Environmental Education Jump-started again

It was again necessary to take the road less travelled inorder to accomplish a great mission. The last time we were on this road was in November 2011; when it was wet, cooler and green. this time round the conditions are the extreme opposite, hot, dusty and brown. We were heading for environmental education at Bogamachuko Primary school on the western edge of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest.

With three overseas volunteers, it was necessary to arrive just after classes to avoid disrupting learning in this school where they hardly see foreigners. by 3 pm we had arrived, and went straight into the head-teachers office where Mr Mwambao and Mr Bali gave us a brief about the school.

It was very interesting to lean about the many achievements that the school had accomplished in the last few years.

An hour later, it was time for playing the "Wader Migration Game" when twenty five students split up into two teams. The game challenges the players to realise what chances of survival birds have as they migrate between the breeding and roosting sites.

Technorati Tags: environmental education, migration

Feedback from ASSETS Camp Participants

As you have seen on previous posts, we were privileged to host 18 ASSETS students last weekend for ASSETS Camp. At the end of the weekend, the students were asked to write down any feedback/comments they had about the camp and all that they got to experience. Here are some excerpts from their notes:“all the trips helped me to learn a lot of things which I didn’t know before” “At first I was afraid of swimming but because of the life jackets I found it easy to swim.” “Although I was afraid of snakes before I was impressed by the visit to the Bio-Ken Snake Farm from where I learned that there are some snakes that are not poisonous” “I would also like to thank this organization and how they help the children from poverty-stricken families” “In Mida Creek I got to know some of the different types of mangroves and what they do for the ecosystem.” “I appreciate the warm welcome you gave us, the meals and accommodation” “I have learned very important things, that actually if I am to tell one by one I may end up taking the whole day” “I wish the camp could take about two weeks so that I could continue enjoying myself” “I enjoyed all the lessons that you had for us” “Let the cooks be blessed and GOD KEEP THEM FOR A LONG TIME!” (There were many happy comments about the food, obviously meals were a highlight!) The students seem to have really enjoyed all the out trips, learning sessions, meals and games that they got to play while they stayed here at Mwamba Field Study Center, which makes it all very worthwhile for all the staff and volunteers who participated.

A big thank you goes to Stanley, Festus, and Bimbo, who put in a lot of time preparing. They are hard at work now preparing for our second ASSETS Camp, which takes place from August 27-29. Keep us in your prayers as we hope to provide a wonderful experience for this group coming in!

Appeal regarding forth-coming Summer Camps

June and July are supposed to the coldest months at the coast of Kenya, equivalent to winter in temperate zones. Indeed it is quite cold at the moment, about 24° Celsius. I guess we are experiencing our share of the effects of climate change to which we have though in small ways contributed to. Climate change is one of the topics to be discussed by the ASSETS beneficiaries during the upcoming camps. On the 3rd and 4th of August 20 local children will be gathering at Mwamba Field Study Centre to participate in environmental education activities. Among the activities planned is a snorkeling trip to the Watamu Marine National Park, Bioken Snake Farm and Kipepeo butterfly project.

A similar event will hopefully be organised later in August if funding for the same is acquired. We have so far received a donation to cover the cost of the first camp. The cost per student is estimated to Ksh. 4000.00 (£29.00).

By sponsoring a student to the camp, you are giving them a life-time opportunity to interact with, explore and learn ways of  utilising the environment without destroying it.

Mangrove Restoration Event

Yesterday, Bimbo, Naomi, and Lydia from the ASSETS program were involved in a mangrove planting event. ASSETS joined Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and other Community Conservation groups like the Matsangoni youth group, Mkongani Conservation, and Uyombo subcreek in mangrove planting at Uyombo bandarini. Several schools, including Chipande Primary, Marafiki Primary and Uyuombo Primary also participated in the activity.

Four thousand six hundred (4,600) mangrove seedlings were planted! This activity was meant to conserve the sea shore and create a good breeding habitat for fish and other aquatic creatures. Mangroves are often illegally harvested for building materials, and their removal causes sand erosion and greatly disrupts the marine ecosystem. Events such as this are very important for recovering areas that have been damaged.

Later in the day, community members were educated on the importance of conserving mangrove forests and the entire environment. Effects of cutting down trees were also discussed in length and members were urged to conserve the environment for future generation. We hope that the community will take this event to heart!

Environmental Education, trees and volleyball

The Environmental Education team took a bigger group with them this time to Mijomboni Primary School. The group involved students on a trip organized by the Minnesota Zoo, USA. Melanie a staff at the Minnesota Zoo accompanied them to this trip. The students are interested in nature conservation and some of them study related courses at the university. The rest of them have not joined the university but have an interest in nature.

The pupils at the school received us warmly as we gathered into one of the classes. This time they bombarded us with questions concerning the sustainable use of natural resources like the forest. This could tell that they are very active in conservation efforts. They were keen to learn how they will convince their parents on sustainable use of forests and water sources like rivers.

Each of the students together with the local pupils got a chance to plant an indigenous tree in the school compound. Later on they played volleyball in the school field together with the pupils and donated some stationery to the school.

Naomi Wanjiru Gichungu- Environmental Education intern

Environmental Education at Kahingoni Primary School

School visits for Environmental Education have picked up very well, and this time the staff and volunteers of A Rocha Kenya were in Kahingoni Primary School. As usual the pupils were excited. They assembled in one class where we had our lesson which later on led to a very lively discussion. The lesson touched on the importance of conserving the forest and the endangered animals like the Golden-rumped sengi (elephant shrew), whose habitat is the Arabuko Sokoke Forest.

Pupils anwering questions during the lesson

A Rocha Kenya also donated some tree seedlings to the Wildlife Club of Kenya members in that school. The tree seedlings were of the Bombax rhodognaphalon (East African Bombax) commonly known as 'msufi mwitu' in Swahili and Balanites wilsoniana commonly known as 'mkonga' in Giriama which is the local language here. The trees were planted after the lesson by the pupils.They promised to take care of them by putting a small fence around each of them and watering them.

Mapenzi, a pupil planting one of the tree seedlings

We hope to get more funds to continue sustaining our program which involves a lot of traveling. Our goal is to educate all the schools surrounding the forest on the importance of conserving it since it is an important biodiversity area.

Naomi Wanjiru Gichungu- Environmental Education intern

Environmental Education visit to Girimache Primary School

Due to the many staff changes in the last six months, the Environmental Education programme at A Rocha Kenya had stagnated for some time. We are glad it has been possible to revive it with a new program of school visits! The 7th of June marked our first visit to a primary school near the Arabuko Sokoke forest. The journey took us almost one and a half hours to Girimache Primary School where we found the students preparing to get in to the hall where we were meeting. On board was Nathaniel, one of the volunteers from France, Naomi, a student attached in the Environmental Education programme from Kenyatta University, and Stanley the Environmental Education officer at A Rocha Kenya.

The students were eager to hear what we had to teach them and surprisingly they loved it. They enjoyed answering questions and asked for clarification where they did not understand. It was really satisfying to see how the pupils were passionate about the environment. The students seemed to have had some environmental education as a component of their schooling already. We had a discussion on how each one of us contributes to the degradation of the environment, including the Arabuko Sokoke forest that neighbours the school. The days’ success was marked by the promise that the students will do their best in taking care of the environment, and they will be involved in educating other students and their parents on the importance of conserving the environment.

The first nine schools that will be visited for Environmental Education, including Girimache, are schools with ASSETS students enrolled. For students from this area, understanding why conservation of the environment is important is crucial to the preservation of the unique ecosystems of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, and only by educating the young will there be a change in the way the forest is used be achieved in the future.

Naomi Wanjiru Gichungu- Environmental Education intern

Environmental Education at Nyari Primary School

On June 10, 2011 we had another chance to teach the pupils surrounding Arabuko Sokoke forest about the importance of conserving the forest and their environment in general. This time it was in Nyari Primary School. The pupils were excited because we had earlier announced that they we were going to show a conservation film. When we entered the class where we were to make our presentations, they all stood up at once to say hello, which was amazing with such a large number of students!

Without wasting time we introduced the film. The film was produced in Swahili, and made to help encourage people to conserve their forests. The film was done in Tanzania by the Community Based Conservation Films. The pupils enjoyed the film all along and later on we asked questions on what they had learnt to summarise on our lesson.

The excitement of the pupils was a great motivation for us to continue with school visits. This time apart from Mr. Stanley and I (Naomi), we were joined by Lydia,  an ASSETS graduate who attended Nyari primary school. Lydia was interviewed previously on this blog, and is currently doing an internship with A Rocha Kenya. She is awaiting a sponsor so that she can attend university.

We were able to show a film at this school because a projector was generously donated to A Rocha Kenya last month by Ruth and Ron Rob, from Canada. It has been appreciated greatly, as we can now take many different kinds of educational media along when we go to do the presentations, and keep the students well engaged.

Naomi Wanjiru Gichungu, Environmental Education intern.

World Environment Day

World Environment Day (WED) is a day that stimulates awareness of the environment and is on the 5^th June. It was the day that United Nations Conference on the Human Environment began. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. The first World Environment Day was on 1973. World Environment Day is hosted every year by different cities in various countries with a different theme each year.

This year being the UN international year of forests, the theme was no different. It emphasized the conservation of forests and urged nations to increase their forest cover. We at A Rocha Kenya participated in the celebrations in various ways. We spent the previous day doing lots of tree planting at the Mzizima primary school where we planted over 800 tree seedlings which we had donated together with the Kenya Forest Service.

(Kenya Forest Service watering a recently planted tree)

(Naomi, Env. Ed Intern, and Bimbo, ASSETS staff, planting a tree)

We then took a walk through the Mida Creek together with the guest of honour the Provincial Commissioner of Coast province and guests from NEMA. The creek helps the organisation to raise funds to support the education of students living around the Arabuko Sokoke forest through our ASSETS programme.

Later on we joined the celebrations with the local schools and community at Mida Primary school where we also planted some trees.

(Students from Mida school singing a song for the environment)

Naomi (Environmental Education intern with A Rocha Kenya at Mwamba Field Study Center)

Mida Creek Boardwalk – 2010 Earnings

This has been a very good year for the Mida Creek boardwalk! During establishment years, it has been difficult for the boardwalk to make much more than its cost of operation. But this year, thanks to a generous grant covering the yearly maintenance, the net income for 2010 was 303,830.70 Kenyan Shillings! A monthly breakdown of the income can be found below.

These results are very exciting, as all the funds collected help to fund the important work that ASSETS does in providing bursaries for secondary school education. If you are visiting coastal Kenya, visiting some of the ASSETS projects is a great way to support this work! Details on ASSETS projects can be found here.