From Arid to Green....

OK, I stole the title from South Eastern Kenya University's (SEKU) moto. A university in Kitui, in an arid region. 

When I first arrived in Kitui it was bone dry, brown! And I thought, "how to people survive here?"

But, if the rains come, the land is lush and fertile. If the rains come... 

An initiative of SEKU is to make the land more sustainable by increasing the moisture content in the soil and reduce soil erosion through tree planting. 

Meta Meta (a Dutch NGO), has joined in the initiative by implementing a roadside tree planting project. In November, Meta Meta with the Environmental Club at SEKU, planted 570 trees along a 2 km stretch of road leading into the campus. When the rains stopped in January drip irrigation was implemented using 500ml bottles. Though the efforts were good, just over 300 trees did not make it through the dry period. 

Yesterday, Nancy (colleague from Meta Meta), the Env. Club and myself went back to replant the 300 trees. 

This is near the beginning of the road. We planted the trees until the top of the hill. As far as you can see the road goes. 

 Rodger's, the Club chair, with the jembe we used for digging. They asked if next time I could bring them tools from Canada...

 

After 300+ trees planted, a lesson in German greetings, fleeing a swarm of bees, 1 sun burnt mzungu (white person) and selfies taken we finished the day tired with hungry stomachs.