Dear Hon Soipan Tuya, 

My name is Jada Neema, I am 10 years old and I am an eco-activist and warrior from Nairobi. I love spending time in nature, it’s my happy place. Sadly there aren’t that many green spaces in Nairobi anymore for kids and future generations to enjoy.

Ngong Road Forest is the biggest remaining forest in Nairobi city. The forest has so many beautiful old trees and is home to so many animals and birds. The forest is also very important for reducing the effects of climate change, it cleans air by absorbing CO2 and giving us oxygen and is a source of water.
It is strange that not so many people know about it. The forest is just as beautiful as Karura and it’s close to my home.

I read that there are plans to build a sewage line through the forest and that the sewage will follow the river. Thousands and thousands of trees and saplings will be chopped down, animals will be scared and run away, birds will fly off, their nests will be destroyed and the trees will take decades to grow back or they might not even grow back.

We will have even fewer green spaces to enjoy. Do children not have the right to clean air? To water? To a liveable future city and planet?

I don’t understand why anyone would put a sewage line through a beautiful forest when there are roads that can be used instead. If you put the sewer line along the road that won’t destroy more of our green space.

The government is talking about planting more trees and increasing tree cover, but how will we ever achieve this if we keep on destroying the forests we already have?

Let’s be kind to Mother Nature and the future generation because we will be living in this city longer than most of you adults.

Please Mrs Tuya, Help us save the forest and find a different route for the sewage line.

Thank you