3 Young African climate activists you should know
By Imani Dlamini
Young people from across the world are mobilizing to demand greater action towards climate change such as Swedish teen activist, Greta Thunberg. Thunberg has inspired hundreds and thousands of young people from across the world through her Climate Strike Movement. Climate Strikes are when school-kids walk out of school – more than 1 million people globally have participated in these strikes.
In Africa young people also demanding more from their leaders inspired by the devastating effects of climate change in their communities such as droughts that affect food security in countries such as Uganda.
So here are some of the young people taking charge in alleviating global warming.
Yola Mgogwana (South Africa)
At just 11 years old, Yola Mgogwana has already addressed in March 2019 thousands of other young people about climate change. She volunteers with the Earthchild Project, a non-profit organization that helps school integrate environmental education into their curriculum.
“Our mission is to monitor our school’s food, water and electricity usage, and encourage other learners to reduce their consumption.”, she told the Guardian newspaper back in June 2019.
She firmly believes that “Every school should make environmental education part of their curriculum. Climate change is a foreign topic to my family – without this club I would be in the dark.”
Leah Namugerwa (Uganda)
Leah Namugerwa is a member of Friday for Future Uganda, the movement founded Swedish teen Activist, Greta Thunberg, where school children strike every Friday for climate justice. At just the age of 14, Namugerwa has already witnessed the devastating impact that climate change has had in her community due to droughts and landslides that lead to famine. The young activist is currently leading a petition to demand the Ugandan government to enact a ban on plastic bags.
“Most people do not care what they do to the environment. I noticed adults were not willing to offer leadership and I chose to volunteer myself. Environmental injustice is injustice to me.”
Doyinsola Ogunye (Nigeria)
Doyinsola Ogunye from Nigeria founded an organization called Kids’ Beach Garden where children can enjoy the coastline whilst learning about the environment. She also runs a program where she and 20 or so kids collect rubbish along the beach in the coastal city of Lago.
The group collects all sorts of waste on their weekly clean-ups: polystyrene, ceramic, flip-flops – which can all amount to 50 large bags of litter.
“Sometimes it gets very overwhelming,” Ms Ogunye told the BBC.
But she is not deterred. “I always have to look at it from a positive light. Every morning when I wake up, I have my bath. Every morning when I wake up, I try to clean the beach. It’s basically a bath for the beach.”
Africa Global News Publication
