Kenya is a lush green country rapidly loosing its forests to deforestation and ignorance of the locals. Coming from Kenya a developing country, I have come to realize that awareness is the key to encourage sustainable living. A large sector of the population suffer form poverty, high illiteracy levels and lack of access to basic resources. 

I used to wonder, if the illiteracy and education levels are so low, how can we make the locals understand the importance of taking care of their environment. That was quite a tough question for me as it challenged me to look for alternative ways to sensitize the locals.

After working on several environmental projects all around Kenya and interacting with the locals and environmentalists up to an international level, i have come to realize that awareness is the key.

You may wonder, how can we spread awareness without educating them? Yes, that is pretty tricky question but i discovered my answer a year ago. I have been working on a project that involves encouraging the locals in rural areas to invest in a Solar Cook it. It was one of the projects that was an eye opener not only for me but for the locals!

That's when I realized seeing is believing! I decided to carry out a demonstration for the locals to show them how the Solar Cook it works and its advantages. Using very basic words i demonstrated and as soon as they saw the visual action that's when they realized the impact of it. The visual action made them aware that there were alternative methods they could use instead of constantly cutting down firewood and walking long distances with them.

To further show them the added advantage, I decided to select a few of the educated villagers and make them use the Solar Cook it everyday and then make the other villagers see the advantages of using the Solar Cook it in the long run.

Today, the same ignorant villagers who used to chop down trees everyday for firewood are the same ones willing to invest in them after realizing what impact it will have on them and on the environment around them.

Using this example I would like to encourage all the environmentalists in the world to come up with creative ways to help their society. My advice to other environmentalists is don't let barriers stop you, a barrier doesn't stop you in fact it diverts you to another opening.