On Saturday, schools under the Kampala Right to Play program converged at Kyambogo Primary School grounds to showcase their different items during the Tusobola environmental expo to create awareness on the need to save the environment from degradation.
The expo themed Reuse, Reduce and Recycle attracted nine schools with pupils showcasing skills in Art and design, farming, modelling, Music Dance and Drama among other things at the fun packed event.
The schools included, Shimoni Demonstration P/S, St Paul Banda P/s, Nobles P/S, Naguru Katale P/S, St Jude Naguru P/S, Kyambogo P/S, East Kololo P/S, Naguru Katale P/S, Mbuya Church of Uganda P/s and Paul’s Children P/S.
The head teacher Kyambogo P/S Mr. Waiswa Kibedi Joshua said the expo isn’t only a space for children to showcase their talents but also to pass on knowledge to them to sensitise their communities about the need to save the environment.
“The child is the owner of the environment, when you involve him, you are actually tapping the real person who uses and who benefits directly and who is again affected directly as a child. So we’ve brought this expo to use the children as a vehicle to reach the communities, to tell them the good things of recycling and reusing what we have in the environment” he said.
Mr Kibedi noted that such environmental expos are crucial in spreading the message of conservation and recycling across homesteads.
“If we don’t recycle, then we shall be promoting pollution, remember what just happened to the downtown business community where the channel blocked, yes, there is construction that is going on, but again, the materials that we use, the plastic bottles, polyethylene bags, if we don’t recycle them and reuse them, then we shall be hitting a dead end” he said.
Additionally, Mr Kibedi noted that the children will act as a vessel of information in their communities as they share knowledge about conserving the environment.
“They are going back to the different areas, some are coming from central, others are coming from far end of the authority and so on, so the more numbers, the more the message is disseminated. These children can implement certain things in their homes and they are definitely change agents to the communities where they are coming from” he said.
Aleku Timothy Rema from Police Children’s school said he used the knowledge gained during the expo to recycle plastic bottles and polythene bags
“I have learnt how to make some clothes from polythene, straws and others I’ve learnt how to recycle them into clothes, by doing so we are reducing on the pollution in the environment which affects soil fertility” he said.
He added, “Once we stop throwing bottles and polythene bags everywhere, we shall grow more crops and have a good environment without diseases
Äleku who undertakes urban farming urged fellow pupils to recycle and teach others to do the same in order to save the environment.
“Like, me, I’m doing urban farming, it’s easy to manage, you get a small piece of land, where you can dig” he said.
The Right To Play Project coordinator, implementing Tusobola project in Kampala Ms Safina Namusoke revealed that the Tusobola environmental expo seeks to raise awareness on the need for environmental protection.
“They have come up with different items to show the community, parents that the items we just throw away can be reused, repurposed, and they’ve been here telling the stories behind the items they’ve been making, they have presented” she noted.
Ms Namusoke said children were given an opportunity to think of the projects or items, which they can come up using the theme reuse, reduce, and recycle in order to promote the environmental conservation message wider.
“Most of the items presented were about plastic recycling, because when you look at the surrounding environment, we have a challenge of plastics. They have also used polythene bags which is also a challenge in our settlements where we are coming from” she said.
She added, “Having one of the exhibition donors Stiftung Drittes Millennium who is committed to environmental protection and sustainability, helped us engage in different activities and helped widen the young minds to innovation”.
Namusoke noted that the exhibition started with children collecting the materials from their communities while informing the community that the litter, plastic bottles, and polythene bags they throw in the trenches can be reused for other purposes.
Below are some of the activities that Took Place on Saturday
