Reasons why i am fond of Nature and environment
I was born and bred in the upcountry ‘’ushago’’ of Gusii highlands currently Nyamira county, Borabu district,
in the Riangombe ‘’Chepng’ombe’’ village. The climate was awesome and I enjoyed
it most when we used to have heavy rains during the April holidays where my
cousin Geoffrey Okenye and I could enjoy collecting mushrooms which we always
believed were a blessing from God brought to us by the heavy rains. Not forgetting how we used to swim all day long and return home with mpararo and full of goosebumps. My parents did not tolerate swimming so we could get serious beating day in day out .
If you dint spend you childhood in the up country just be
assured you missed a lot that you will not get to experience in your life time.
When I was in class two back in 1997 is when I discovered how I was very passionate
and fascinated by nature. I started loving and caring about everything that was
alive.
I started by digging 6 holes where I would later plant bananas in a span of two weeks and I was only
7 years old then. After planting the bananas my next project was to cultivate a
small piece of land which I shared with my younger sister Dolphin where we divided
it into two portions 10 x 10 meters .We dint obey the weather when it came to
planting. We planted maize during the dry season and it could sprout very well after
doing determined and frequent irrigations.
We could use the
organic manure (cow dung) because the chemical fertilizer was always kept under
lock and key by our dad in the store. With all that our maize could grow very
healthy and we could roast maize when nobody did in the whole village. This really
motivated me more.
I remember teaching my cousin Amenya who had come from Nairobi
for the December holidays on how to grow vegetables and trapping moles which
were a big challenge when doing our farming. This made him happy and am sure he
misses all these experiences when we were kids.
My love for nature grew day in day out which made me to
think about domesticating wild birds like weaver birds and doves. One day as I was
grazing our cattle I heard a chick cheeping from the top of a
tree .looking up I saw an eagle readily holding its prey which was the chick .This
made me feel for the chick that I threw a stone which made the eagle to fly
away leaving the young chick dropping on the ground besides me. I then quickly
took the chick home and took care of it with passion .The chick later grew to a
big hen which became mother to many hens and cocks at home.
I have never slaughtered a hen or even a goat since I was a
small boy .this is because I have always believed that nothing should lose its
life for any given reason.
My dad dint like female dogs because he believed that they
could breed carelessly so one day he told me to curl one of our female puppies
which was in poor health. He insisted that when he comes back in the evening he
should get the puppy dead and buried but I dint like this idea so I took the
small dog tied and fed it secretly for two months. When it was big and in good health
I released it back and my dad couldn’t believe this when I explained what I had
done. The dog later became the most loyal and reliable pet in our home.
In high school my best subjects were biology and agriculture
because there I read and learnt what I loved most which was nature. After my
KCSE exams I grew quite a number of wild fruits in my small compound (esaiga) which
attracted my parents including my village mates because the compound looked
like a small botanical garden .Starting with passion fruits, black berries etc.
I was disappointed when
I came back from college and found out that all the fruit trees had been feed
to our cows and goats while I was in college.
With all this love for nature I always dream of owning a big
home surrounded by a fish pond, botanical garden which will house all kinds of indigenous
and exotic trees and also rearing domestic and wild birds like cockatoos, ducks,
and turkeys, doves, Red-billed
Francolins and ostriches.
Lastly I will leave you with one nature quote;
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