Kenyan teen determined to solve climate change

KENYA, September 25: A Kenyan teenager, Rahima Paulette, has been organising several protests in Kenya against climate change.

Her most recent peaceful march took place on Friday, in the western Kenyan City of Kisumu where she was accompanied by fifty young demonstrators.

During an interview with Reuters, Rahima said youths around the world have already voiced out their concerns regarding climate change so that it can be heard globally.

“This climate strike is not for fun. It is important to address issues that has contributed to climate change such as our food manufacturing system that has been heavily scrutinised for increasing carbon footprints into the atmosphere.

“We need to work together in terms of enhancing more future sustainable projects and having more eco-friendly businesses that won’t further deteriorate the current climate,” said Rahima.

When she’s not on strike, Rahima spends her after school hours by taking part in cleaning up Lake Victoria which is damned with plastics and discarded nappies which here then taken to a local recycling plant producing slippers.

Tonnes of waste were collected from the lake itself which reflects the lack of awareness among the general public and a poor waste management.

“We are trying to sensitise the community in order for them to get the knowledge and at the same time, involve them in the clean up activities to get them to understand the damage they can do to the ecosystem,” she explained.

In her free time, Rahima creates eco-products out of water-hyacinth harvested from the same lake and is also an ambassador for a local impala animal park and sanctuary in Kenya.

The young environmentalist hopes that climate change awareness will peak globally as soon as possible for the future generation.

For context, Rahima’s protest was inspired by a climate change advocate in Sweden, Greta Thunberg which also inspired the global day of youth action against climate change that took place on Friday.