“The Earth & Me”

Over their break, the Daraja students were invited for an optional two-day seminar called “The Earth & Me” held on August 21st-23rd. The goal of the seminar was to help facilitate conversation and thought concerning the very important and at times tenuous relationship that people share with the land around them.

We held our breath, as this was the first optional seminar Daraja Academy has hosted over break. We weren’t sure if anyone would show up!

The result: half the school arrived and the enthusiasm and dedication of the girls was awe-inspiring. Their questions and answers showed that they were absorbing the lessons and that they were thinking about what they were learning.

The “Earth & Me” schedule included learning the importance of compost, debating new environmental policies proposed in the freshly approved constitution, listening to presentations by researchers from the nearby Mpala Research Center, planting over twenty trees in the nearby community, just to name a few.

The girls arrived as students but they left as conservationists. The relationship between people and the environment became clearer, as did the personal and communal responsibilities humans have to protect the environment. It was a very, very powerful weekend.

To see a full timeline of events with pictures and stories, check out our “Earth & Me” photo gallery…

To get a glimpse of the dialogue that occurred throughout the weekend, read below…

The New Constitution and the Environment: 10% Tree Cover

The purpose of this portion of the program was to investigate the relationship in the new Kenyan constitution between the country, people and environment. Article 69.1 (b) of the new constitution asserts that as a country Kenya will work toward at least 10% tree cover in five years.

Article 69.1 (b)

“…work to achieve and maintain a tree cover of at least ten per cent of the land area in Kenya…”

Students were asked whether this was feasible, and if so, what each student would do “as a parliament leader, community leader and individual” to ensure the success of this ambitious proposal. Below are some of the answers that the girls presented. In true Daraja girl fashion, the students had lots of opinions and ideas…

As a Parliament leader…

-       Introduce alternate sources of energy like BioGas

-       Plant trees in government-owned, public places.

-       National Carbon Footprint: Government should monitor the trees cut due to agriculture and industries in Kenya, they should         then buy land and pay people to plant trees on that land to make up for the trees cut.

-       Design regulations and penalties on cutting down trees such as:

• If you cut one tree, you must plant at least two trees and take care of those trees.
• If you own land, you must have trees planted on 10% of the land.
• If someone continually cuts trees, then their penalty will be to plant and take care of many trees. That way, the person that once cut trees will eventually build a relationship with the environment through planting and eventually understand the importance of trees.

-       Government should reclaim land and start planting:

• The students cited the Mau Forest: The Mau Forest is 675,000 acres and it the largest water catchment in the area. Numerous rivers receive their water from this area. Seeing the destruction and potential water crisis that would arise if the forest continued to be depleted, the Kenyan government launched a multimillion dollar plan to focus on the rehabilitation of the forest.
• Reclaiming the land and rehabilitating the forest also meant that many Kenyans would be evicted from their homes. While the students encourage further reclaiming of land for environmental purposes, they explained that the government should provide a loan for those being evicted so the residents could buy new land.

-       Provide seedlings to the people

-       Inform & educate communities, explain the importance of trees

As a community leader…

-       Educate people of the community

-       Talk to the chief to call a meeting and hold seminars

-       Talk about the future of the children and how tree planting will benefit them.

-       Create a tree nursery with community land and then sell those trees to other communities

-       Plant trees that create food for the community

-       Create local laws and community accountability

As an individual…

-       Plant a tree once per month or at least once per year

-       Plant a tree on special occasions (ie birthday)

-       Lead an educational seminar

-       Plant trees in public areas

Overall, it was a powerful weekend seminar and it was magical to see the girls truly embrace the curriculum, voice their thoughtful ideas and learn practices that would be beneficial to their own communities. Check out the “Earth & Me” gallery for a full recap of the various activities!