Celebrate Earth Week Every Day

Last week was Earth Week and all over the globe people were initiating or continuing projects to help save Mother Earth. Each day we are doing things that destroy the precious planet we inhabit. Cities expand at an alarming rate with farmers fields being destroyed to make way for megahomes to house the expaning urban population but no one seems to question how we are going to feed ourselves as that precious farmland can never be reclaimed. Industry spews out chemials into the air poisoning our environment and polluting the air we need to survive. But all is not doom and gloomed as all over the world sensitive people are realizing the terrible state of our world and are working away, not only on Earth Day or during Earth Week but every day of the year on projects that are helping to return health back to planet earth. Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner from Kenya started the Greenbelt Movement planting trees, returning forests back to her native country and prior to her death encouraged everyone to plant trees to achieve the Billion Tree Campaign, a billion trees to be planted worldwide. I recently read of a man in India who began 30 years ago to plant trees in a sandspit and now his forest covers 1,360 acres, a testament to the spirit of regeneration and rebirth for our world.

Jeremy and Peter plant four trees with Ikanga Scouts at Ikanga, Kenya

Earth Week is a reminder to all of us to look at the world we live in, to do our part to make a difference. It doesn't have to be something huge, something simple like planting just one tree every year can help the environment. Trees are an investment. But it can also be turning out your lights when you don't need them, washing your clothes in cold water instead of hot, turning off the tap when you are brushing you teeth, having a quick shower instead of taking a bath. It is the simple things that can really add up and make a difference. Look at what you are doing in your home and see how you an make a difference. Planet Earth is not an infinite body, someday if we don;t take care of what we have, our children and their children will not have a place to all home. So make a difference in our world not just during Earth Week but all year long.

March 3rd - Wangari Maathai Day

Members of Lukundo Youth Group check seedlings in their tree nursery.

It was this past year 2011 that Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner from Kenya succumbed to ovarian cancer. It was a very sad day for those of us who work and live in Kenya for she had been an outstanding leader for the country giving hope to those like herself who have grown up with social injustice and poverty.

Wangari is best known for starting The Greenn Belt Movement, a tree planting campaign that she initiated to provide empowerment for women by planting trees. A staunch environmentalist she realized the effects on the environment from deforestation and the ripple down effect this had on women's lives and the lives of their families. In the past year Wangari had initiated the Billion Tree Campaign, asking people around the globe to help in planting a billion trees worldwide to help counter the effects of climate change.

With the development of The Mghongo Leadership Centre, Eco Lodge and Demonstration Farm soon to be built in Wongonyi Village, Kenya we celebrate Wangari and her work as a role model and great leader to the youth and women in our village. On the day of Wangari's funeral, each student and teacher in the village planted a tree in Wangari's memory.

Today we forever will mark as Wangari Maathai Day as designated by The Green Belt Movement organization and we will continue to plant trees in her honour on this day. Wongonyi Village, located high atop the Taita Taveta Hills in southeastern Kenya is a biodiversity hotspot of rare flora, fauna and bird life who inhabit the indigenous forests of the hills. Deforestation has touched our remote area too as villagers have ravaged the forests for firewood and building materials without thinking about or knowing the consequences of their actions for daily survival. Ronnie is working diligently to educate the youth and villagers on the consequences of deforestion, more mudslides in the rainy season, loss of soil due to rain and wind, the effects of the loss of the forests on weather patterns. And to this end we have also embarked on a tree planting project to revitalize this important ecological feature. Youth groups have set up tree nurseries and are propagating tree seedlings for planting. The forests are being regenerated and wildlife is returning and with each tree that is planted we will continue to keep Wangari's dream alive.

A Tribute to Wangari Maathai

It was a text at midnight last night (September 22nd) from Ronnie that told us of the passing of Wangari Maathai - a shock to those of us who respected Wangari and hoped that on our next trip to Kenya we would be able to meet the woman who has changed the role of Kenyan women. Kenya has lost one of its bright lights, human rights and environmental activist, educator and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize(2004).

Wangari is best known for starting the Green Belt Movement in 1977, a tree planting program to provide income and empower women to a better quality of life. She also educated them on the negative impacts of deforestation and the positive effects of replanting trees.

Ronnie remembers Wangari, "It's still sad to think that Wangari is gone. Her illness (ovarian cancer) was a guarded secret. I still remember her voice on the phone so clearly since she could not meet me, telling me to continue my good works. I remember her saying African women need to know it's okay to be the way they are - to see that they're a strength and to be liberated from fear and silence, a thing we have always told our Sere Girls Club members. In her honour I will mobilize our primary and secondary schools to ensure each kid and teachers plant trees."

Wangari did not have an easy time in her personal or business life but she stood up for what she believed in. Her memoirs relate that this often led to her being verbally and physically abused by those who did not agree with her or being thrown into jail. But Dr. Maathai showed Kenyan women that they could succeed and should not remain silent in the face of social injustice. I respect Dr. Maathai for her resilience in seeking a life free from poverty. My respect was also for Wangari's celebration of her African culture and heritage for I loved that she always wore her traditional African clothing. It is for all these reasons that The Ronnie Fund will continue to uphold Dr. Maathai's ideals and memory as a role model for our Sere Girls Club and with the many girls, young and older women that we come in contact with in our work in Wongonyi Village and all parts of Kenya.

I am told tht Wangari once said, "In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now."

We will uphold Wangari's ideals and as Canadians working in Kenya with the Kenyan people, we will give hope to each other through peaceful processes, collaboration and joyful spirits. May Dr. Maathai's memory live on in the continued planting of trees worldwide for peace.

January 11, 2011 - International Day of Peace for Kenya

Peace - it is a wonderful concept. If only we could achieve world peace, everyone working and living together in peace and harmony. No more wars, no more children orphaned because of wars or tribal warfare, no more child soldiers brainwashed and drugged into killing for no real reason, other than acquisition of land and material things.

In Kenya in December 2007 tribal warfare broke out as a result of the election process and procedures. It turned Kenyans one against the other as cries of election irregularities were reported. In Kibera Slums, buildings were burned and in the Kisumu/Eldoret area people who had sought safe haven in a church were barricaded inside and the building burned. I just find it so hard to understand why people would want to harm others in this tragic way. And this type of behaviour is not happening in Kenya only, there are wars in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and many other countries around the world. Women and children are sent into hiding, families are broken up and family members are killed and to what end.

On January 11, 2008, Kenya declared this day the International Day of Peace for Kenya, a day to celebrate the end to injustice and inhumanity. A day for all Kenyans to join together and celebrate the right to peaceful living. And after all, Kenyans should be proud in the knowledge that one of their own Wangari Mathaai is a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, a true advocate for peace around the world and especially in her own home country.

I hope that on January 11, you will take a few moments to think about how you in your own samll way can help promote peace worldwide - right a letter to your Member of Parliament about injustice around the world, donate funds to an organization that promotes peace or volunteer to help out an organization in a foreigh country that is trying to make inroads into peaceful processes.

Wangari Maathai - Peace for Kenya

Recently I finished reading Wangari Maathai's memoir "Unbowed". In this telling tale, Wangari Maathai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, provides a history of her life to her present day position as Founder of the Green Belt Movement.

The book provides interesting insight into a Kenya, that just decades ago was self-sufficient and people living in rural villages enjoyed prosperity. She details how internal strife in the country coupled with colonialism and then a huge influx of international aid has spurned corruption and a decline in quality of life resulting in a revolving cycle of poverty.

Wangari is an amazing African woman, who benefitted from a chance opportunity through the Kennedy lift to study outside her country. But unlike many others who would remain in a developed country to enjoy prosperity, she returned to Kenya to use her knowledge to help repair a broken country. Her life has certainly not been easy, a broken marriage, opposition from government officials who sent her to jail on numerous occasions and even death threats have not broken or deflated her resolve. Even when her own country did not acknowledge her and her efforts, the global community did by awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize.

She started her campaign to heal Kenya by planting trees and through her Green Belt Movement she has mobilized thousands of women in rural villages to plant trees in an effort to bring peace and prosperity. And today the Green Belt Movement has spread to other developing and developed countries. Even today Wangari continues to encourage the women of Kenya to seek positions of power and leadership in their own villages and in government to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

I would recommend this book for anyone working in community development projects in Kenya who wants to get a sense of the history of Kenya and the reasons for the problems that exist today.

The Green Belt Movement - A Model for Community Development

"The Green Belt Movement has over the past 30 years shown that sustainable development linked with democratic values promotes human rights, social justice and equity, including the balance of power between women and men. The (Nobel Peace) Prize demonstrates that although the work of grassroots groups, especially women's groups, does not always make headline news, it does make a difference."

Wangari Maathai, 2004

In 2004 Kenyan Wangari Maathai received worldwide recognition for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for sustainable development, democracy and peace, her most notable achievement being the creation of The Green Belt Movement, an organization promoting the planting of trees in Kenya and now around the world. I just finished reading her book "The Green Belt Movement, Sharing the Approach and the Experience", an intimate look into the creation of the organization and its achievements over the past 30 years.

For those of us working in Kenya in projects of sustainable development, agriculture and community initiatives this book is a must read. Wangari provides a history of Kenya and how it has lapsed into its present state of poverty but tempers that with a practical analysis of how improvements can be made ending with a positive outlook that hope exists for a new tomorrow. For those of us coming from a Western perspective, it gives us insight into the workings of Kenyan culture and how we can approach our projects so we get successful results. Of especial note is her chapter on Lessons Learned. We can all learn by heeding The Green Belt Movements experiences:

1. Community Development initiatives should address community-felt needs.

2. The messsage must make sense to the participants.

3. There is need for good leadership.

4. Work patiently to motivate communities.

5. Offer some short-term incentives.

6. Reach both decision makes and communities at the same time.

7. Field staff must be keen observers.

8. The community must understand the project.

9. The community must own the project.

10. Community development takes commitment.

11. Limited resources demand prioritization.

12. Democratic administration and management is key.

Community development takes patience, especially when you are working in a different culture. Not all the world works with the West's quick paced business style nor are all the resources readily available at your fingertips in Kenya. But with understanding, inclusive actions, an integrated community consultative program and lots of patience you will be able to achieve positive change. When we started The Ronnie Fund, we did not do so with the aim of imposing projects on Wongonyi village. We have followed Wangari's advice by relying on Ronnie to identify the needs of the community, to prioritize the projects and to negotiate with local administration. Through his leadership we have initiated several successful projects that the villagers have taken ownership of and that have made a difference in their lives in creating quality village life. There are still many needs and challenges in Wongonyi village but I have no doubt that The Ronnie Fund will continue to make positive changes.

For those of you who are heading non-governmental organizations working in Kenya at the grassroots level or those establishing schools and orphanages, I highly recommend you add this book to your library. Wangari's chapters on establishing a tree nursery project will also be very helpful as a model for instituting community development projects in Africa.