Njuguna Gathungu

I have always loved nature, what kid doesn’t? I was blessed and fortunate enough to grow up in a house that had a mulberry tree in the yard. I loved it, being very into fruit, though my mom probably had mixed feelings. It saved her some grocery trips sometimes, but she hated when we tracked berry juice around the house from running outside. I was into tree hugging, gardening, you name it. I was attempting to plant more trees, especially a mango one. I planted a seed one day and came back and found a humongous root (of the mulberry tree) . I was terrified and excited at the same time, thus the ambition began. Although right when I was acquainted with it, one day my joy was crushed when I came outside to see a company cutting down my favorite tree. The businesses behind my house asked for it to be cut down due to the view. I was so hurt they would cut down a living thing for something so irrelevant, most of those businesses closed down now (that’s what they get). I remember feeling the tree’s pain as they cut it down limb by limb, each branch falling like a heavy earthquake; tears of a tree. Not to mention it was extremely dusty and difficult to breathe during that time. I didn’t realize how blessed I was to have that tree until it was gone. My family is from Nairobi, Kenya, Africa where the grass is literally greener and you can pick healthy, most likely organic, fruit freely, in its exotic non American form. The purity of the land is great for one’s overall health, not to mention all the animals that used it as shelter too. That was one of the first times I realized, the city, big business, or whoever, stripped a pure connection away I had to plants. Thankfully we have many more seeds to plant. Let’s receive land!