Beautification & Greening of schools in Kenya

At the Safal MRM Foundation, it is our firm belief that learning environment is just as important for the learner as the actual academic content. Lessons are learned in both situations, and a learner who can take care of their environment can take care of their community.

In our continuous campaign to inculcate these values in our community, we have introduced more trainees from the Mabati Technical Training Institute into our permaculture program. Through a partnership with Herbivore 254, we have integrated permaculture into the everyday learning of the trainees and, as a result, we continue to see vested interest from the youth in the school vegetable farm and nurseries.

We are happy to report that we expect a full harvest in the final quarter of the year from the planting done by our trainees at the beginning of the year. These produce will be cater to the school’s feeding program and the excess sold off at the local market. Through this laborious exercise, our trainees now believe and understand the importance of using best farming practices and its effects on water conservation and quality of produce. The fruit nursery continues to give refreshing fruits, with sightings of supple paw paws at the top of the trees. This project has also contributed to the variety in the institute’s lunch spread and has brought closer home the co-relation between good food, good health and a thriving environment.

Outside the Foundation, our ‘adopted’ Primary Schools continue to reap the benefits of the tree planting exercises and students have taken the initiative to care of the trees even on weekends when schools are not in session. This is a true testament to our vision of environmental conservation; caring for the environment is an everyday job. With these values etched in the student’s daily routine, we look forward to setting up kitchen gardens in some of the selected schools. These gardens will be run by the students with assistance from the faculty and support staff, and will assist the schools in adding onto their lunch diets.

Thanks to the trees planted at the start of the year, our adopted schools have developed a weekly program to guide the students on taking care of trees through all the seasons of the year. This program has equipped the student body with vital skills of looking after different kinds of trees and created a ripple effect all over communities where the students come from.

Through your support, learners from the elementary level to the more established vocational training level have a chance to learn about the importance of environmental conservation. Through these outreaches and school adoptions, we have opened up a new world of opportunities in agriculture as well as afforestation to countless communities. With only six years to go, our race to reverse climate change will need all hands on deck, to do whatever much we can in the time that we have. Through our school beautification and greening and your endless support, we commit to do our part to make saving the planet a reality.