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KIJABE, Kenya - Just an hour’s drive north of Nairobi—into the highlands, where the air is cool and the heavy mists often sit heavy in the back of the throat—you’ll find several ‘lookout posts’ catering to tourists who have never before set their eyes on Kenya’s Great Rift Valley.
Jeff Davis calls this place home. He was born in the town of Kijabe and raised at the hundred-year-old Rift Valley Academy— a nearby boarding school for missionary kids. Davis studied in the U.S. for several years, but now he’s back teaching high-school science—and a deeper respect for God’s creation.
“I love this area,” he says. “It’s beautiful, having the forest around you—hiking…bird watching.” In the past ten years, half the local forests have been chopped down for firewood and charcoal.
Not too many years ago leopards prowled the local forests, while giraffe and zebra dotted the savannah below. But not anymore.
“Down in the valley you see the land has been basically taken over for farming,” says Davis. In the past ten years, half the local forests have been chopped down for firewood and charcoal. “It’s pretty severe,” he says.
Davis poses in his class-
room with a giraffe skull
The classroom where Davis teaches could be a North American transplant—except for the wildlife displayed about the room. On one wall a stuffed viper slithers atop a display of giraffe bones. To the right hang the twin antlers of a mini antelope.
Davis teaches his students that Christians have a unique roll as environmentalists-- that if we love the Creator, it follows that we should love His creation.
“Another thing I’d like to get involved in is getting the local people to realize that if you’re a Christian…you have a God-given responsibility to take care of the natural world,” says Davis.
In November he attended a half-day seminar on environmental stewardship organized by the school. Local leaders were taught, among other things, the benefits of tree planting and sustainable farming techniques.
“Already we can see the impact as local pastors and elders in the church realize that our belief in God and the Bible should be evident in EVERY area of our life,” wrote Davis in a recent email.
He writes that attendees are learning practical ways to better care for Kijabe, this ‘place of the wind.’ They are learning to cook"...Our belief in God and the Bible should be evident in EVERY area of our life," writes Davis. more efficiently and the benefits of growing firewood and timber on their own land.
“People here have never really considered planting trees to replace ones being cut down,” he says.
“I think it will take a while for this to have an effect, but we can definitely see people catching on to this idea and putting it into action.”¤ |
