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Kenya began a new national holiday this year! October 10th is now Mazingira Day, a day for environmental conservation and preservation of natural resources. Kenya has become a global leader in the push for sustainability after decades of mediocre stewardship of the environment. Continual natural disasters, including both floods and droughts, have been worsened by human impact on Kenya’s natural landscape.
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October 10 was previously a holiday for cultural celebration, and before that a holiday in honor of Kenya’s second president. We seized on the new holiday by mobilizing our Ndoto Academy students to make environmental education real to them. Even at their young age, our students have the opportunity to learn about challenges like climate change, deforestation, and pollution.
Together with our Ndoto staff, these young learners cleaned the entire school and compound, then moved down the street all the way to the main road, sweeping and picking up litter. Parents were invited as well. To teach safety, we bought gloves and masks for every child.
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Exercises like this help students understand their own capacity to contribute to the solutions in their world. We talk about recycling and reducing waste so that we all, young and old, gain a sense of responsibility and teamwork in caring for our community in a very tangible way. Teaching students to be environmentally conscious may not be a top priority for the average school in Kenya, but for us it’s part of forming well-rounded citizens today who will be leaders tomorrow!
