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Environmental Education at ASA global

With the GRÜNE LIGA e.V. and Rieko Kenya from Berlin, Germany, to Migori, Kenya

As part of an ASA global project, Kevin Nyawade talked with students in Berlin-Marzahn and Migori about possibilities for sustainable management as planting an international garden at the International Garden Exhibition. Furthermore Kevin and his project partners went to local schools and planted school gardens with the pupils. This project was therefore to create awareness for the children and their acting with local resources. During the project he worked in a team with two participants from Germany and another participant from Kenya. He writes about his time and experience in the following report.

ASA global: three months in Germany and three months in Kenya

Three people work in a garden.
Photo: Kevin Nyawade

The project in Berlin

The group comprised of Ericka, Jacob, Ronya and Kevin. The supervisor was Ulrich Nowikow, deputy manager of GRÜNE LIGA e.V.. Before the commencement of the project, we all met at the GRÜNE LIGA Office and discussed the goals of the internship and general projects. We managed to organize a meeting with schools in Marzahn and the IGA (International Garden Exhibition) campus.

Everything went down so well since we coordinated well and this was the reason behind the smooth running of the project. At IGA we designed and international Garden with various recipes originally from Kenya, Morocco, Germany and Costa-Rica. We then came up with a recipe book. At the schools in Marzahn, we worked with students in their gardens, taught them about sustainable nutrition. We visited IGA a number of times just for some trips around and work.

The project in Migori

The south phase took place in Kenya between September 2016 and November 2016 with Rieko Kenya as the host organization. We worked on the following projects: environmental education in the local schools, trees for change and the Ecosan toilet project and also building composts in schools. We conducted environmental education in Mikei primary school and St Goretty Secondary school to the environmental club members. The members of the club were 40 students in each of the schools. We had various teachers as contact persons in this project. Some of the topics we discussed were trees and their importance, waste management, Photosynthesis and how to build up compost.

Work experience

I gained a lot of field work experience. I could locate various target places, work with the local community at the respective places. Above all, time management skills were really important because movement and modalities were quite different from my mother country. This was awesome!

My partners were really amazing. Everyone had the zeal and bright ideas to bring on board and we shared a lot. The GRÜNE LIGA accorded us the opportunity to showcase and to apply any new idea. The organization accorded us the opportunity to be part of the organizers and participants in the annual environmental festival (“Umweltfestival”) and the ecological market (“Ökomarkt”) Berlin, both organized by GRÜNE LIGA.

During the south phase, Edward Kabaka, the CEO Rieko Kenya was always there for us. He granted us ample and humble time to gain a lot of experience in Environmental conservation. Personally, I took advantage of the opportunities at hand. I now able to handle any challenge by organizing myself always, moving with speed and solving any problem at an early stage.

Shortcomings

It took long for the south phase to kick-off from the time we came back from Berlin in June 2016, but the south phase program commenced in September 2016. This inconvenienced us in a way as the south participants because we wanted to finish the program then major on other duties.

Best part of my Participation

I really liked the field work part of manual work we carried out a times, the school lessons and the seminars. These were my best.

Summary of my participation at the ASA Programme

I discovered myself through the internship and gained an understanding of different culture, environmental and diplomatic issues. I discovered my ability to adapt to different kinds of climate, food and the general surrounding. I found lifelong friends and learnt some basics of new language. Therefore, I urge the stakeholders to continue giving youths such a golden opportunity in order to change the world.

All the participants were really hardworking, committed and always ready to solve any small problem that could arise. We shared a lot by working together, enjoying any free time together.