Well-attended Academy with 21 children in Lusaka, ZAMBIA

The 8th academy in Lusaka took place on February 20th 2018. 21 children from Nsansa village community were keenly waiting for the academy to start. The event was free-of-charge for all the attending children, aged from 11 to 16. The owner of Nsansa village. These children are street children who are living together at the owner’s house of Nsansa village community. They are not going to school but they have plenty of time to make action for a better future. When Plant-for-the- Planet Ambassador Miku did presentation for the children, they were so interested in becoming Climate Justice ambassadors. So we decided to held the ambassador training for them.

The academy began with some welcoming words of Miku. Then the full attention of the children turned to the presentation “Now we children save the world!” given by Climate justice ambassadors Naoko and Miku. Complex topics, such as sources of CO2, global warming, photosynthesis, the climate crisis and global justice were presented in a suitable way for children – and nobody could be better for that task than a child of the same age as Naoko and Miku. After the presentation, the participants had the chance to clarify their questions.

For the following part the children were divided into small groups, to learn about global distribution and global justice in the so called “World Game”. The children are all became climate refugees in seven continents that are layed down on the floor. And Miku and Naoko asked them “If you were Climate Refugee, where do you want to escape?”. Then they chose one continent to replace their home. Then Miku and Naoko read out the climate crisis and also mentioned which continent has been affected the most. Children who were standing on the continent that affected by the crisis, they must sit down. Eventually everybody sit down and they learn that there is no “safe continent” that they can escape to and that climate change affects everybody all around the world. That’s why we should work all together and make action – now!

In order to take action and speak up for their future, the children need good presentation and speaking skills. Therefore the particpiants prepared and presented short passages from the opening presentation they had listened to in the morning. They gave feedback to each other and advices how they can improve their presentations in the future.

After a short lunch break, the children had the opportunity to take action for their future right away: They plant trees! In addition, they recieved information on how to plant trees, when to plant them and how to take care of them. In return, the participants were able to show off their newly gained knowledge about the role and importance of trees. In total they planted 20 water berry trees. The children finished the planting event with a magnificent Stop Talking, Start Planting battle cry!

Next, the children started the World Café. During this activity the participants were collecting ideas to the questions how to get the attention of the media, how to motivate adults, friends and classmates and how to organize a planting party. Afterwards the children gathered in the small groups and planned a their own project, which they would want to present to others.

At the end of the day, family, friends and guests arrived for the evening event. The children proudly presented the prepared presentation and their ideas from the World Café.
An interesting day had come to an end. Apart from the experience and newly found knowledge, all participants were appointed as Ambassadors for Climate Justice and received a certificate and a Plant-for-the-Planet T-shirt.  Organizers and guests were very impressed by the performance of the children.

The academy was made possible thanks to the commitment of Nsansa Village Community and due to the team of local organisers. Special thanks goes to the Plant-for-the-Planet Programme Coordinator Chiori Higashi and also to other supporters Ms. Zaion Mutale, Mr.Friday, Mr. Winnie, Ms.Airi Sato and Ms. Hiroko Sasaki.

A huge thanks to all the helpers around the venue, technology, food and tree planting event. Without their support the academy would not have been possible.

Want to become Climate Justice Ambassador? Follow this link.

For more pictures, click here.