"You Don't Want To Mess With An Angry Mother"

Phyllis Omido, a Kenyan mother, started a campaign to shut down a battery-recycling operation after her 2-1/2-year-old son was diagnosed with lead poisoning. She is one of six recipients worldwide of the prestigious Goldman Prize.

"In the gritty Kenyan port city of Mombasa, Phyllis Omido knew that industry could pose a danger to the surrounding communities. She'd worked on environmental impact assessment reports for several factories.

But when her 2½-year-old son, King David, got sick with a mysterious condition, it didn't occur to her that it might be from environmental toxins. He had a high fever that wasn't responding to medication. He couldn't sleep. He was plagued with diarrhea, and his eyes became runny. He spent two weeks in the hospital, and still no one could figure out what was wrong.

"The doctors had failed to find malaria, typhoid, the normal diseases they usually test for," Omido says. A colleague who was visiting her in the hospital asked about lead exposure. At the time Omido was working as an office administrator for EPZ Refinery in Mombasa, which melted down used car batteries and sold the scrap lead for export.

"That was the first time it crossed my mind that maybe it could be lead poisoning," she says. And it turned out she was right."

Jason Beaubien reports for NPR April 20, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"Six Environmentalists Each Win $175,000 Goldman Prize" (ENS)