Tuesday 26 January 2016

Green light at the end of the tunnel...

Happy New Year People!
It is my wish and hope that the year has started out well for everyone...
It is a difficult task to write at times, especially if you are a fan of Biko Zulu's posts and you feel like your writing skills may be worse than his new born son. Anyway that aside, I have been really wanting to post soon, but I just did not have any idea of what exactly to write about, or if it would be captivating, if people would read... so I decided to read through other blogs and most that I follow have been focusing on the New Year, resolutions and how 2015 was. I think its good to have a recap of last year, because it is what will set motion for 2016. But as for me I will first start with the journey... how it all begun and why I will focus on 2015.
Some of you may not know that it is in 2012 when I created TLC4Environment as just a Facebook group, with a few of my classmates and friends as members. How I came up with that name I don't know, my mum just said it was a mouthful. Others shorten it to TLC but anyway I stuck to it because it is what I started with and it is exactly what I want it to mean, so yes... TLC4Environment it is!
Personally, 2015 is the year I felt most inspired to do what I do. In 2015, I got the courage to be more pro-active and into making more profound impacts with this initiative. I begun the year with a trip to Switzerland for a short course on sustainable practices and tools, thanks to the YES* course, which I call the eye-opener for realizing my potential. I mean, there are a lot of resources right in front of us that we do not utilize, resources that can make us achieve what we fear venturing into. Anyway, Switzerland was a splendid expedition, came back with multiple stories and... chocolates.... and most importantly I returned with skills and the zeal to accomplish more in environmental conservation. The good thing about these forums, conferences, workshops, courses and what have you, is that you meet people with the same vision as you and learn from them too. Its called networking. I now had friends not only from within but from far and wide who felt the dire need to promote environmental awareness, and we could chat for hours about this. Opportunities started surfacing and all of a sudden I felt I had an army of supporters rallying behind me, encouraging and appreciating my little efforts. 
So back to TLC4Environment, thinking of what next and how I could foster environmental awareness and what projects I could roll out, I got busy with planning, organizing and facilitating grass-root campaigns and especially targeted environmental days' events. After these events I tried my very best to document each and every one, highlighting the significance and why it is beneficial. And this is how my 2015 was, tree planting activities, river clean-up, environmental talks, forums and marches...
I am now to my cousin Tunu, an environmental activist, this she coined when another cousin asked what I do for a living. Well I like the sound of that, I am an activist by choice, which I had not realized and I am delighted to be one. I remember on the First Sunday of this year when the senior pastor at my church said that animal rights should not exceed human rights, I was not amused, actually I felt like taking over that sermon and using it as a means to reach out to people that we cannot rely on human rights as we obliterate everything else that is around us. Anyway that is a story for another day...
This post as I said earlier is to encourage you, to be the best you can be with the resources at your feet... So my wish is that I continue to influence and inspire others in this journey, fighting for what we stand on... just as I did in 2015. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, for me its a green light... a clean go ahead...