At only 18 years, Anita Soina (pictured with Kenyan entertainer Jalang’o) responded to an inner voice that was incessantly nudging her to act. For response, she founded SpiceWarriors Kenya, an environmental organisation putting the youth on the road to conservation.
It was Oprah Winfrey who challenged people to listen to the inner voice and use it to change the world at a time it is under increasing stress, partly with global warming.
Now 18 years old, Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist, has also challenged world leaders to act on climate change, telling them there was no time to wait. “I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to act as if the house was on fire. Because it is,” Thunberg has said.
The late Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel peace prize for environmental activism also encouraged people to run with their “little thing”. Soina’s “little thing” is conserving the environment although she is studying communication at Multimedia University, a public institution in Nairobi.
At SpiceWarriors where she is the CEO, the 21-year-old author of a 69-page booklet ‘The Green War’, is rallying youthful volunteers to plant trees, take part in clean-ups, and sensitise people on environmental conservation. She celebrates her birthdays planting trees in Kenya whose forest cover is 7.4percent, which is below the minimum recommended 10percent.
“SpiceWarriors is a movement of young environmental warriors from all professions and institutions mentored and directed towards being passionate about the environment,” she says.
In September 2021, she was one of the speakers on TEDxParklands, an event that grows the TED and TEDx community in Kenya by giving visionaries with “outstanding initiatives” an international platform.
Other TEDxParklands speakers this year were Agnes Muthoni, director of talent partnerships at Andela; Farhia Jama, Holby Training Solution co-founder; Chris Makena, founder and CEO of Bold Network Africa; Andrew Alovi, sports and entertainment marketing virtuoso; Chao Mbogo, the founder of mentorship programme KamiLimu; and, Shalini Bhalla-Lucas, a TV and radio presenter, teacher and motivational speaker.
Climate change is a growing global challenge that has hit countries, including Kenya, with bouts of floods, rising sea levels, and droughts that are complicating life for flora and fauna. These, Soina says, require action today not tomorrow, just like Thunberg has warned that the house is on fire.
“With the modern-day global warming surge and Kenya having lost a huge percentage of forest cover, we need everyone on board, and for that reason; the then 18-year-old me founded SpiceWarriors to rally other young people in the protection of the environment,” Soina says.
Her passion for environmental conservation began when she started spending most of her time with her grandfather, who loved trees. In secondary school, she joined Scouting Movement where most of the activities were tree planting. But it was her mentor Erick Matsanza who opened her eyes to the big picture.
Since she was 19, Soina celebrates her birthdays by planting trees; this year she marked her birthday by planting trees at Kilgoris in the company her team and local youth.
Early this year, Soina tweeted: “I’m not against billboards, I’m against the cutting of trees for visibility of billboards.”
“Erick introduced me to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are the blueprint to achieving comfortable and more sustainable future for all by addressing environmental degradation, poverty, peace and justice and inequality brought about by climate change. Through reading about them I realised the attention that the climate change deserves.”
Soina advocates for simple language during conferences for civic education on matters environment conservation to leave the intended impact.
“The youth are the backbone of the nation and can change the future of the society with their wellbeing and courageous behaviour… they have the power to transform our societies towards a low-carbon and climate resilient future”, said Dr Alice Kaudia, Environment Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources once said.
Dr Eveline Mahero, a lecturer at Laikipia University, says many students make it in life by taking a different route from what they studied in school. Dr Mahero stresses that people should find “something extra” that makes them wake up in the morning apart from formal education.
“I encourage students to join clubs and other beneficial activities that will impact their lives. I am a lecturer but at the same time I am a singer,” Dr Mahero says.
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