The TotalEnergies Eco challenge gala awards is an annual award ceremony for individuals and organizations who have planted the most number of trees in a particular year under the TotalEnergies Eco Challenge campaign.
The TotalEnergies Eco Challenge is Kenya’s biggest tree planting project and is run under the slogan “Miti Ni Mali, Miti Tosha”. The program was started in 2003 with the aim of inspiring and helping all Kenyans to plant trees in every possible place. The target was to plant 100 million trees per year, every year, forever. Today, the Eco Challenge has more than 5,000 projects that have seen the planting of hundreds of millions of trees since its inception.
In 2014, a number of individuals and organizations under the program were awarded for their amazing efforts towards the environment through tree planting. The awardees included 14 tree ambassadors who were recognized as individuals who have achieved amazing personal levels of tree planting, or have been an outstanding inspiration to others. Some names in this category were Basil Maundu from Mbooni East in Makueni who runs a nursery which has 46,000 trees, a self help group in Lamaratak in Masailand who are conserving and restoring a 600 acre forest and Moreremi Secondary School which has a mixed forest plantation of 20,000 trees. There were also trophy winners who ranged from students and institutions.
For instance, children of Hillcrest Preparatory School in Langata which has included a tree planting classroom project in the school’s curriculum, Lower Kabete Primary School who have created a mixed forest, a botanical garden and a seed orchard and now has become a bird paradise and Mr. and Mrs. Simon Wood, the Principals of Silole Sanctuary which has planted 6,000 trees at Ngong and is working with Kenya Forest Service and forest scouts to protect the seedlings from grazing animals.
Others recognized were Furaha Secondary School in Wajir who have planted 7,000 trees for shade, conservation and study. Furaha Secondary school has gone a step further to start an environmental club which ensures long-term continuity of care for the tree plant project. Another noteworthy project was the Kujisaidia Women’s self help group in Kakamega East who have planted nearly 16,000 trees including 4,000 in Kakamega Forest to support the Kenya Forest Service.