Study trip to the rainforest in Kenya

Fifteen students from St. Patrick’s Ebubere mixed secondary accompanied by two teachers, Mr. Okwako Zadick and madam Imelda Indeche went on a study trip to Kakamega rainforest.
Students interacted with indegenous tree species preserved in the Forest.
Students were taken through the importance of conserving indegenous trees which has contributed to high and reliable rainfall in the western part of Kenya.

The students got to see many tree species that grow in the rainforest. For example:

An Elgon Teak tree that is 150 years old

African Mahogany tree, often used for wood carving

Sand Paper tree( Sacred tree or tree or tree justice). This tree has pockets used to store water for wild animals.

Aningeria altissima. A medicinal tree that improves the body’s immunity

Sand paper tree

Aningeria altissima

Elgon Teak tree

Triangular Fig Tree

Triangular Fig Tree

The study trip took one hour and students came back to school to share what they had gained from the trip. The students came to appreciate the role that forests play in regulating and stabilising the climate system of their region. It is very important to preserve forests to save habitat for animals and endangered plant species.

Introduction from St. Patrick’s Ebubere Secondary School

We are from St. Patrick’s Ebubere Mixed Day Secondary School in Kenya. We are 22 students and we are coordinated by two teachers: Mr. Okwako Zadick and Madam Imelda Indeche. We are participating in the climate change program, introduced in our School by Mondo’s organisation. We are grateful to be part of this program and ensure that we acquire knowledge on climate change through Mondo class network from other countries.

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In our first session Mr. Okwako and Madam Imelda introduced the idea of the project and school network. We are excited to learn more about climate change impacts our community and other areas in the world.

As the next session our group visited the Shianda market center where cleaning at the Dump site took place.

The theme of the project day was “Clean Air, Clean Environment”. The clean-up activity was in relation to pollution and its effect on climate change and how can we educate people around us to keep our village and community clean. The session was organised by Kakamega County Government in Mumias East subcounty.

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Final video of Severodonetsk Secondary School 5

And finally, here is the video from our school which explains how climate change affects the people here in our city.

Climate change activities in Severodonetsk Secondary School 5

To find out more how climate change affects or community we did some interviews. We talked to elderly people in our community but also teachers and staff of our school as well as students and some workers of industries in our city. From these interviews we got information that people are noticing many thing about the climate changing. For example or summer are getting more and more hot and there is much less rainfall which impacts agriculture in a negative way. Winters on the other hand are getting warmer and that means we have less snow.

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To find out even more, we organised a seminar at our school with specialist from the ecological inspection of Lugansk Oblast. After the seminar we had a tree planting activity near our school.

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And we also had another trash clean-up and tree planting action in a park near a lake that is in our city. Here is a video and some photos of it:

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Introduction from Severodonetsk Secondary School 5

Hello!

We are the students of Severodonetsk  Secondary School 5, Luhansk Oblast, Severodonetsk city. This is the school, whose students want to change the world. The team of the 10th and 11th graders is full of enthusiasm and ideas for changes. Each of us is a broadminded and unique person, who seeks to change the world and worries about its current problems. We believe that the problem of climate change is not just important, but global and affects each of us. Why? Because climate change is happening because of the human race and everyone is contributing. We live in the city with a lot of chemical plants, so we know better than anyone about the consequences of such actions and experience their influence. So, we really want to change that. To change the world you need to set in order first! Without solving this question, we will destroy nature, everything around, even ourselves. Our school is one of the leading Zero Waste movement in the region. We have already carried out such actions as picking garbage  in the city, planting trees and installing special sorting bins in our school, which are accessible to all citizens. We also care for the younger generations, teach them how to reduce our harmful impact on the planet, tell them about environmental values, because we understand that our future depends on the youth!

We were very excited to get to work on the climate change project. In the first sessions of this project we got to know more a bout the Mondo school network and the countries included in the project.

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Then in the following sessions we learned more about climate change: what causes it and what are the consequences of it worldwide.

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We also had some sessions about creative writing where we learned to tell our life stories. Then we got to know some tips and tricks how to turn a story into a short film just by using our smartphones.

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Here is a short video introduction of our school:

Introduction from Rubizhne Secondary School

The team of Rubizhne Secondary School of I-III grades № 9 consisting of 20 students of 10-11 grades and biology teacher Natalia Dobroskok became a participant of the mini-project “We and Climate Change” 1Planet4All, implemented by Vostok SOS Charitable Foundation in partnership with Mondo NGO from Estonia

The school’s close long-term cooperation with the Vostok SOS Charitable Foundation always inspires new achievements and creative development. This time we will have an incredible study on “Climate Change and Us”, and most importantly – the opportunity to share ideas and experiences with students from Afghanistan, Estonia, Ghana, Kenya, Myanmar, Uganda.

During the project, we and students from different countries will discuss climate change in the classroom, create content for the school network blog, publish our own stories, photos, videos, in which we will talk about the impact of climate change on the community.

In the first sessions of Climate Change and Us project we got to know more about the school network and schools who are involved in it by reading the blog of the project.

We then went on to learn more about climate change and also practices creative writing to find our own stories about our lives and climate change. We also learned how to edit videos just by using our smartphones.

To begin our investigation about climate change we did and interview with a specialist from the Rubizhne city council.

Introduction from Belovodsk Lyceum in Ukraine

Since March 2021, Belovodsk Lyceum “Leader” has been holding regular classes with students of grades 9 to 11 for the environmental project “Climate Change and Us”.

In these classes, working in groups, students emphasized that climate change is a global challenge, which means that to overcome it, the whole world must work together. We noticed that in order for people in power to hear and understand us, we need to be able to use our voice. If we are good speakers and can tell interesting stories, we can make our leaders better understand who we are and what changes we need.
Thanks to the Internet, we have the opportunity to tell our story to people from other cities, districts, regions and even around the world. Perhaps without our history, they would never know what kind of people live in our community, how they live and what problems they face due to climate change. People living in regions with cold climates may think that global warming is good – because the hot weather is not so bad for them. But if they are aware of the damage that drought and too hot weather can do in other countries, they will be able to better understand and empathize.

When we empathize with others, it is easier for us to work together and achieve great things. That’s why it’s so important to know how to tell stories – to inspire empathy.

The history of every citizen is important.

The students worked on three questions to which they had to find answers.

1. What was one of the important and significant experiences that influenced who they became? Within 10-15 minutes, the students had the opportunity to respond to them.
2. Have you had experience monitoring climate change? How has this affected your community? Is the weather different from when you were a child?
3. To build a better future, we must first imagine ourselves there. What would the world look like for you? What are your dreams for a sustainable world, where communities are strong and peaceful, where we can not only continue our traditions, but also innovate? What might the dream community look like to you (which is strong before climate change)? What role can you play to make this dream come true?
   At the end of the allotted time, those interested had the opportunity to talk about what they would like to share. The students told their unexpected life stories. The audience was very moved by the story of a boy-immigrant from the city of Luhansk. Some students shared experiences that influenced their worldview. Each student had his own story, which has a great impact on personal vision of the world. The answers were varied: from their own experience of participating in various environmental projects to the stories of their loved ones and friends. In this way, the project participants learned more about each other, and we hope that in the future it will help them get closer to overcoming global problems.

Here is a photo of our team of students:

Introduction from Rapla Vesiroosi Gümnaasium

Greetings from Rapla Vesiroosi Kool (Rapla Waterlily School)!

Our small hometown Rapla is located in Central Estonia, not far (56 km) from Tallinn and it is green and cosy.

At our school there are students 7-16 years old and altogether more than 500 hundred students and about 60 teachers.

Our school is well-known in many movements in Estonia: Nature and environment, Health, Career, Sporty movement for students, Global education, Drama studies, music groups(singers and musicians), the partnership with Soldino school from Narva is definitely one of our favourite projects. We are eager to communicate with new partners worldwide as well. We are proud of our Students` Council and its activities for the whole school (quizizz, newspaper and thematic days).

Sustainable projects are dedicated to nature and environment. Not only outdoor activities, but also the topics are integrated into the lessons in the timetable. The group of students who participate in the project are mostly from Form9, but there are younger students as well.

The project is important because we have nature and environment themes in the lessons. Our school works together with the Environmental centre and students in classes have nature trips. The World Cleanup Day has always been important and popular in our school. We have already noticed some climate changes. It would be interesting to share the stories with other participants.

Here are some photos of our World Cleanup activities:

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And this is how our school looks like: Some pictures are of the nature around our school and some from inside the school)

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Introduction from Kongo Junior High School

Today we can introduce students from Kongo Junior High School from Nabdam district in Ghana.

In this video students from Kongo JHS introduce themselves and share their ideas about climate change. In Kongo community the biggest problems caused by climate change are extreme heat, land degradation and unpredictable rainfall. As a result of bush burning and wood logging many trees in the area have been destroyed which makes the situation with climate change even more difficult.

Kongo JHS students had a great first workshop on climate change and are eager to learn more. 🙂

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Climate change activities from a girls’ school in Afghanistan

In the spring of 2021 a girls school from Afghanistan also participated in “Climate Change and Us” project. It was very inspiring to see them learning about climate change and sharing their knowledge with their community.

The students feel that climate change is a highly important issue for them because extreme weather instances impact the lives of people living in the IDP camp very much. For example dirty lakes and water pollution around the school makes it difficult to get clean water. At the camp, burning coal in winter season for heating the rooms is a big problem for air quality and extreme weather and increasing temperatures in the summer are impacting the lives of people more and more.

The students in the group had their first sessions of Climate Change and Us project where they got to know more about the harmful effects of climate change. They are eager to learn more about it and start collecting stories from their community.

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As further activities the students organised a tree planting activity in their school, did a trash cleanup in their community and inspired other people in their community to care more about the environment and their health.

We want to congratulate these brave young girls for their courage and hard work. Well done!

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