A section of St. Martin Kaewa Secondary School Environment Club at their woodlot. The students undertook the “greening” competition to emerge the winner of the pilot project. 

When the KenGen Foundation first brought Melia volkensii and Senna ciamea seedlings to St. Martin Kaewa Secondary School, Machakos County, two years ago, the head teacher, Mrs. Margaret Kitavi, presumed that it was for the routine seedlings distribution that the company was doing to local institutions around its areas of operation. Little did she know that this was the beginning of a journey of transformation for the students and the school’s environment.

The seedlings, locally known as Mukau and Muveshi respectively were the school’s entry point to the Green Initiative Challenge, a KenGen Foundation designed as a competition to encourage and enable schools participate in environmental conservation activities.

There was general excitement among the students when she announced the GIC during the school parade, with the general sentiment being that the school has to win this particular competition and pick up the big prizes.

“When the Green Initiative Challenge phase I was launched by the KenGen Foundation, we were extremely delighted to join in the challenge and be rated alongside other environmental conversation enthusiasts.

“It was the first time we were going to plant ‘Melia’ (Mukau) a tree species whose wood we had only seen in the beautiful furniture we could only import from the neighbouring Mbeere (Embu) County”, says Mrs. Kitavi.

The Green Initiative Challenge (GIC) Pilot project was launched with 81 schools in the 7- Forks area with the aim of addressing massive deforestation in the semi-arid areas of Machakos and Embu Counties through a rural schools-led initiative.