by Irina Bokova
It was another ordinary day: sunny, polluted and mostly dusty. When she arrived at the entrance of her school, Katalina saw the students throwing plastic bottles, twisty bags and other rubbish into the school incinerator. As she walked to her classroom, she could smell the strong smoke as it filled up the whole compound. It was like seeing her own country die before her very eyes. No one seemed to mind. No one seemed to worry. No one seemed to pay any attention to the little things that were slowly destroying her grandma’s paradise.
Katalina felt as though she was trapped somewhere where she could not break free. She felt guilty that she was a part of this madness. The things her grandma had told her about were just stories, far away from the reality of the rubbish lying around and of the pollution that was surrounding her every day of her life. It did not matter how hard she tried to hang on to those memories. The truth of her life now was very real and would not disappear. She just had to live with it.
At school that day, Katalina could not focus because of the heat. The only escape was to the library and to the teachers’ staff room, where there was air conditioning throughout the day. As she finished her class work for the day, she was very tired from the heat. The school water supply was being rationed due to long periods of hot weather without rain. She could smell smoke and hear the sounds of the huge trucks that were transporting logs from the Ah Li property to the Chinese factory down at the other end of the road from the school.
As she walked home, sweating from the rising temperatures of the late afternoon, she kept thinking that this must really be the end of the road for Samoa. She could feel her skin getting sunburnt. There were hardly any trees for shade along the road. She could see the other people struggling in the heat of the sun.
Arriving home, Katalina came face to face with the most shocking sight. She realised her family were part of this whole story playing out in her mind. They were also contributing to the slow destruction of her grandma’s paradise.
All air conditioners in the house were on full blast. Her dad’s transport business provided customers with bus services with full air-conditioning and exhaust fumes filling the air. Old vehicle parts filled up one corner of their property, which was slowly being used as a rubbish heap. She remembered overhearing one time that they were planning to dump them in Fagaloa Bay, as they were not allowed to take them to the Tafaigata landfill. Katalina thought it was also expensive for her dad to take them there.
Katalina could only think of her grandma and how she would not want her paradise to get any worse than what Katalina was already experiencing. Katalina ran outside and told her father’s workers to stop all the madness. Her father was angry and asked Katalina why she made the workers stop working.
Katalina explained to him about her grandma’s stories. She tried to show him what his business was doing to their quality of life. She told him about the changes to the climate in Samoa and why it was getting terribly hot and how the smoke from the buses and trucks as well as the rubbish contributed to these changes.
But her father just laughed and told her that she was a very smart girl. He called her his ‘little Einstein’, affectionately, but then answered that he was earning their living from doing this work. Samoa, he explained, was only a small place on earth and it would not matter what they did because the bigger countries were doing much bigger things that had a bigger impact. He also told her that the earth was made for humans to use and destroy. It was their place to do what they wanted, and Samoa was meant to be hot.
After talking to him, Katalina became very depressed and went to her room. She loved her father, but she could not believe he really understood what she was feeling and how strongly she wished for a way to restore her island to her grandma’s paradise. She prayed for ideas and tried to think how to seek help. She was only a young girl and she had no idea how to reach out. She was also starting to doubt whether she was right or not and whether Samoa, like her dad said, was just meant to be used and destroyed like this.
Chapter 2
It was still boiling hot and horribly dusty the next afternoon. While walking home from school, Katalina saw cars passing her. Young children and adults were throwing rubbish out of the windows. Last week’s decorations to welcome the ‘All Blacks’ New Zealand rugby team to Samoa were littering the roadside. Fast food wrappers were in the ditches with stray dogs going through them. The barbecue stall opposite the school was using firewood, and black smoke filled the air.
That night, Katalina could not sleep, due to all the thoughts rushing around in her young mind. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She kept thinking about the unfairness of growing up without being able to witness the same life and beauty that her grandma did.
Startled by the loud roar of trucks down the Cross Island road, Katalina awoke early, into yet another cloud of dust. She sighed, got ready and walked to school. She was frustrated. She knew there had to be something she could do.
Arriving at school, Katalina patiently waited in her assigned seat for the teacher. She thought of all the positive and negative impacts that people were having on Samoa, especially on her family and her village of Siumu. In Katalina’s head, she was determined to save her island. She was just not sure how to go about it. She was not even sure how to bring her ideas up. They were learning about the world’s Sustainable Development Goals. The teacher explained how many concerns had been recognised by the leaders of all the countries at the United Nations and how everyone had committed to stopping climate change and building a better quality of life. Katalina raised her hand. She explained about her grandma’s stories and her own research. Her teacher listened and so did the class. ‘It is better to try and fail than fail to try,’ they said.
At break, Katalina stayed inside and started to research the things she was seeing around her. She came across some discussions on climate change and justice and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She also found a guide to children’s environmental rights, which are protected in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She understood that her concerns were shared by many, many others. She saw that promises had been made and that everyone had a role to help fulfil them.
Straight after school, Katalina raced home. The sun was beating down on her head, which felt like a pan on a wood-fired stove. But she had an idea. No matter how small it was, she was going to try it. At her house, Katalina started to list all the positive and negative impacts of the people of Samoa continuing with their current habits and lifestyles.
POSITIVE IMPACTS
•People continue to enjoy what they do
•More development in the country
•More money and resources to spend
•More fast-food, fossil fuels and fashion to use and throw away
NEGATIVE IMPACTS
•Cutting down trees will mean less clean air and the danger of landslides
•Burning and littering will keep polluting the air
•Sea level will rise and we will all have to leave Samoa
•More natural disasters in our country, fashion to use and throw away destroying our homes, and no supplies to rebuild and restore
Katalina’s list kept growing, especially on the negative side. She made up her mind she was going to put her plan into action. She knew she was not going to solve the problem overnight, but felt that if she could take a little step, then it might be worth something. She picked up her camera and slipped away from her house, a clear mission in her mind. When she returned several hours later, she was both sad and inspired. She could not wait to go to school the next day, to take the next step in her plan.
Chapter 3
The next morning, Katalina woke up with her mission on her mind. Even the cloud of dust flowing unforgivingly around her house, which had become a nearly normal part of her everyday life, did not stop her from getting ready quickly and rushing off to school.
At school, she knocked on the
door of her principal, Sister Masela. In order to get her message across, Katalina brought photographs of the sad situations that saw around her every day. The pictures told a thousand stories. They showed beaches covered by the waves, birds struggling in the oil and plastic floating on the tides, rubbish littering the roads, smoke pouring from factories, and children coughing in the dust. Sister Masela pledged her support for Katalina to set up the first ever ‘Green Team’ at St Mary’s School. This became Katalina’s project for the next few weeks. She was given the opportunity to speak at assembly. She explained what her new Green Team would be doing. With her teachers and friends from all school years, she set up a points system to encourage all students to learn more about the environment and to join and support her Green Team’s work.
The teachers were very interested. They agreed with the principal that the Green Team points system would become part of the students’ assessments, with a special award at the school’s prize-giving at the end of the year. Katalina worked hard every day to write up simple things that students could do to earn points (or lose points). They could turn off electronics and taps, stop others from littering, plant a tree, walk to school, collect bottles and other materials for recycling. Her list of positive steps grew longer and longer. She even convinced her father to make small ID cards for the Green Team from cardboard materials that were already lying around at home.
After several weeks, Katalina was overwhelmed with the work and especially the interest from students. She had over 60 students who were active members and helping her with Green Team tasks and activities. Points were collected initially from the work they did in school. But slowly, the students began to do the same tasks and activities outside of school, at their homes or anywhere else they could. They were becoming part of their new habits.
The Green Team meetings were held during break time. Katalina asked her parents and teachers for help researching different environmental issues. They discussed problems like rising temperatures and sea levels, rubbish burning, deforestation, destruction of the oceans and the coral reefs, and climate change. They also discussed solutions, finding many, many ways that they could help to improve things.
Katalina realised she was not alone any more. This project became a passion for all of them. The Green Team continued to attract more members. The children continued to spread out after school to do little things in their communities that could make a difference. Some of the girls were even starting small groups in their Sunday schools and villages. Other schools began to start Green Teams too. The Green Teams each adopted a small area, at first, and began to restore it with plants, trees and flowers. Their small areas started to grow, becoming greener and cleaning the air.
Katalina could still feel the dusty air and heat in the evenings, but it did not seem to bother her as much as before. She was starting to imagine again what it looked like in her grandma’s paradise. Her project to improve her surroundings had become a reality. Little by little, her Green Team was making progress. Together, they sought to bring their own island back to peace with nature – to its old self. Katalina understood that the world was changing and that Samoa had to keep up with technology, given its isolation from the rest of the world.
All the children strongly believed in their hearts that they did not have to abuse the natural surroundings and living things given by their island. Katalina thought that if she could make everyone believe this, she would have fulfilled her destiny. Word of their success spread fast. Children told their parents, their parents told their workers, their workers told their children, their children told their own schools, and so on. Katalina’s Green Team collected more members each day. Even the parents wanted to join! Katalina thought that they needed as many people as possible, so she set a new target to try and have as many adults as kids.
Chapter 4
Katalina could now see the paradise in her grandma’s stories slowly coming together. One by one, everything was changing from bad to good, good to great and great to brilliant.
Katalina’s Green Team often arrived early at school. They shared their successes and failures from their missions over the past week. Some had good news, others not so good. More plans were made for Green Team activities. The team introduced a compost heap at school. Different bins were labelled for sorting different kinds of rubbish. Plastic bottles were placed in one and glass in another for return to the local soda company for their recycling and reuse programmes. They all felt the most important thing was the message going out. One child felt that the main town of Apia was slowly becoming aware of Katalina’s Green Team. They were on a roll.
Towards the end of the year, Katalina received an unexpected surprise. It was a call to her school from the Cabinet Office, advising them that the Prime Minister of Samoa was expecting an invitation from the United Nations for a young Samoan person to make a presentation in New York on how children were implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Invitations had been sent out to the community for nominations and somehow, Katalina’s name and her work on her Green Team had come up.
She was asked if they might want to compete for the opportunity. This involved a programme in front of the government building, for all interested young people to register for a speech competition on children’s commitment to saving the environment. Katalina jumped at the opportunity. This was her chance to share her concerns. It was her opportunity to communicate her ideas and work, in particular about her Green Team and what they did, and how people could support it.
To her, it was the most important chance ever – to speak out, to let people hear her voice and importantly, spread her message on saving Samoa from the cruel impacts of climate change. She just had to help people to understand, to convince them to believe that everyone had a responsibility to help save Samoa, the Pacific Islands, and the planet Earth as well. She needed to become the voice of her island.
Katalina was very excited and could not wait for the important day to come. Many preparations were necessary. Katalina researched and studied hard so that she could learn more ways to save the environment. Her Green Team supported her with many ideas and examples for her presentation. They were determined to make sure Samoa became the paradise it once was and could once again be.
Chapter 5
The day of Katalina’s presentation arrived. Like anyone, she was starting to feel nervous. Perhaps no one would listen to her. She was scared that she might make a mistake and be humiliated, and that her Green Team’s work would lose credit and disappear. She was even more nervous when she arrived at the competition and saw that the Prime Minister himself was in the audience. Katalina was determined to give a good speech.
She stood up bravely. With courage, she told the story of her grandma’s paradise island and how, through her young eyes, she was witnessing the loss of its natural beauty and healthy surroundings for people. Katalina talked of air pollution, the effects of rubbish not being taken care of properly, the cutting down of trees, the destruction of mangroves, and the dangers of climate change.
She spoke of the simple, everyday things that might one day make their whole island unliveable, and what could be done to change these things. She proposed all the solutions that her Green Team had tried and more.
To her amazement, the applause was thunderous. Many children approached her afterwards, to join the effort. The radio and TV interviewed her. Everyone had heard about the Green Team. She realised that they were not just applauding her words, but really, it was her actions that had convinced everyone. At the end of the competition, Katalina was selected to represent Samoa in New York. Furthermore, the Prime Minister, who was amazed by Katalina’s passion, announced that Katalina had been selected as Samoa’s first Child Ambassador for the Environment.
Katalina’s selection as Child Ambassador was a turning point for her island. She became the face and voice for the young people, fighting for their right to a healthy environment. Many of the environmental organisations in Samoa like the Ministry of N
atural Resources and Environment, Le Siosiomaga Society, Conservation International and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme asked for interviews. Katalina raced around, working hard to keep up with her Green Team’s efforts, while also supporting their programmes.
In her amazing journey, Katalina had opened the minds of many people. People were more aware of their responsibilities to the environment. Everyone helped clean up the island. They banned the burning of rubbish and deforestation. Everyone thanked Katalina for her work, which had warned them of what they were doing to the country. It was not an easy task. Change was not simple and did not happen overnight. Children still walked in the dust and in the heat. But the children’s voices were being heard and they were asking for something better. Many hands make light work, and islanders knew that if people come together to do simple things, it does make a change. It could save her country, Samoa, and young children like her could still make a difference. She could still experience her grandma’s paradise.
Welcome to Uruguay!
The author of this story is Lautaro Real. He lives in Uruguay.
Lautaro’s whole family – his parents and his little brother Lorenzo – helped with ideas for his story. At first he thought he wouldn’t be able to write a story, but he is pleased with the result. He is a shy boy, except when he plays football – he loves the game and loves working in a team when he plays.
Every day Lautaro tries to help take care of the planet. He hopes one day to study engineering or architecture or to become a writer – playing football and saving the world at the same time, of course!
Chapter 1
Once there was a boy called Lautaro who lived with many friends in a small town surrounded by rivers, low wetland forests and the sea. He grew up happy in this magical place, searching every corner for its adventures.