A handful of masons clad in overalls – and drenched in beads of sweat are constantly at work in this estate.

A few trucks loaded with building stones and sand can be seen making their way in and out of the estate every so often.

According to residents of Nyama Villa estate in Embakasi Central, sounds of chisels and hammers crashing and chipping at rocks is a common sound here.

It’s a story of rebuilding, one that has been ongoing for some years now.

One can count tens of half-demolished buildings still standing – as if in defiance.

A few years ago, it was a sea of rubble.

Residents say that it’s been almost five years since December 19, 2018 when half of the estate was demolished following a longstanding court battle over the ownership of the land.

But now, years after bulldozers brought down hundreds of buildings here, the people are settling – and life is going on a usual.

A few demolished buildings whose owners have been unable to raise funds for a rebuild – stand like a sore thumb.

That, however, has not stopped many from trying to ‘collect’ whatever remained of their lives after December 2018.

“I came back two years after the demolition. I only came back after we were assured that no more demolitions would take place,” says Susana Wanyama, a resident of Nyama Villa estate.  

“This was a very quiet neighbourhood before the demolitions. It is now slowly going back to its original state with schools, businesses and rental houses coming up a lot of late,” she said.

In 2018, the estate reportedly had some 600 residential buildings erected on the 23 acres of land – which was targeted in the demolition at the time.

The demolitions pushed over 700 families out of the estate with landlords and tenants suffering irreparable loss.

“All that is in the past, and normal life is resuming. Many families have come back and new ones are coming as well,” she said.

The estate has become popular with foreigners from neighbouring African countries given the cheap rent – as landlords look to attract tenants.

Some of the residents – especially landlords whose property were demolished have not been able to rise again.

“I don't have money to renovate my three-storey building. It’s been unoccupied since the demolitions,” said a landlord who did not wish to be named.

“We are asking the government to help some of us to rebuild and move on with life,” he said.

Other residents have decried lack of important services like internet from major service providers – something that has left them at the mercy of unscrupulous internet dealers.

Residents now want feeder roads tarmacked – after the area MP recently tarmacked a major road cutting through the estate from the Spine Road – and connecting Komarock estate.