THEY CUT THIER TREES, AND CUT THEMSELVES DRY

The former tales of my area having more trees, a good population of hyenas, being less windy and rainier would leave you in disbelief when you visit today. It is a somewhat forgotten little town in the Eastern part of Kenya that has occupants struggling for close to everything. There are hardly any rivers here, no diving water and people are trying to propel development by starting up businesses that provide solutions to everyday problems.

The question that lingers in my mind since I heard these tales by the veterans of this land is, how did we get here? How did it go from being a savannah sort of area to being more of a desert? I sought to find out more on what happened and found out that what happened is still happening right now in fact – charcoal business. They are cutting themselves dry.

The population is slowly growing so development has also played a role in reducing the tree cover, but there is still a good huge piece of land that is unoccupied and barely has native trees. Some residents who pursued quick money would cut indigenous trees to sell cheap charcoal without minding the adverse effects their actions would have on the climate. So the region began to dry and became drier over the years, now, the climate is affecting the farmers in the region. They cut down the indigenous trees, leaving the land bare. The sad part is that this practice still lives on today because exotic trees continue to crop up. I met an old man cutting down an acacia tree that was barely his height, said he needed the 'shrub' for purposes of making charcoal. He removed the thorns from the tree using a machete, leaving those thorns at the very spot, something which I considered very hazardous considering that the tree was on a sidewalk.

This is why we need support to educate the masses about the importance of these trees. The support will also go a long way in helping us plant and replace the trees around these parts that have fallen over the years. It may take time to restore, but we are better off starting now. Let’s tropicalize this desert. Let one and all arise, with a common bond united to build this our land together.