Hushed whispers and fast shuffling shoes followed the station’s tour guide as he led the 3^rd runners up of Phase II of the schools tree planting competition, the Schools’ Green Initiative Challenge (GIC) on their award trip on 14 August.

Even as the turbines rumbled and tried to drown out the guide’s voice, the students’ and teacher’s curiosity was evident as they stared at the huge machines, occasionally asking a question or two before scribbling in their notebooks.

Tulimyumbu Primary School registered the third highest tree seedlings survival rates in Phase II of the tree planting competition, which concluded earlier in the year, beating 117 other schools to be awarded with a 10,000 liter water, a trip to Gitaru

Power Plant, cash prize and certificates. The KenGen Foundation, in partnership with Bamburi Cement ltd., and better Globe Forestry is the lead implementer of the 10-year school-based afforestation project.

With the relief of finally being above ground, the student took a brief excursion to Gitaru dam, where the guide Edwin Ndegwa, an engineering student from Mt. Kenya University, explained the mechanics of operating and managing a hydro-electric dam, before they visited the station’s tree nursery, where they had received their initial 300 seedlings for the competition.

As part of the company’s environmental policy, KenGen distributes tree seedlings to communities around its power plants to help conserve the environment, and the students were urged to continue planting trees even outside the GIC by visiting Gitaru and asking for seedlings.

Currently involving more than 300 schools at Embu, Kitui, and Machakos counties, the GIC is a 10-year afforestation project modeled as a competition between participating schools in 2-year phases. Due to the extreme arid weather in the project area, the GIC is dubbed as a challenge as the schools also compete in employing tree-growing innovations such as mulching and drip irrigation to earn more points against their competitors.

After a sumptuous lunch at Matendeni Senior Staff club, the students couldn’t wait to jump into the swimming pool for the rest of the afternoon.

“I can’t thank the KenGen Foundation and the Green Initiative Challenge project partners for making our day”, said the school’s headmaster Mr. Charles at the end of the day. “Tulimyumbu Primary School has something to smile about as we head home from this trip”.