This is my Juatenda Award Winning Essay that ranked Second Runners up. Subsequent blogs will contain the other essays.

THARAKA NITHI MY GARDEN OF EDEN

For those who have never been to Tharaka Nithi County they think the place is a paradise. Their thoughts are laced with stereotypes of land of miraa, fertile soils for agriculture and serene tourist attractions. Such mindset is deceptive. One only needs to stand and face Mount Kenya.  Despite close proximity to the second tallest mountain in Africa, Tharaka Nithi is ravaged by a raft of environmental hazards.

Careless and reckless attitude

The Mt. Kenya forest has been diminishing at an alarming rate. Residents have been cutting indigenous trees with abandon. They clear large tracts of land for “development”. They either want to build plots or lease the land. Others plant illicit drugs such as bhang in large clearings deep in the middle of the Mt. Kenya forest.  Does this explain why the recent forest fires that swept Mt. Kenya took too long time to contain? Drug addicts hide in forest dens as they puff away marijuana carelessly. They recklessly leave embers of butts on the floor of the forest. Dry leaves and woods catch fire. We all know the results of this care-free attitude.

Cold winter

In the neighbouring county of Nyeri, farmers reported that their crops were being attacked by adverse frost. They wilted and dried. Farmers lost millions of shillings in agricultural input investment due to this disturbing the balance of nature.

Last semester (May-August) was one of the hardest ever. I recall how the weather suddenly turned winter and a bout of running nose hit me. The flu and fever were so contagious that as soon as you healed the disease recurred since it was still in the air anyway. I spent a lot of money buying handkerchiefs and cough syrups. At one point I missed a practical class which required me to give an oral presentation. My sore throat failed me. I sneezed until I cried. My ears blasted and my throat thundered.

The unforgiving nature strikes

Environmental icon the late Prof. Wangari Mathaai (God bless her soul) once famously quipped that if you destroy nature, nature will destroy you too. Nature is so unforgiving that we cannot escape responsibility of our actions. If we embark on deforestation, nature will strike back with apocalyptic curse of global warming. I reported back for this semester on September 19. Farmers were already tilling their land in preparation of the rains. It is no longer tenable that those who plant early reap more harvest.  Two months down the line, the fields are still dusty and bare. Random rains rotted the seeds planted in advance.  Farmers embarked on a sowing spree again at an extra expense.

In a country such as Kenya where land is a central factor of production as well as an emotive subject, we cannot afford to joke with nature. It is everyone’s guess that the rains have defied the natural seasons. They are no longer predictable. They ambush us with shocking surprises. This sets the stage for drought and famine. If this situation continues unchecked we will be begging “tunaomba serikali” as we walk meekly carrying begging bowels around Tharaka Nithi which is supposed to be a bread basket. Do we want another Kenyans for Kenyans campaign for Tharaka? Didn’t we learn from Turkana?

A case in point is Ndagani High School located near Chuka University. I visited their dining hall and was appalled. Heaps upon heaps of logs! I sought a comment from a fourth year. She naively told me that the trees in question were indigenous. They took years to mature only to be ruthlessly chopped down by the cooks. I think the worst discovery of machines in the entire human history and civilization is not an AK47. It is not even the weapons of mass destruction. It is the power saw. The saw is like a gas chamber. It drowns acres of trees by slicing them mercilessly where it hurts the most for them not to recover. The stumps are left standing lonely on bare soil. They are carried away by rain water. Soil erosion carries away fertile top soil leaving behind barren and rocky soil exposed.

Wisdom of learning from others

The sad thing is that the students never thought about recycling animal waste yet they have a good number of dairy cows zero grazed in their compound. Biogas is an alien concept to them. I am not saying we should not cook. I am saying we cook sustainably. Non-renewable fuel is currently the fan of modern day war. We do not want to be like Middle East or Nigeria who fight over oil. We can learn from the split of Khartoum and Juba in order to build better counties and country. I do not want my Tharaka Nithi to be like Abyei- a disputed territory stranding the border of South Sudan and Sudan. It remains a theatre of killing innocent civilians. Impunity has spawned warlords who roam free.

In Kenya we have had enough. It is a sad chapter we would like to close. However, the closure has been a mirage. We should say never again to Internally Displaced Persons and squatters.

The sad reality is that we like short cuts. We do not care so long as our interests are taken care of. That is why the landlords investing around the campus continue to cut down trees to build more hostels at the expense of the environment. That is why the students drop litter yet a few seconds ago it was used to wrap their shopping.

Taking responsibility

It is time we take full responsibility of our actions and inactions. Let the environmental degradation not be because of one of us failing to do their part or did a portion that contributed to environmental degradation. It is our duty to recycle plastics. We should clean cans of Blue Band and keep sugar there. Then the nylon cover of the sugar can be collected and sent back to the factory for smelting so that other wrappings can be recast.

The glaciers of snow at the summit of Mt. Kenya are vanishing like morning dew. This should jolt us to wake up to reality. Tourists who visit and climb Mt. Kenya will soon opt for other destinations and deny us foreign currency if we do not change. The rivers whose source is Mt. Kenya will dry up. We will suffer more than before due to our own activities. True, the human being is the worst threat to the environment.

Final plea: Please spare our children by nurturing the nature

Now please do your children and grandchildren a simple favour, I hope it will not be too much to ask. Spare them. Do not make them only to imagine that there was a huge forest around Mount Kenya that sustained lives of plants, animals and human beings for centuries before it was wiped. Should you leave this world, make it a better place than you found it. Part of that making the difference is conserving the nature. Nurture the nature.

The good news is that all is not lost. We can still reverse the destruction. Let us not just take it as a tired cliché that when we cut a tree we should plant two. It is our obligation, our calling and our responsibility. When God created Adam and Eve and placed them on the Garden of Eden they were tasked with taking care of their environment. Tharaka Nithi is my Garden of Eden and I will preach green gospel of revolution as long as I live. Before I bow I will pass the baton to another champion of nature. Endeavour to be part of this noble cause.