Traditional Plant-for-the-Planet Academy Yendi, Ghana

The academy happened on Saturday, the 10^th of December 2016, so children had time to spend it with Plant-for-the-Planet.

The academy took place school’s premises and started at 9 a.m. The team was able to organize 10 schools to participate, each school allowed 8 of their students to attend. So it was 80 children attending the academy in Yendi and some accompanying teachers. The program was free of charge for all the children, who were aged 8-14.

We are very grateful for the team of local organizers, for accompanying teachers and parents. Special thanks to Plant-for-the-Planet program coordinator Mohammed Rabiu Dannakabu, moderator Mr. Iddrisu Faisal and also to second moderator Mr. Sanusi.  We are very appreciating the help of Mr. Garvey who welcomed us in his town, helped approach and organize this massive event.

After a brief welcome speech by Mohammed Rabiu Dannakabu, the full attention of the children were turned to the presentation "Now we children save the world!", which was given by Iddrisu Faisal, it was excellent because it went with a picture demonstration for the children to have a clear view of what we talking about. The presentation demonstrated issues about climate crisis and effects of the greenhouse gases.

After the presentation the academy participants were divided into 6 smaller groups to learn about global distribution and justice in the “World Game”. Children were explained how to distributed playing figures, candy and balloons on the world maps as symbols of the world’s population, wealth and CO2 emissions respectively.

After that, 8 children were selected to do the public speaking module, with printed slides from the presentation at the start of the day. Moderators gave them tips how to improve their presentations in the future.

For the next module we re-grouped the children again and then wrote down our thoughts for the questions: "How do we motivate adults?”, “Who is responsible for which task?” and “By when do we want to achieve our goals? ". Then we discussed the results in groups.

Then we moved altogether to the planting area to plant our own trees! Before the planting commenced, the children were educated by Mr. Faisal, he explained children how to plant trees, showed how to make sure they survive and absorb as much CO2 as possible. With the assistance of the academy moderators we planted in total 23 Acacia trees.

A long, eventful, and enjoyable day had come to an end. Apart from the new experience and knowledge, all new Ambassadors took with them the Plant-for-the-Planet T-shirts and “Tree by Tree” book. Organizers were very impressed by the performance of the children.

The Plant-for-the-Planet team would like to thank all participant of this wonderful Academy day.

Click here to find more pictures of the day!