KID LOVE FOR NATURE

                        Kids love for nature – Central primary, Eldoret

A visit to Central primary school less than a kilometer away from Eldoret Town would invoke a colossus of intrigues on the marvels of its natural surrounding. At first glance into the compound one thinks it is a botanical garden. Not until you sway your eyes and realize that it’s a school sandwiching an expansive nursery bed, full grown indigenous trees and well maintained blocks of beauty flowers.

My desire to ask a question about what my eyes had just seen is interrupted by our host’s introductory remarks detailing the conservation activities taking place in his school. The school, he says, encourages pupils to be environmentally savvy and has thus allocated enough space in its environs for annual tree planting exercises. Different species, after personal inspection, have been widely planted, managed and properly nurtured. These include Casuarinas, Gravellier, Nandi flame, Jacaranda, Cyprus, Blue gum, Pinus and lots of home flowers – Roses, Bougainvillea, Hibiscus, Copper leaf, Vitex, Golden Duretus e.t.c.

It further downs to us that the massive tree nursery bed is owned by the pupils and it is these lovely kids who protect and operate its management activities in their free time. They boast of having over ten thousand tree seedlings of varied species which they believe no school, or even certain colleges within Uasin Gishu County would surpass their seedling numbers or match their prowess in promoting conservation matters.

 To boost labor in their nursery, proceeds from their seedlings are used to employ additional workers, who ensure daily management activities as root pruning, weeding and watering are effectively performed.

Doubly inspiring, the primary school has an environmental club that comprise of standard seven and eight pupils. The club takes pride in engaging in environmental protection matters that entail tree planting, discussions and partnering in regional environmental clean up exercises around the Town occasionally organized by the Eldoret Municipality and other oriented movements especially from Chepkoilel university college.

Their endeavor to nurture nature befits laureate prize recognition but since this may take too long before it arrives, my prayer is that God grants these Central primary angels passion and vigor to continue doing what they do best as they pursue academic excellence.

It is emulating to other primary schools to embark on this nature improving exercise, which guarantees a healthy and a clean environment for all.

It impresses to see school children who unknowingly contribute towards achievement of the millennium development goal number seven that emphasizes on environmental sustainability juggle books and conservation.

Thus, it is a challenge to you out there who still cut trees haphazardly, drop litter anyhow, refuse to plant trees, and commit other environmental travesties and walk scot-free…a voice is calling from somewhere in the outskirts of Eldoret Town. From the tender voices of Central primary environmental club pupils; that there is a need to show love to our nature; there is a need to protect this planet; there is a need to protect mans’ only home. There is a need!

My accompanying friends, not forgetting Mr. Kosgei – who aided this environmental excursion – left the school fully conscious that there’s a need to conserve and that the spirit to conserve should be nurtured from an early age . I exit.

CRY NOT, KATARINA.

CRY NOT, KATARINA.

She walked along the barb-fenced path holding a Sony Erickson phone on her right and a pink-mini sized purse on her left. A glance in the sky indicated dark nimbus clouds that seemed ready to fall, and a cool breeze that swept lightly across the lower atmosphere. Step by step her pace increased, suggestively hurrying to reach her college room before the rains started.

This was the winter season that many students whimsically fled the 8.00 a.m. classes to enjoy the soothing warmth of their blankets that seemed to multiply as the morning matured. But from the display clock on the screen of her phone, noon was 45 minutes away and the possibility of it raining then was ruled out – it was almost customary in this region to experience showers in the evening only.

Time was moving fast. She thought in herself. Here and there students rushed, some in pairs and others in groups. Exams were three days away and everyone wanted to finalize certain formalities that were a mandatory before sitting an examination paper.

In her room, every item was properly placed. It was neat, spacious and romantic. Though privacy was moderate, infringement never existed here. Everyone respected the worth and dignity of fellow folk and exercised the virtues of love, peace and unity. Anything less of this, they believed,   “was subversion of our fundamental principles in religion.”

One hour later, she still sat on her bed, thinking about what to do next. The absence of her mates gave her a fulfilling sense of solitude that she cherished for the better part of the afternoon. Reflections, meditations and castle building in the air dominated her mental skies. It appeared all possible ways to salvage a much-hyped “card “were exhausted. Nevertheless, she never retreated to hopelessness.

No! She was not the kind of a woman to be gripped by the “giving up” spirit. She resisted the urge to acquiesce to the reality of the undermining words hurled to her by the staff at the finance office. “Just go home and prepare for next time, we can’t help you here,” she recalled him saying.

This phrase pierced and irked. Her heart pounded more, with eyes glaring indiscreetly and her chin resting on her right hand palm and her elbow on the lower part of her thigh. Pleas to convince the clearing gent at the ‘cash’ office fell on deaf ears. He adamantly insisted to have his eyes read a nil remark on the fee structure before any written permission to sit the university examination.

Things seemed darker and darker. Every passing minute offered more grief and disillusionment. Failure to secure a card on this day, a Friday, would aggravate more despair and eventually lead to total blockage from the colleges’ end semester exams. She never imagined missing the tests given that she had all through struggled to settle three quarter of her fee arrears, and wished to negotiate for later payment of the remainder soonest possible as the exams progressed. Nevertheless, no one considered Katarina’s cries.

She paused in her thoughts and moaned, `Do I deserve to go through these? Is there any way out?’

The dean of her school had ignored and repulsed any attempt to square things over the table about her fee predicament. Her guardian’s last call had absolutely confirmed that no cash was to be expected then. And she understood this. It was not anybody’s fault that she came from a humble background. It was God’s will, and she never blamed anyone; But with Martin Luther King’s dreams and Mahatma Gandhi’s audacity, she remained optimistic that it’s not ever human beings remained in this humiliating state of deprivation.

 It is not ever that God’s own image people remained subjects of ridicule and torment.

No! It is not ever! It is not even ever students like her drank from the bitter cup of college suffering and unwillingly ate the stale bread of rejection and social criticism. She fervently believed that in every desert of calamity, there was an oasis of hope. Moreover, it is this hope amidst the storm of tribulations she faced that became the anchor, she kept holding on.

Words of a certain scholar virtually inebriated her heart and gave an aura of consolation in the face of these trying moments: “At times,” the scholar reiterates, “Life is hard, as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and painful moments. Like the ever flowing waters of a river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever changing cycle of seasons, life has the soothing warmth of the summers and the piercing chill of its winters. But through it all, God walks with us. Never forget that God is able to lift you from fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.”

She sprang up abruptly and incoherently muttered some words between her lips. Oh no, she realized she had been asleep. She stood and glanced around, her roommates hadn’t yet returned. It was oblivious they were doing last touches and revising as the first exam papers were just around the corner, on a Monday. She stretched and yawned and reached for her phone. “Three missed calls, gosh!” she whispered.

It was normal to receive calls from strangers especially here at campus. A secret admirer could search and get your contact from friends, and what follows would be a series of flashing and text messaging to woo you into a relationship. However, for Katarina the thought of romantic relationships, though necessary, did not cross her mind. She never allowed fantasies to scuttle her zeal for education. Her mettle remained intact. There was time for everything, especially for now, she kept soliloquizing.

In the melee of confusion about the missed calls, her phone was ringing once again. Still held in her hand, she checked the caller, it was the new number! Ready to bash the hoarse-be caller if they streamed sweet nothings to her ear, she hesitantly received and instead, a cajoling voice met her ear. It was a woman’s voice…

“Hallo Katarina? Halloo…” Little exchange of pleasantries and introductions ensued.

She did not know how long they had conversed and neither did she readily believe nor accept what had just been confirmed to her. She rushed out, slamming the door behind her, and headed straight to where her caller had directed before the offices closed. What followed changed the sad mood of the day. It was amazing! Did someone trace her movements? She wondered as tears of joy trickled her dimpled cheeks.

Two days later, she sat calmly in the cream painted exam hall, sure and satisfied that she possessed the right armory to tackle the bull by the horns – to dare the examiners questions as everyone else in the room.

As I prepare to pen off, my mind drifts to the plight of students as they walk the academic journey; as they struggle to make ends meet; as they suffer and sacrifice in pursuit of excellence; as they explore all available ways to change that bleak looking future. Do we take time to share their experiences or check them out? Do we deprive ourselves of little vanity pleasures to put a smile on our brother or sister’s face or do we dismiss their condition as normal in life?

I never intended to finish this article but I will! I took time to evaluate all what revolves around a needy student’s life in college, and I made a fulfilling personal resolution.

We may wine, we may romance, and we may insatiably fill our stomachs – but let us be our brother’s keeper. Let us join in pushing for considerations by our administrative structures for the sake of predicaments of our brothers and sisters – whether disciplinary, financial or academic related.

If an institution can spent thousands of shillings annually to provide security to animals and to fence empty fields, it can surely also, willingly spent a similar or double amount of those monies to bail genuine students out of petty fee balances;

 To assure them of support whenever necessary;

 To put a cheer in their lives occasionally;

 And to extend the same to other students in other levels of education as a sign of corporate responsibility service.

Students Great Investors Charity Association, abbreviated as SGI, is an example of such a student movement body that has defied all odds to dedicate and marshal financial, spiritual support to all needy students – at secondary and tertiary levels. It is not composed of the needy per se, but of all students who have a zeal for the welfare of others. It’s open to you all out there. It is akin to a family that lives together by all virtues of kindness, generosity and goodwill.

Chepkoilel University College is the register of that association. Come all and be part of this SGI family. Procrastination hindered timely completion of this excerpt, but I now end it here. I immerse myself into other activities in the confines of my college cubicle. So do I. We meet again in pen and paper. End of reflection.

   I dedicate this to my son, Martin,my kith and kin, and all my beloved friends!