Here are some of the actions people took during the International Day of Climate Action on October 24th 2009. Africa made its voices heard in wonderfully creative ways! Did you know that there were 5248 events in 181 countries last year, and you can watch the compilation video from that day for a reminder of just how beautiful it was.
Climbers hang 350 banners on the side of Table Mountain, Cape Town
In South Africa, children and parents gathered on Noordhoek beach near Cape Town to make a human 350 chain, and intrepid climbers scaled Table Mountain to spell out 350 on top & hang banners down the side. In East London, Marius organised an open-air music concert, while Sandile and his Green Network marched on their provincial government in KwaZulu Natal.
The Well Worn Theatre Company in Johannesburg organised a lively, entertaining theatrical event to raise awareness, and Fiona and her faith group started a prayer vigil leading up to and including Oct 24th. In Pretoria, Yolande worked with children in the townships of Mamelodi and Mabopane to make functional art pieces from waste material.
Mangaliso from Swaziland facilitated scouts from all parts of the country who gathered together to learn about climate change and to pass the message on to their own families and communities.
In Zimbabwe, George is organised a seminar on rural electrification with non-carbon emitting energy systems, while in Zambia, Gershom is held a rally in his village with traditional leaders and government to sensitize the community to the importance of sustainably managing forests as a 350 strategy.
Also in Zambia, Lucky gathered 50 children all under 12 years of age to broadcast personal messages on climate change on national radio . They attempted to translate the messages into the 7 major local languages – 50 kids x 7 languages = 350!
Ugandan primary school children form a human 350 to spread the word about climate change
In Malawi, Ezilon and Timeyo organised actions in Zomba, while Chifundo organised a march in the town of Salima. Simon from Uganda organised a Climate Change Action Roadshow where primary school children presented testimonies on the impact of Climate Change on their communities using plays, poems and drama.
In Mwamza, Tanzania, Castory and his group carried out activities on the 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th of October, while on Zanzibar Island, two groups took action within their communities – one is cleaned up pollution and the other is planted mangrove trees in degraded sea shore areas.
Mohamud in the Sudan worked with a USA-Sudanese youth partnership looking at energy efficient living systems, while in Egypt, Mohamed organised an awareness event about global warming and solar energy in Cairo, and Habi is arranging a youth conference to look at the gender dimensions of climate change and the need for a new fair global convention.
Massive crowds gather in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a 350 March and rally.
In Ethiopia, Tirusew is organised an awareness event in Addis Ababa, while two sisters – Liyu and Lily – organised a huge rally with various youth clubs and climate activists.
In Nigeria, Okezie of Abakaliki is planting 3,000 trees with 3,000 people! And Kelechukwu organised a public lecture with key government officials and road transport workers. Umeh and friends are taught youth about climate change in Anambra, Aliyu is arranged a seminar to educate students and the public about the link between Islam teachings and climate change, Joseph organised a rally around the two campuses of the Benue State University in Makurdi, Tunde organised a Go Green film festival for secondary school students in the city of Ibadan and Idowu organised a climate action festival in Akure.
In addition, the Ogoni Solidarity Forum gathered 2,000 community representatives, youth and civil society people to carry banners and placards against the continuous gas flaring in Niger Basin area.
In Cameroon, Akonwi of Bameda City organised an event with rural women to discuss the consequences of bush fires before farming, while Ekinde organised a tree-planting and awareness event in Baseng village.
In Liberia, Rosemary organised an awareness raising event in Monrovia. And in Ghana, Boniface of Kumasi organised a 350 picnic for youth between the ages of 13 & 16, who will wear 350 branded t-shirts and learn about the importance of the 350 target, while Kenneth of Tema organised a youth march to collect signatures on a petition to present to government. In Tamale in Northern Ghana, Abdul-mumin led an advocacy workshop for youth to become climate ambassadors in their communities, whereas David organised a tree planting event in Accra.
DRC kids getting their point across
In the DRC, Patrick in Kinshasa organised action in the Congo Basin, while Puati organised an event to focus on the value of natural plant life. Kalala of the Uvira area organised an event with school children to raise awareness about the damaging effects of slash-and-burn agriculture and the need to protect their forests, and they asked the youth to spread this information to their families and communities.
In Burundi, Landry organised a whole week of events leading up to October 24th in Bujumbura including getting the attention of radio and TV programmes, while in Rwanda, another Landry organised a 2-mile march in Kigali towards the national parliament building.
350 Maasai children took part in a video project, describing how drought is affecting their livelihoods in rural western Kenya.
In Nairobi, Kenya, Malcolm organised an awards event for people making costumes and art objects from recycled and organic materials, while Peterson and his group planted indigenous trees, and Patricia organised a youth climate action festival
Ambrose in the village of Kadhiambo organised a mass gathering and march against the pollution of Lake Victoria while Erimoi of Kapenguria in Northern Kenya organised a pastoralist climate change sensitization festival.
In the Kisii area, Douglas organised a public gathering to help older persons understand how climate change is affecting, and will affect, them, and then the elders and youth together planted indigenous trees to symbolise the need for an inter-generational effort to mitigate climate change
And 350 Maasai children in the wild Maasai Mara area jumped up to tell the world that climate change is already underfoot!