The continuous rumbling of the turbines at Gitaru Power Plant drown the engineer’s voice as he explains the working of hydro power production to a group of students from Makutano DEB Primary School on 23 February. Despite the machines’ echo, the students shuffle closer to the technician, keen to catch his words as he points and explains how the power plant’s control panel works.

Makutano DEB Primary School at Gitaru Power Plant. The school emerged third in the GIC Pilot project.

The 30 students were on a site excursion to the power plant. The trip was part of the prizes presented to winners of the Green Initiative Challenge. The school clinched the third position in the just concluded phase 1 of the project. The ‘greening’ competition, now in the second phase, involves the nurturing of woodlots and small forests in schools in the arid and semi arid areas of the counties of Kitui, machakos and Embu.