Category World News

Kenya – Mary Mwangi, a tall, talkative woman who owns a tailoring business in Thika town in Kiambu County, started knitting as a child. But it was only in 2017, when she was bedridden for 11 months after having cancer treatment, that she picked it up again.

Mwangi was first identified with spine cancer. She chose to knit hats, which she ended up donating to Kenyatta National Hospital’s cancer patients because she was housebound and wanted to have fun.

Her world was shaken again the following year, in 2018, when she was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer.

“I felt like it was the end of me when the diagnosis came out”, said the 52-year-old mother of three, who recalls being “terrified” at the news.

She turned off her phone and kept her friends and family a distance. The world was so violent when I told my husband that I didn’t want to interact with anyone.

Mwangi had to undergo a mastectomy – a surgical removal of part or all of a breast – and 33 sessions of radiotherapy. She spent four years receiving treatment, losing both of her hair and money in the process.

She lamented that when I took out a 1.3 million Kenyan-shilling (approximately $10, 000) loan to expand my tailoring business, everything [was] thrown away] by treatment.

Added to the physical and financial devastation was the social discrimination.

Although the mastectomy saved her life, her community in central Kenya, which is located 40 kilometers (24. 8 miles) northeast of Nairobi, experienced stigma.

Mwangi, who was declared cancer-free in 2020, was quoted as the “woman whose breasts were cut.” “Losing them affects your dignity”.

She soon realized she wasn’t the only one: While visiting a nearby hospital’s cancer unit, she noticed other women tucked under large scarves and sleeveless clothing. She learned from their conversations that they had also had mastectomies.

Although there are several cancer survivor support groups in Kenya that offer screening and counselling services, some of them for free, experts say the public health system often lacks adequate oncology and follow-up care, with many survivors left to navigate recovery on their own.

Mwangi pondered what helped her through her illness, knitting, in an effort to help others like herself. Then she came up with the idea of knitting knitted breast prostheses made of vibrant cotton yarn to help survivors while earning money.

At a cancer support group she attended while ill, one of the sessions taught the participants to make yarn breast prostheses. Before beginning to practice her craft, Mwangi started there, where she learned the fundamentals and later watched YouTube tutorials.

“Thank you for the knitting,” It was a form of simple therapy for me”, Mwangi said. It “told me not to think about]the cancer.”

Physical and psychological care

According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide. More than 6,700 women in Kenya are affected annually by it, according to the nation’s National Cancer Institute.

Many undergo mastectomies and are left searching for prosthetic breasts.

However, according to Mwangi, one silicone prosthetic costs an estimated 22 000 Kenyan shillings ($170), making them unaffordable for many. More than 40% of Kenya’s population, according to the World Bank, lives below the international poverty line of $3 per day.

Mwangi sells each prosthetic she knits for 1 500 Kenyan shillings ($11, 60) for each.

They come in different sizes and colours and are filled with yarn before being placed into specially adapted bras with pockets, which are sold separately for between 1, 000 ($7.74) and 2, 000 Kenyan shillings ($15.49) each.

Mwangi sells about 600 breast prostheses and more than 450 knitted hats for cancer patients each week, selling about 50 pieces a week.

She pays cash for her goods in her shop, but she also donates them in large quantities to charities she has collaborated with, including Children’s Cancer Initiative and Kenyatta National Hospital, and Milele Health.

This has helped her rebuild her business, while also continuing to aid those in need.

Mwangi also makes an effort to support survivors through the support group New Dawn Cancer Warriors, which she leads.

She describes the day a 33-year-old survivor named Jane, who was initially too anxious to speak, joined the group.

When Mwangi spoke to her privately, she learned that her confidence had dropped since having a mastectomy. She encouraged her by teaching her that a woman’s loss does not diminish her. She also donated a knitted prosthesis to support her. She claims that after five months, Jane gradually regained her self-assurance and started contributing to group discussions. Today, Mwangi says her self-esteem and courage have returned.

Knitted prosthetics, according to psychologist Joy Kulet, who sees numerous women who have undergone mastectomies, are both an affordable option and help women who have had mastectomies.

She said that losing a breast is more psychological than just physical.

Knitting served as my source of purpose.

The outside of Mwangi’s tailoring shop can be audible as busy sewing machines scream in Thika town.

Inside, finished clothes hang on the wall near two women focused on sewing. They occasionally joke joke joke jokes and laugh heartily as their skilled workers continue to feed fabric into their machines.

Mwangi knits a prosthetic breast as the sewing progresses. When she finishes, she immediately begins stuffing it with wool-like fibre, before moving on to make another piece.

The vibrant knitted breast prostheses are on display on a table next to her.

Mwangi crafts the majority of the breast prostheses she sells herself, but some, especially when she receives large orders, are created by trained women who she employs to assist with the knitting.

Since January, Mwangi says she has taught more than 200 women to knit during informal lessons she holds in her tailoring shop.

According to Mwangi, “knitting has not only saved me, but it has also given me a purpose.”

Hannah Nungari Mugo, a 46-year-old former vegetable trader at Thika market and a survivor of breast cancer, is one of the people she has trained.

Mugo underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy in 2019. Her husband took out a 500, 000 Kenyan shilling ($3, 800) loan to keep them afloat as her body lost weight and hair.

She claimed that all of our savings were consumed by it.

But like Mwangi, the stigma that followed was one of the worst parts of the experience, she says. People in her neighborhood turned away from her activities because they thought she was “fragile.”

She said, “I immediately started getting the basics from Mwangi’s training,” and after a few weeks, I was done. She now makes approximately seven prostheses a week to sell at Mwangi’s store, which earns her an income to support her family.

Sharing stories is “part of healing,” according to the saying.

The workshops aren’t just for breast cancer survivors. Mary Patricia Karobia, 58, who uses the opportunity to share her own story of stigma and survival, is one of the participants who also participated.

She received a successful liver transplant in 2011 after being diagnosed with liver fibrosis. But just like Mwangi and Mugo, discrimination awaited.

She said, “People were whispering that my liver had been removed,” recalling that she was forbidden from participating in women’s events because she was deemed too weak to contribute.

She felt disregarded. But then she came across Mwangi and her space that enabled women to talk about their experiences with others going through something similar, and she was inspired to join.

Karobia reported that she now knits four [prostheses] each week. Making prosthetics gives me joy because I help breast cancer survivors regain their self-esteem, according to the artist.

“The healing journey]from cancer] is unique for each individual. Some people find it easy, while others fall behind, according to psychologist Kulet, adding that Mwangi’s community support groups are necessary.

She said that sharing a person’s story is a part of healing, especially in areas where they can freely share their story without fear of being judged.

Mwangi considers her work to be part of the larger healing process for breast cancer survivors who have undergone mastectomies. She claims that many of the women who have the prostheses have shown improved self-esteem and courage, which is a merit for her.

Due to space constraints, Mwangi’s training workshops can only hold four people at once. And financially, she is limited: she can’t register as a training school due to a lack of funds, the price of yarn also fluctuated a few times this year – from 450 Kenyan shillings ($3.40) to almost double that – forcing her to sometimes raise prices.

She continues to believe.

She stated, “My goal is to train as many cancer survivors as possible in Kenya.” She wants them all to have their own independent businesses one day, so that hopefully, they too can “earn a living through knitting”.

In Sarh village in Reasi district of Indian-administered Kashmir, a landslide occurred on September 2 when Shabir Ahmad’s home was sucked into the river after persistent rains caused a mudslide.

“I had been building my house brick by brick since 2016. It was the work of my life. The 36-year-old father of three children told Al Jazeera, “I finished building the second floor, and there is nothing now.

As dozens of families helplessly watched their farmlands, shops, and other properties worth millions of rupees vanish without a trace, Ahmad’s was one of the nearly 20 houses in Sarh that night, including one belonging to his brother.

“We don’t even have one inch of land left to stand on”, said Ahmad from a government school in Sarh, where his family and other villagers were sheltering after the deluge.

The tragedy at Sarh was just one of many more severe climate disasters that have claimed the lives of millions of people and left them in a future uncertain future.

According to the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), climate-related disasters forced more than 32 million people from their homes in India between 2015 and 2024, with 5.4 million displacements recorded in 2024 alone – the highest in 12 years. With China and the Philippines as the top two countries in the list, India is one of the three that were the most affected by internal displacements during that time.

In addition, over 160, 000 people were forced to flee across India during the first six months of 2025 as a result of natural disasters, which caused significant flooding and landslides and submerged hundreds of villages and cities.

Zero adaptation money for two years

The Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change established a National Adaptation Fund on Climate Change (NAFCC) in 2015 to assist millions of people in India who are particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis. Its objective was to provide funding for initiatives to assist rural communities in India’s flood, drought, landslide, and other climate-related stresses.

Managed by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the flagship scheme supported interventions in agriculture, water management, forestry, coastal protection, and climate-resilient infrastructure. More than 20 projects were funded by it between 2015 and 2021, bringing in thousands of frightened households.

India’s minister for environment, forest, and climate change, Bhupender Yadav, said the global meeting should be the “COP of adaptation,” as stated during a roundtable discussion in Brazil’s Belem city last month before the 30th UN climate change conference, or COP30, which was officially opened on Monday.

“The focus must be on transforming climate commitments into real-world actions that accelerate implementation and directly improve people’s lives”, he said, according to a statement released by the Indian government on October 13. According to the statement, he called for “a need to strengthen and increase the flow of public funds toward adaptation.”

India stated in another statement last Tuesday that “adaptation financing needs to exceed nearly 15 times current flows, and significant gaps remain in doubling international public finance for adaptation by 2025.”

“India emphasised that adaptation is an urgent priority for billions of vulnerable people in developing countries who have contributed the least to global warming but stand to suffer the most from its impacts”, said the statement.

However, the Indian government’s domestic policies do not match the words used at the climate summit.

NAFCC received an average of $3.3 million annually in its initial years of operation, according to government records. But the allocation steadily declined. The fund spent only $ 2.47 million during the fiscal year 2022-2023. No upfront commitment to funding was made, NAFCC was designated as a “scheme” by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change in November 2022.

Since the financial year 2023-2024, zero money has been earmarked for the crucial climate adaptation fund.

As a result, several climate change initiatives in areas plagued by floods, cyclones, and landslides have been postponed despite the continued devastation caused by widespread climatic devastation. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman didn’t even use the terms “climate change” and “adaptation” in her hour-long speech when she presented the federal budget to parliament in February of this year.

“Announcing lofty adaptation goals abroad while starving the fund that safeguards our own citizens is misleading and a moral failure”, Raja Muzaffar Bhat, an environmental activist in Indian-administered Kashmir, told Al Jazeera, calling Yadav’s statements in Brazil “a gross distortion of reality and a dangerous distraction”.

Al Jazeera reached out to the ministries of finance and environment, forest, and climate change for their comments on reducing NAFCC funding, but they did not receive a response.

However, a representative from the Environment Ministry defended the government’s change in funding priorities, claiming that the government had not abandoned efforts to combat climate change.

“Funds are now being channelled through broader climate and sustainability initiatives rather than standalone schemes like the NAFCC”, the official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“Climate injustice at its most blatant”

Meanwhile, India’s climate crises continue to cause deaths and displacement.

In the Darbhanga district of Bihar, India’s poorest state, 38-year-old Sunita Devi has been displaced five times in seven years as floods in the nearby Kosi River repeatedly destroyed her mud house built on bamboo stilts.

Every monsoon, we live in fear. She remarked, “My children are no longer going to school because we shift between camps,” holding on to the family’s only lifeline, a government ration card, which grants them access to free or subventioned food grains.

This year saw one of the worst monsoons across India, as above-average rains killed hundreds and displaced millions. More than 1.7 million people were affected by floods in Bihar alone, killing dozens and submerging hundreds of villages.

Another impoverished eastern state, Ramesh Behera, a 45-year-old fisherman, watched his home’s Satabhaya village collapse into the Bay of Bengal in 2024 as rising seas continue to evict entire hamlets from the state. “The sea swallowed my home and my father’s fields. He declared to Al Jazeera, “Fishing is no longer enough to survive.”

Behera was forced to abandon his family’s traditional livelihoods, which included farming and fishing, and fled to distress migration to survive. He now works as a manual labourer in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Rising sea levels and coastal erosion have ravaged lands and homes in West Bengal state’s Sundarbans Islands, one of the largest mangrove forests in the world, forcing thousands of residents to relocate.

Revathi Selvam, 29, claims that the Bay of Bengal’s saltwater intrusion has poisoned her farmland and caused their paddy harvest to collapse in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district, which is located in the state of Nagapattinam.

“The soil is no longer fertile. Rice cultivation is no longer possible. Many residents of her village are considering moving to Chennai, the state capital, to work as construction workers, she said, adding that “we may have to leave farming altogether.”

In the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, 27-year-old hotel worker Arjun Thakur saw his livelihood vanish when a cloudburst in 2024 buried the small tourist lodge where he worked. The mountain “broke apart.” He recalled witnessing houses falling instantly.

Thakur now stays with his relatives in the state capital Shimla, unsure if he can ever return to his native place.

People like Devi, Behera, Selvam, and Thakur are denied access to a government program that helps them deal with their tragedies because NAFCC funding has been exhausted.

A government official, who previously worked with NAFCC, told Al Jazeera several schemes approved by the government under NAFCC were never implemented after funds began to dry up as early as 2021, exposing thousands of households to a recurring climate crisis.

Because he was not authorized to speak to the media, the official said, “The fund was created to help vulnerable communities adapt to the kind of repeated displacement we are currently witnessing.”

“States lost a crucial channel to protect people living on the frontlines of floods, landslides, and droughts once the allocations were ended. Now, these families are left to rebuild on their own, again and again”.

Bhat, an activist, claimed that India’s response to the NAFCC “demonstrates that adaptation is no longer a priority even as the country is experiencing record internal displacement from climate extremes.”

“The government has left its people’s homes, farms, and livelihoods to their own devices,” the statement read. If this continues, the next generation will inherit a country where climate refugees are a daily reality”, he said.

“This is climate injustice at its most blatant,” he says.

Migration is no longer merely a survival strategy.

Climate Action Network South Asia is a Dhaka-based coalition of about 250 civil society organisations, working in eight South Asian countries to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change. According to its estimate, the climate crisis could force about 45 million people to relocate to India by 2050, which is threefold more than the current displacement figures.

We have long coastlines, hot and cold deserts, and Himalayan glaciers, according to the president. From tsunamis on our shores to flash floods, cloudbursts, and landslides in the mountains, we face the entire spectrum of climate extremes”, Bhat told Al Jazeera.

Bhat claimed that unchecked “development” of vulnerable areas is also a result of natural disasters.

“In the past, there were few frequent floods or cloudbursts and a low population density. Now, haphazard construction around mountain passes, waterways and streams, along with rampant deforestation, has amplified these disasters”, he said.

People who once fled New Delhi’s air pollution are now living in the Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand. Moving is no longer a choice, but rather a survival strategy.

Bhat warned that neglecting people affected by climate-related displacement could cause the world’s largest climate migration crisis.

“We no longer behave as our constitution promised, providing for welfare.” We pay taxes like developed nations, but receive services that cause climate crises, leaving many people to die. “We are completely unprepared for the mass migrations that will inevitably result from both our mountains and our plains,” he said.

Back at the temporary government shelter in Kashmir’s landslide-hit Sarh village, Ahmad fears an uncertain future for him and his family.

We will not just be homeless if we don’t have access to shelter and land, but we will also turn out to be refugees in our own land, cast aside, and without any other protection, he said.