Meet Joy Jerop Kibichii, a grade four pupil from Kericho Academy who received an award from First Lady Mama Rachael Ruto for emerging number one in the First Lady’s Mazingira Award (FLAMA) competitions in the spoken word category.
The 10-year-old champion of conservation accompanied her teachers and fellow pupils to the FLAMA Awards ceremony in State House Nairobi during Mazingira day where she was honored by the First Lady for her outstanding spoken word performance that clearly showcased her passion for environmental conservation.
Her spoken word piece that addressed the significance of planting more trees to avert the negative impacts of climate change also touched on the critical and pertinent issues such as deforestation, soil erosion and various environmental pollution that need to be addressed for future generations to enjoy a safe and healthy environment.
The confidence and passion of the 10-year-old in delivering the spoken word piece titled, “Land, My Parent My World” moved the audiences at the State House event attended by other dignitaries such as the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Aden Duale and Basic Education Principal Secretary Dr. Belio Kipsang
In an exclusive Interview with KNA, Jerop was excited that apart from winning her school a prestigious award, she was also gifted a laptop, a medal, and a certificate.
According to the Kericho Academy Managing Director Julieann Njambi, three other pupils from the school also participated in other categories such as Amanda Chepngeno (Essay competition) and Spencer Muia (Painting and Drawing).
Ms. Njambi disclosed that this was the second time Kericho Academy was participating in the FLAMA awards noting that in 2023 they also emerged as number one after Jayden Wakaru delivered an outstanding piece that won the award.
“We are happy that we have won twice in FLAMA Awards against the hundreds of schools that participated countrywide. This is a significant milestone that reflects our passion as a school for environment conservation,” added Ms. Njambi.
Ms. Njambi further said that Kericho Academy took proactive strategies to assist the pupils in discovering, nurturing and enhancing various talents and skills such as indoor games including chess, scrabble, Rubik Cubes, Coding and Robotics, Music, and Dance, among others, for the wholistic development of pupils.
“We have previously participated in other activities such as the National chess tournament in Mangu High School and Nakuru High, Keonline Digitally Fit awards, Mater Heart run, and music festival where we presented a Scottish dance among others,” said Njambi.
She further pointed out that the school was running tree planting initiatives heeding to the call by the government to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 to increase the tree cover and avert the negative effects of climate change.
“We have so far planted hundreds of trees inside the school and outside and in the next year we plan to plant more trees at various places and we hope the Ministry of Environment will assist us in getting tree seedlings to accomplish that mission,” explained Njambi.
She assured that in the coming year, more pupils from Kericho Academy will participate in the FLAMA awards to defend the number one position.
FLAMA is an annual environment and climate change award aimed at empowering learners in public and private primary and junior schools across Kenya. It is conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, the Ministry of Education, the National Treasury, and other stakeholders.
FLAMA aims to nurture and empower learners as agents of change for environmental conservation and climate action. This year, the program saw the participation of over 400 pupils, 100 teachers and 200 guests under the theme Restore Our Land, Secure Our Future.
By Kibe Mburu and Ken Kiprotich
