The Fierce Green Awakening

When you hear the term "Gap year" you probably think about a cool hipster vacation with friends backpacking round Europe on a road to self discovery.

Growing up in an African home, that was hardly the case for me.

While my friends were off to start the new phase of their lives in universities both at home and abroad, I felt like I was a boulder gathering moss cause of how stagnant my life was.

What I had planned to be this revolutionary moment in my life turned into an opportunity for my mum to to convert me from a once promising student to a dish washing - housekeeping hybrid.

To prevent this hybridization I became my mother's personal assistant. Unknown to me, this was the step that would bring me closer to my latent passion.

It would be helpful to mention that my mom is a retired banker turned climate change advocate. She worked as a "Green Ambassador" for the Carbon Credit Network in Lagos, Nigeria and serving as her personal assistant provided me with opportunities to attend climate change seminars , summits, workshops etc

It was like a whole new world that I never knew existed.

I first began to think to myself "why am I just finding about about this?" and the second question which left me even more perplexed was"why didn't more individuals, businesses and organisations know about this?"

As I continued to attend these various conferences and workshops, my mind filled with questions and the desire to innovate solutions to the already present problems.

I finally felt it.

Everyday as I got up to go to work as my mother's personal assistant , despite the mediocrity of my job , I felt the fire in my belly.

I was on to something!

As my passion grew, so did my responsibilities.

I began to volunteer and eventually intern at the Carbon Credit Network .

I was able to assist in giving educational talks about environmental awareness to people at the grass root level i.e the traders, market women etc.

I marketed bio fuel made from raw waste materials such as saw dust, cassava peels, water hyacinths and so on ,as a replacement for kerosene, wood and coal.

I was able to work on so many challenging projects and make amazing memories.

The highlight of my gap year was when I got the opportunity to present at the exhibition during the 8th Annual Climate Change Summit in Lagos, Nigeria.

In that moment I knew beyond doubt what I wanted to study and how I wanted to impact the world.

The fierce green awakening had begun.

#closet