KENYA: On International Earth Day Catholic Movement Animators Train Street Boys on Environmental Conservation
International Earth Day. Credit: Stanley Didi
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
As various actors across the globe celebrate the 51st International Mother Earth Day to create awareness on the protection and care of the environment, some Global Catholic Climate Movement-Africa (GCCM-Africa) animators have trained street boys some environmental issues on how to care for mother earth.
Speaking to AMECEA Online in an interview on the very day of the event Thursday, April 22, the Coordinator of a community based environmental conservation initiative dubbed as Nairobi Recyclers (NAREC) Mr. Stanley Didi said they met with street boys whom they took “through lessons on care of environment and provided them with bags for collecting household wastes.”
According to Didi who has been at the helm of NAREC for the past two years, the group opted to create awareness to street boys who are normally “used to collect waste from households and damp them along the roads or rivers.”
“We taught the street boys on how to act responsibly such that when they collect waste they know where to take them so that the county government can later collect them,” Mr. Didi narrated during the Thursday interview.
Speaking about the 2021 Earth Day’s theme “Restore our earth” Mr. Didi who doubles as treasurer of NAREC said the street boys were enlightened on how to restore the earth back to normalcy when the earth was clean.
When restoring the earth, Mr. Didi recalled his lesson with the street boys concerning the theme of the day, “There is need to remove the waste which pollutes the earth, plant trees that purify the soil, clean the environment and reduce wastes.”
Besides working with street boys, Mr. Didi disclosed that NAREC initiative which comprises of the youth, women and adults have various small partner groups within the Archdiocese of Nairobi, Kenya who help them accomplish projects in other sectors.
“Through the small groups we have within Nairobi, we carry out environmental conservation in schools including planting trees, managing domestic wastes disposals, advocating for the rights of children to have clean environment among others,” Mr. Didi who disclosed to have been a former street boy narrated adding, “We also form young environmental clubs in schools where we train students how to be good ambassadors for environment.”
“We also teach them the importance of the environment, how to keep it clean, seed germination, types of trees and importance forest, rivers and soil conservation,” said Didi.
He disclosed that NAREC has created environmental awareness in various schools within Kenya’s capital and also formed environmental clubs in two schools.
Additionally, to mark the International Earth Day, the GCCM animator created and published on social media platform a video clip on waste management seeking to enlighten the general public on how to manage wastes at home.
“There will be a follow up video on how to recycle waste and re-use,” he explained further during the telephone interview.
On his part, speaking about Earth Day as another opportunity to embark on the mission of embracing Mother Earth through heeding to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, the GCCM- Africa Programs Manager Fr. Benedict Ayodi said, “We must act promptly and decisively to protect Mother Earth from the existential threat of climate disruption.”
He added, “Climate disruption is approaching its breaking point and there is no doubt we are at a crossroad.”
The clergy who is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFMCap) lauded GCCM animators who are trained to be active stewards of both environmental protection and climate action.
International Mother Earth Day was established by the United Nations (UN) through a resolution adopted in 2009 with the intent to support for environmental protection.
