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Instead of stop poisoning people, it became stop exporting our
precious resources and boom, no more exports, no more business.
The police start to impound any containers with metal refinery
products at the port and this makes the company lose
a lot of money, so much so that the factory
(25:59):
shuts down in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
But Fallas isn't done yet.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
The court compelled them.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
To pay twelve millionaires dollars in compensation to the community
and seven millionaires dollars as a finance for cleaning up
the remediating the environment in no Huru. Unfortunately, in twenty
twenty one, the government appealed against the judgment, so we
(26:32):
went to the Court of Appeal and we lost. The
Court of appealed dold us to go back and start
the case afresh at the Environment and Land Coat, but
we knew that it was largely because of corruption, not
because our case was weak. So we appealed to the
Supreme Court and in December of twenty twenty four we
won the case at the Supreme Court and they reinstated
(26:54):
the award that was given at the Environment and Land Coat.
So as we stand now, the government is supposed to
pay the community.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
As we're recording this, that money still hasn't reached the
families in a we know who, but Phyllis isn't giving up.
The work you've done has spanned such a long, you know,
span of time, and you've been fighting against a lot
and people have been fighting back against you. Is there
any particular moment that stands out as a real time
(27:27):
when you thought I've won?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Do you ever feel that?
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yes, the first time that metal refinery closed down. You know,
we had tried many times, NEMA would shut them down
for a week, reopen, shut them down for aman, reopen.
So when we impounded their containers, when we got the
police to impound their containers and they closed down by themselves,
that was the first time that we felt.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
A we are weaning, maybe we are winning And that
was a real victory for us.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, and the court case, when you finally heard that
verdict and it was a win, how did you feel then?
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Of course, we celebrated.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I don't think we slept that night when the community
the whole night, you know, just dancing and you know,
playing music, because for us, we didn't believe that we
could get this fine. That we would win this case,
and then we won.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Phyllis's journey is remarkable. A single mother who started as
an admin assistant just beat the government and six state
agencies and two companies in court. That's really David and
Goliath Territory. Today, Phyllis is an internationally recognized environmental activist.
(28:49):
The metal refinery that poisoned her community gone all thanks
to her. And it all started when she first saw Calvin,
that little boy who burned his foot from the light
deposits in the water well. Calvin is now in his
final year of high school, still fighting, still moving forward.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Will you ever be able to rest?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I've been telling myself that once there were no whole
communities compensated and we do a big memorial for you
know some his mother died after that because she also
had very high lead levels in our blood. I've been
telling myself that once we have compensated the community, that
we have ensured that the communities remediated, maybe then I
(29:36):
can consider resting. But I'm not sure because there are
many other challenges.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Thank you to Fellows for telling us her incredible story.
You know, life isn't easy for her. She still faces
security threats from the powerful people's sands up to so
I'm beyond grateful that she made time for this conversation.
(30:15):
If you've enjoyed this conversation, you can find loads more
incredible women on our feed. Do check them out, and
please do spread the word and tell your friends about us.
We want as many people as possible to be part
of the Girlfriend's Gang. Next time on the Girlfriend's Spotlight,
Miss Sahara Crown's Queens.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
I'm tall. I'm fivefuty eleven on heels, I'm six foot three,
but I really don't care.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
This is who I am. We are coming to.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
This world to contribute in one wordio there, and that
makes us beautiful.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
This season, we're supporting the charity Womankind Worldwide. They do
amazing work to help women's rights organizations and movements to
strengthen and grow. If you'd like to find out more
or donate to help them secure equal rights for women
and girls across the globe, you can go to Womankind
dot org dot UK. The Girlfriend's Spotlight is produced by
(31:24):
Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit novel
dot Audio. The show is hosted by me Anna Sinfield.
This episode was written and produced by al Shehi Barney,
with additional production and story finding by Maddie hickeish Our
researcher is Seyana Yusuf. The editor is Hannah Marshall. Max
(31:44):
O'Brien and Craig Strachan are executive producers. Production management from
Joe Savage, Sharie Houston and Charlotte Wolf. Sound design, mixing
and scoring by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson. Music supervision
by Jacob t, Nicholas Alexander and Annasonfield. Original music composed
(32:04):
by Louisa Gerstein and Jemma Freeman. The series artwork was
designed by Christina Lemkol. Willard Foxton is creative director of Development.
Special thanks to Katrina Norvel, Carrie Lieberman, and Will Pearson
at iHeart Podcasts, as well as Carl Frankel and the
whole team at WM
Hey, girlfriends.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
This episode includes some discussions of violence and infant death,
but you'll also hear from the woman who risked everything
to save an entire village who all started to fall ill.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
She's amazing.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
So about three or four months into my job, my
son started having fevers. Of course, he and Keno and
a child has fevers. You test from malaria, typhoid, you know,
tropical diseases.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Phyllis's son is getting sicker by the day, but the
doctors can't figure out what's wrong with him.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Phyllis is terrified.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Eventually he had to be hospitalized because he had lost
a lot of water, was becoming dehydrated, his eyes well watery,
he had become very weak.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Then one day, a friend visits Phyllis at the hospital
and asked an unexpected question.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Phyllis, have you tested for lid poisoning? I asked him why?
He said, but we see you with your son at
the office almost every day. You have your son in
the office with you, don't you think it would be
exposed to lead poisoning.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Lead poisoning wasn't even on the doctor's radar, so they
sent her son's blood work to South Africa for testing.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
When their blood work came back, he tested positive for
lead poisoning.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The numbers are shocking, thirty five micrograms of lead per
destla sair of blood. The World Health Organization says anything
above three point five for children is dangerous.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
But what was most terrifying is the fact that the
pedetricians told me that the hospitals were not equipped to
teste or to manage lead poisoning for Phyllis.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
This is beyond alarming.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
They were not trained, so they didn't know what to do.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So if a doctor tells you that you know it
kills everything in New, it shut does everything in New.
But it also motivated me to start doing my own
research on what is lid poisoning in how I could
address it.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
This has not come out of the blue.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
You see, Phyllis works at a metal smelting plant in
her local town. For months, she's been trying to tell
her bosses that she believes their factory may be poisoning
the community.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I interacted with the community and they told me that
they had noticed that the air had become very toxic.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
They could not breathe.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The water that seeped from the industry into the river
had changed the taste of the distant metallic.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
But the company won't listen, she says, and now her
own child has been poisoned.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Then I realized I was the only one who could
save my son.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Phyllis is about to begin a fight that will make
her the enemy of an entire industry, one that will
go to great lengths to keep their dirty little secret
under the radar. The question is how much is Phyllis
willing to risk to save the community. I'm Anisonfield and
(03:11):
from the teams at Novel and iHeart Podcasts. This is
the Girlfriend's Spotlight, where we tell stories of women women Today,
(03:36):
Phyllis saves the people from poisoning you.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
It's two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Philis Amado is a single mother looking for a fresh
start in Mombasa, Kenya.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I was a young girl at that time, very young,
recently moved from upcountry. A got the job as admin
and human resource and therefore I was in charge of
you know, licensing, employment and all that in the organization.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
The company hiring Phyllis is called Metal Refinery. Since two
thousand and seven, it's run a smelting factory recycling lead
acid batteries in the village of a Weno Whuu.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Just outside Mombasa.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We know who is a small place with a few
thousand residents.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
It's often described as a slum.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Of course, I was offered a very good pay, I
was given a car, and for me, those were really
big incentives. And of course it was an opportunity to
give my son a better life, and my siblings were
also depending on me.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
From day one, something doesn't feel right about this job.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Even sitting in the office, you realize that there was
a really pageants mill. I was lucky because my office
had an ac so I would go in and close
the door, but still there would be that you know,
you're eyes are stinging, there is a smell of sulfur.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
One of Phyllis's first tasks, it's a completely something called
an environmental impact assessment, so she brings in an expert
to assess how the refinery is operating.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
The expert advised me that the negative impacts of the
company far outweighed the positive in terms of environmental and
health impact to the community the workers. He told me
that the location of this melter was wrong, that it
needed to be moved, and that is when I first
actually absorbed and understood the magnitude of what this meant
(05:36):
for us.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And am I right in thinking that.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
In spoke to some of the other women who led locally,
and I had also noticed some problems.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yes, so part of my work also was public relations.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I interacted with the community and they told me that
they had noticed that the air had become very toxic.
They could not breathe, the children were coughing at night.
The water sipped from the industry into the river had
changed the taste of the water in the river that
it tasted, you know, bitter, It tested metallic, And so
(06:11):
they had their own suspicion already that something was going wrong,
but we did not have any scientific proof that something
was actually wrong.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
At that point.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Even walking around the town of Awayno Hur, right next
to the factory, Philis could immediately say things are not right.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
When you walked on the playground, you could see particles
of lead on the playground. When you walked into the community,
you would feel these particles landing onto your skin.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
You would see them in the air.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And then she makes Calvin Kelvin.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Was a lovely little boy. He was very naughty. He
loved to play football. He's an orphan living with his grandmother,
and his grandmother really dotted over Kelvin a lot. Unfortunately,
one time, when Kelvin was playing football on the playground,
he was trying to catch the ball and he stepped
(07:05):
into the affluent living metal refinery and it completely burned
his foot.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Toxic waste from the smelting plants were seeping into the
soil in the children's playground. Well, Calvin's being treated at
the local clinic, Phyllis decides to get his blood tested
for lead poisoning.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Was I think around thirty five at the time that
we tasted thatty five micrograms, but decilit of lead in blood.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
And what should be your lead levels in your blood?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Anything above five micrograms the decisitive lead in blood is
indicative of lead poisoning. So he had thirty five as
a child, so that was alarming. But the sad thing
was that we tested him after three months and it
went up up to thirty seven. And then we tested
again it went up up to forty something, So his
(07:54):
blood lead levels kept going higher and higher when metal
refinery was open.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Armed with this evidence, the breathing problems, the metallic tasting water,
the burns Fellows schedules.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
An urgent meeting with her managers.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
That was very a larmed at what I had found.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
And I had assumed that if I presented these reports
to the managers that they would be receptive and immediately
look to protect life, not just the environment, but the
life of the community. But they immediately told me to
stop what I was doing, that this would be given
to one of the expatriate or managers who would deal
(08:36):
with it, and that I should just concentrate on human resource.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Did you get the impression that they already knew that
this was happening.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yes, I got the impression that they already knew.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
And then comes the moment that changes everything.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
So about three or four months into my job, my
son started having fevers. The hospitalized him, they put him
on a drip.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
His diagnosed with lead poisoning, and Phyllis decides to take
matters into her own hands.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I would read day and night about incidents of lid poisoning,
how they are managed.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I got as much information.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
As I could how do I best help these children,
And that is exactly what I started to do.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
At the hospital.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
The doctors aren't addressing the root cause, they're just treating
her son's symptoms. So after a few weeks, he's discharged
and it's Phyllis who reads up on how to reduce
his blood lead levels, things like drinking lots of milk,
eating bananas because foods with lots of calcium helped to
displace the lead. Phyllis meets with her bosses again to
(09:41):
tell them that her son is being poisoned.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And not only that, I had then tested ten children
from the community and all tend her tested POSITI for
lid poisoning. I think I had hoped that they would feel,
you know, ashamed, and do something about it, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Phillis says.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
The company offered her money in return for an agreement
that she wouldn't disclose anything she had discovered. She told
me she took the money she needed it for her
son's treatment, but she didn't sign their silence agreement. Instead,
she quits her job and starts her own organization, the
Center for Justice, Governance and Environmental Action, a nonprofit fighting
(10:25):
for environmental justice. She starts to look deeper into what's
happening to people in a we know.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
A whou The most affected, of course, were children because
they play in the soil We tested over one hundred
children and ninety percent of them tested positive full aid poisoning.
But also the women paid the most severe consequences.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
In getting to know the community, Phyllis meets a local woman,
a twenty four year old newlywored who is desperate to
have children.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
But every time she got a pregnant, she would miscarry
and miscarriage.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
She got five miscarriages. Fels sense.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
She warns the woman to stop trying to get pregnant.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
You have to stop because you have high light levels
in your body. I think two hundred and seventy two
micrograms of lead in her blood. And I told her
it's not going to happen. You have to stop. And
she kept insisting that she had faith that she would
carry this child.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And eventually things do go differently for her.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
She carried her baby to tom and she gave birth
exactly one week after giving bad. She died because her
lead levels were too high. Her blood would not pump
her interest and she died. She left her child. I
went to test him at bath. He was one positive
for lead poisoning.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Then Fellas meets another woman.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
She got pregnant. The child died in her womb. By
the time we got her to hospital, her womb was
completely destroyed. Because the child would not survive, her womb
was removed, so she's unable to give back ever again
because of the highlight levels in her blood.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
The true horrors of what's really happening around the factory
are coming to light. After the break, Phyllis takes her
fight to a national level and raises all hell. Phyllis
(13:01):
is horrified by what she has discovered around metal refinery,
smelting factory and we know a huru. Local people are
struggling to breathe, children burned as they play, babies lost
before birth, brand new mother's dying, the levels of lead
in their blood simply too high to survive. She hears
heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
These women deserved better than what they got from what
they said in you know the corporation that set.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Up one story in particular, wunts Phyllis.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
I'll tell you about the first time that I met Sammy.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
A local five year old boy she got to know.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I asked Sammy, you know canan dialect swahilia? I asked him, Sammy,
how are your loved ones? Which is a normal, gritty
and Sammy said, I don't love anyone. I love you only,
and of course I fell in love with with Sammy.
At that point he had my total hat and from
that time I nicknamed him you only in Swahili, and
(14:02):
I called Sami new it too, It's only you.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Samy's been breathing and lead pascors every day of his
young life. The dust and smoke, what the local was
called acid rain from the factory's chimneys has burnt his
skin so badly that it's literally peeling off. He's in
and out of hospital constantly.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
And when Sammy was hospitalized this time, I knew that
it was a bit serious. And after I finished my work,
I had planned to see Sami, but I was not
able to see Sammy. So I went home and his
mother called me at night and asked, are you going
to be able to come and see Sammy? And I
said no, let me talk to Sammy and I was
(14:42):
on phone and he asked, are you coming for me?
I said yes, Are you bringing the car to pick me?
And I said yes. All you need to do for
me is get better and I'll bring the car to
pick you from hospital. And I asked him, are you
going to get better. I said, yes, I'm going to
get better. So I said, okay, fine, you get better.
Tomorrow is another day. I'll pass by and see you.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
That's who I am. Phyllis gets a call from Samy's mom.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I picked the call and I asked her, Catherine, are
you okay?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Is Sami okay? And she told me Samy has left us?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
And I did not understand how Samy has left us. Yes, sir,
what do you mean Sammy has left us? She said,
Sami is gone. Sammy is gone. He's not breathing. I
told him, don't move him, don't move his spotty because
I don't believe that Sammy has died. Don't do anything
(15:36):
until I get there. So I drove and went to
hospital and Sammy was there on the bed.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
But Sammy was gone. Samu was dead.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
The acid from the chimneys had completely damaged his skin
so that at the point of death, Sammy's skin was
not able to hold onto his body. If you touch him,
this kid would come off. So he died a very
painful death. There's nothing that anyone would have done to
bring him back.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
At that point, in the midst of her grief, Phyllis
tries to get Sammy's medical files as evidence, but the
hospital flat out refuses.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Maybe when they will manage to get through, maybe a
court or or something to get Sammy's fire out.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I hope you do. Sammy sounds like a really wonderful
little boy.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
He was really cute. I'll send you a picture afterwards.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Everything Phyllis says in a we know Huru. Every tragedy
she witnesses makes her more angry, and the lack of
concern from the company behind all the suffering just makes
her more determined to act. She starts writing letters, first
to Kenya's National Environmental Management Authority NIMA.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
I include the results of the children that were sick
and told them that something was critically wrong. They needed
to take a second look. And the reaction the first
letok that they wrote to me was that they were
ready to defend themselves against any accusations that I brought
against them, and that they were not privy to what
I was accusing them of. And I wrote back and said,
(17:21):
I'm not accusing you. I'm telling you that children are
falling sick and I've.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Given new proof.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
She writes.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
The government officials agencies basically anyone who might listen. Every
single letter includes those devastating blood test results for the
response crickets, it's time to get the community involved.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
At first, I worked with the women, mostly because they're
the ones who were awaked underlive.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
To what was going on.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Unfortunately, most of the men were employed inside the smelter.
So when I started the most sets, the women that
went with meet the women that sat on the committees.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
It is the women that you know, worked with me
that journey.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
In twenty twelve, Fellows organizes a mass demonstration, but things
go very wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
So I was in the community, you know, mobilizing, asking
the women to come out.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Some of the men also to join us.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
The kids were playing and everything, and then suddenly there
were loud bangs and there was police everywhere. There was
tear gus and they kept asking where's this woman, where's
this woman? Then where's Phyllis? And so I came out
and said I'm here, I'm here.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
She does not expect what happens.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Next they dragged me. They were pulling me and you know,
beating me. I lost my shoes. By the time they
got me to the road from the community, I had
no shoes. They made me sit down there, and then
they made me watch the most horrific scene in my life,
because they started going door to door breaking the houses.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
People in Oweno, who are usually and maybe two three
dollars a day, barely enough for food and sustenance, and
the police go in and completely destroy all their belongings.
Is clearly designed to break Phyllis's spirit and send a
message to anyone thinking of supporting her.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
And they made me sit there for almost six hours
as they did this, and of course people ran away,
they fled because they had never seen anything like this,
and so I was arrested together with sixteen other community members.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Philip spends the night in a police sell. When the
morning comes, she discovers something heartwarming. The entire community has
spent the night sleeping outside the police station waiting for her.
When the police take her to the courthouse the next morning,
everyone follows.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
And the courthouse was packed with members of the Nahu community.
And when they read my name, when the judge said
Phyllis Omido, the environmental activist, and I accepted that, Yes.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
My name is Phyllis Omiado. I'm an environmental activist.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
And that was the first time that I actually accepted
my role as an environmental activist.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
That's the moment Phyllis is no longer just a worried
mom or whistle blowing employee. She's officially a thorn in
the government side. She starts community petitions and pushes those
all the way to the Kenyan Parliament.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Of course, the parliamentarians came from Nairobi, they came to
the community. They did their own tests and they got
very horrific results, worse than what I got. They got
up to four hundred and twenty micrograms by decility of
lead in blood.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Remember the safe level is three point five for children.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
This is four hundred and twenty.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
So we wrote a petition to Parliament and then we
wrote a petition to Senate. They both did their own investigation,
removed their own reports, but nobody was bothering within government
how to get justice this. Smelters were still operating. In fact,
at that time they had even licensed most smelters in Mombasa.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
We had three smelters in Mombasa at that time.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
All this noise is definitely getting attention, unfortunately not the
kind Phyllis was hoping for, because being labeled an activist
has painted a big target on her back. After the break,
Phyllis has her closest call yet after you. One evening,
(22:05):
Phyllis is walking home from church with her young son.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
It was getting a bit dark and when I got home,
as I was opening the gate, there were two men
that were standing there, so I just said hi, and
I proceeded to open the gate. I assumed maybe they
were watchmen from the neighbors, or they're just passer by,
but they moved close to me and they had guns.
And I put my hands up, like to surrender, because
(22:31):
this is what we see in the movies, and I'd
never experienced something like this, so I put my hands up.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
He hit me and said put your hands down. So
I put my hands down and.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
They started, you know, roughing me up. One of them said,
we are told you are standing up to men in
this society, and I said, no, I'm not standing up
to any man. I'm from church right now. There's nothing
I've done.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
At first, Fellows thinks maybe they just want to rob her.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
But one me and said, you're very rude. Said you
think you're not too much. You think you're not too much,
that's why you're standing up to people in this society.
I realized then that these people are not thieves. They
are not just arm drobbers or something. These people had
been sent by someone.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
To intimidate her for her activism.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
So I told them, okay, I'm here. I promise you,
I'm not going to run. I'm not going to do anything.
Allow my son to go inside. I'll stay here. Then
you do whatever you want with me.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
The two men start arguing with each other about what
to do with her son.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
I opened the gate, pushed my son in, I locked it,
and then I threw the key inside. I think that
even aggravated him more so he hit me and I
fell now on the floor, so my head was down
and I could hear my son screaming, and I was
very afraid because I thought maybe they would shoot through
the gate and shoot my son, you know. And I
(23:53):
kept trying to gather attention to me and not to
my son. I kept, you know, trying to talk and
you know, telling him I'm here. Just you do whatever
you want.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Leave my son Ali, And then like something out of
a movie, her neighbor's car pulls up.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
The headlights hit the scene like a spotlight.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
And he was I think he was drunk at that
time a king, Why are you sleeping? Why are you
on the floor?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You couldn't script it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Phyllis's drunk neighbors stumbles onto the scene and scares the
attackers off.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Live in and lift us there. And so I went inside.
I picked my son. I told my neighbor, please please
drive me to my friends.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Please.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
That night changes everything for Phyllis. She packs up her life,
takes her son, and leaves Mombassa for good or because
she dared to speak up about children being poisoned. And still,
she says, Metal Refinery, the international corporation behind all all
this suffering, won't listen, The government won't act.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
It's time for plan be.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Phyllis and her team at the Center for Justice, Governance
and Environmental Action find another way to stop the factory.
They pressure the Kenyan government into passing a vital law, a.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Legislation that banned the export of LID and lid a
Louis because what they were doing was they was melting
and exputting pure LID out of the country, so they
were unable to export. Because then we got the port
police to start impounding any containers containing LID living the
port of Mumbasa.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
They flipped the whole argument.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Instead of stop poisoning people, it became stop exporting our
precious resources and boom, no more exports, no more business.
The police start to impound any containers with metal refinery
products at the port and this makes the company lose
a lot of money, so much so that the factory
(25:59):
shuts down in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
But Fallas isn't done yet.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
The court compelled them.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
To pay twelve millionaires dollars in compensation to the community
and seven millionaires dollars as a finance for cleaning up
the remediating the environment in no Huru. Unfortunately, in twenty
twenty one, the government appealed against the judgment, so we
(26:32):
went to the Court of Appeal and we lost. The
Court of appealed dold us to go back and start
the case afresh at the Environment and Land Coat, but
we knew that it was largely because of corruption, not
because our case was weak. So we appealed to the
Supreme Court and in December of twenty twenty four we
won the case at the Supreme Court and they reinstated
(26:54):
the award that was given at the Environment and Land Coat.
So as we stand now, the government is supposed to
pay the community.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
As we're recording this, that money still hasn't reached the
families in a we know who, but Phyllis isn't giving up.
The work you've done has spanned such a long, you know,
span of time, and you've been fighting against a lot
and people have been fighting back against you. Is there
any particular moment that stands out as a real time
(27:27):
when you thought I've won?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Do you ever feel that?
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yes, the first time that metal refinery closed down. You know,
we had tried many times, NEMA would shut them down
for a week, reopen, shut them down for aman, reopen.
So when we impounded their containers, when we got the
police to impound their containers and they closed down by themselves,
that was the first time that we felt.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
A we are weaning, maybe we are winning And that
was a real victory for us.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, and the court case, when you finally heard that
verdict and it was a win, how did you feel then?
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Of course, we celebrated.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I don't think we slept that night when the community
the whole night, you know, just dancing and you know,
playing music, because for us, we didn't believe that we
could get this fine. That we would win this case,
and then we won.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Phyllis's journey is remarkable. A single mother who started as
an admin assistant just beat the government and six state
agencies and two companies in court. That's really David and
Goliath Territory. Today, Phyllis is an internationally recognized environmental activist.
(28:49):
The metal refinery that poisoned her community gone all thanks
to her. And it all started when she first saw Calvin,
that little boy who burned his foot from the light
deposits in the water well. Calvin is now in his
final year of high school, still fighting, still moving forward.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Will you ever be able to rest?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I've been telling myself that once there were no whole
communities compensated and we do a big memorial for you
know some his mother died after that because she also
had very high lead levels in our blood. I've been
telling myself that once we have compensated the community, that
we have ensured that the communities remediated, maybe then I
(29:36):
can consider resting. But I'm not sure because there are
many other challenges.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Thank you to Fellows for telling us her incredible story.
You know, life isn't easy for her. She still faces
security threats from the powerful people's sands up to so
I'm beyond grateful that she made time for this conversation.
(30:15):
If you've enjoyed this conversation, you can find loads more
incredible women on our feed. Do check them out, and
please do spread the word and tell your friends about us.
We want as many people as possible to be part
of the Girlfriend's Gang. Next time on the Girlfriend's Spotlight,
Miss Sahara Crown's Queens.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
I'm tall. I'm fivefuty eleven on heels, I'm six foot three,
but I really don't care.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
This is who I am. We are coming to.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
This world to contribute in one wordio there, and that
makes us beautiful.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
This season, we're supporting the charity Womankind Worldwide. They do
amazing work to help women's rights organizations and movements to
strengthen and grow. If you'd like to find out more
or donate to help them secure equal rights for women
and girls across the globe, you can go to Womankind
dot org dot UK. The Girlfriend's Spotlight is produced by
(31:24):
Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit novel
dot Audio. The show is hosted by me Anna Sinfield.
This episode was written and produced by al Shehi Barney,
with additional production and story finding by Maddie hickeish Our
researcher is Seyana Yusuf. The editor is Hannah Marshall. Max
(31:44):
O'Brien and Craig Strachan are executive producers. Production management from
Joe Savage, Sharie Houston and Charlotte Wolf. Sound design, mixing
and scoring by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson. Music supervision
by Jacob t, Nicholas Alexander and Annasonfield. Original music composed
(32:04):
by Louisa Gerstein and Jemma Freeman. The series artwork was
designed by Christina Lemkol. Willard Foxton is creative director of Development.
Special thanks to Katrina Norvel, Carrie Lieberman, and Will Pearson
at iHeart Podcasts, as well as Carl Frankel and the
whole team at WM
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