International Day of the Girl : Karen Kimani, the girl who wants to be Kenya’s President

This year’s theme for International Day of the Girl marked on October 11, is Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being.

This writer spoke to a girl who has already left a mark as a leader in environmental conservation. Here is her story.

“I’m Karen Kimani, and I am 10-years-old. I’m an environmental ambassador and I consider myself the youngest self of Wangari Maathai.

In my school, I am the cabinet secretary for environment because I am passionate about protecting our environment. Everywhere I am, be it in school, in our estate or church, I am always telling children to plant trees. I feel happy when they follow my advice and plant trees.  What they are doing is good for the environment.

If we destroy our environment, who will suffer? It is us, the children. I’m following in the footsteps of Wangari Maathai and when I grow up, I want to be like her. I also want to be the President of Kenya and a tree doctor (arborist) to treat trees.

I plant trees and encourage other pupils to plant trees. But then there is a problem; the trees cannot be watered with salty water, they turn whitish and die. There is also no funding to support children to attend global climate conferences where they can raise their concerns. We need to tell the leaders to think about the children and their future.

Nurture talents

I’ll also mentor boys and girls to believe in themselves. I speak in school events and churches, where I also encourage parents to support their children to nurture their talents and become what they want to be. I have done this since I was eight-years-old.

I want to be remembered as Karen Kimani who left a mark in the lives of children. I also speak for the rights of children. We want to live in a safe and healthy environment. We want to be protected from any form of harm.

It saddens me that there are children who are out of school because their parents cannot afford to pay their fees. The government should support these parents to send their children to school.

Now, the El Niño is coming, and some children will not go to school. What is the government doing to ensure all children attend school? The government needs to ensure all children have a comfortable learning environment.

They need to provide girls with adequate sanitary towels. For those who get pregnant while at school, they should be supported to finish their studies. No one should chase them away.

My days are often busy, and balancing between school work and my environmental work can be challenging. I’m always up at 5am as the bus picks me up at 6am and brings me back at 4pm. I'm in Grade Five, and when I return home, I do my homework first then play games like skip a rope or hide and seek before sleeping.

Support children

I’m able to catch up with my classwork through Google Classroom, whenever I miss classes because of my out-of-school environmental work.  For instance, I’m looking forward to attending CoP28 (28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), and so the teachers will be sending homework in the Google Classroom, and I’m able to access it through my iPad.

My parents are very supportive and I want to say ‘thank you so much. I really appreciate you.’ And I’d like to tell all parents to support their children and let them follow their dreams. Don’t force your children to do what they are not passionate about.”

[email protected]