It’s cold at 6:30am in Nairobi when more than 250 Safaricom staff members set off from HQ. They have ditched the desk and traded in their usual office-wear for track suits and sneakers.
The goal is to plant trees.
The rallying call for the day is “Grow a tree, Give a life.”
As part of a new partnership with the Kenya Forest Service and Absa Kenya, Safaricom was looking to plant 10,000 trees in Kinale Forest, and then attempt to do the same across Laikipia, Meru, Nandi, Lamu, Homabay and Kakamega.
The job is barely a walk in the park (forest?) And it isn’t for our benefit.
This mission is an act of kindness for future generations; for the animals, birds and insects that will finally find a home. This is for the old man down the road who will seek shade after toiling under the scorching sun. This is for the young boys & girls who will go hunting for guavas and loqwats. This is for the earth that will heal and breathe a little easier.
Personally I don’t think about such stuff. For a guy hell-bent on not siring children, getting me to push the sustainability agenda would be like getting a dog to play the violin.
Still, I took the assignment with glee because I had this cool iPhone courtesy of @kryskalekye
I figured I’d give the camera a spin while I document the journey to Kinale.
Plus I’d never heard of Kinale. When the brief came in I said, “Hii si typo? Ni Kinale ama Kitale?”
Turns out Kinale forest is tucked away in the Rift Valley escarpment. Just before you get to Total Kimende, there’s a fork in the road. You take a left, and that path leads you down a rocky road flanked by thorns and wild fruits.
Beyond the rough terrain you meet a small quiet village. A kiosk here. A dingy bar there. Loam soil everywhere.
Up the hill is Kinale Forest.
As the #SafaricomTreePlanting exercise went on, I whipped out the iPhone and snapped away.
It was particularly beautiful to capture because in a cruel and unjust world, amid the noise and the haste, here people stood, united and resolute, to fight for a noble cause – taking small steps for a bigger better tomorrow.
Nurturing our land.
Giving a damn.
Planting a tree.
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This is not a sponsored post
*Story first ran on my Instagram
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