The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) officials and personnel from Kajiado Senator Kanar Seki’s office planted at least 200 tree seedlings of different varieties, including fruit trees, in Kajiado Children’s Home and Kajiado AIC Child Care Centre and Dispensary on Monday. NSSF Nairobi Regional Manager Alice Kaburi said that the exercise would assist the county during the drought and enable them to restore the degraded land. She added that they would monitor the progress of the trees as the school pledged to take good care of them. ‘We have planted fruit trees and other varieties of trees, and the children have promised that each of them will adopt a tree, water them, and next year we will come back to monitor their progress and plant more trees,’ said Kaburi. Nelson Tanui from the NSSF said they participated in the exercise to fulfil the president’s directives about planting trees. ‘Today we are proud to have associated ourselves with Kajiado Children’s Home. We have partnered with the children’s home so that every year it will be our tradition to plant trees here. They have promised us that they are going to take care of the trees until they mature,’ revealed Tanui. Kajiado Children’s Home Administrator Ruth Mbugua thanked the President and NSSF for donating the seedlings and assured the donors of their commitment to ensuring the trees have reached maturity. Daniel Saitaga, a Director from the Kajiado Senators Office, urged families within Kajiado to also participate in tree planting, as trees would be useful during rainy seasons and also affect climate change in a positive way. ‘We have witnessed a prolonged drought, and that is why we have decided to follow the president’s directive to plant trees. I would also urge every member of each household, from the parents to the children, to plant trees in their homestead,’ said Saitaga. Another director from the senator’s office, Mr. Francis Parsimei, said, ‘When we plant trees, we contribute so much to livestock keeping. Trees help reduce evapotranspiration and also help in water conservation in our rivers. Fruit trees will also generate food during drought and non-drought seasons.’ The Clinical Officer in charge of AIC Child Care and Dispensary, Alfred Odupoi, revealed that the centre is planning to venture into a variety of projects to generate food, and fruit trees are one of them. ‘We are going to make sure these trees are able to survive, especially the fruit trees. We also believe that food is medicine, and the fruit trees will generate food for us,’ said Odupoi. The tree planting exercise took place in different parts of the county.

Source: Kenya News Agency