Teenager on a mission to save Mother Nature

Meet Riya Lalji, a 16-year-old activist, who has been doing amazing things to protect mother earth.

Riya was born an only child in her family, a fact that made her to be a little laid back with a tendency of staying alone. This character helped her find herself and identify the things she liked, among them, saving planet earth.

“Being alone made me develop an interest in connecting with nature. With that, I learnt that we human beings and nature are very much co-dependent. I was heartbroken by the fact that people did not care enough about nature and I wanted to be the change,” she says.

In 2021 Riya did a lot of hiking; from Mount Kilimanjaro to Pugu Hills. She realised just how people neglected nature, and that’s how she came up with her new venture, Project Uhuru.

Project Uhuru is an initiative around sustainable development goal number 15, which is about ‘Life on land.’ The project aims to preserve the environment, to free nature from industrial captivity.

In partnership with EduKwanza, a free platform providing personalised roadmaps and assisting students to study abroad, Riya was able to get her first project going.

Riya had been in the process to apply for schools abroad when she first engaged with Safraz Kassam, the Managing Director of EduKwanza. It is through this that she was largely able to convince Kassam to partner with her to fulfill this dream.

Speaking with Success, Kassam said he was excited to partner with Riya in Project Uhuru when she shared the project idea with him.

“When one of our students, Riya, came up to me with the idea of Project Uhuru, a clean-up drive on Mount Uluguru, I was thrilled. After all home is a good place to start in keeping our planet clean, one step at a time,” he says.

Nevertheless, to Kassam and his team, Project Uhuru was more of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity and they felt that it would be essential to give back and give support to the students who use their platform.

“For me personally, and also for my team at EduKwanza, participating in activities and projects to save the planet has always excited us. Such activities also promote great team building, which is why EduKwanza has been actively participating in many such CSR activities,” Kassam adds.

Regardless, showing support to Riya was not enough. For a project as big as this one, Riya needed more support, including monetary funds.

“It had been challenging for me to get sponsors to fund my project,” shares Riya.

Many people did not believe in her nor her dream thinking that because the project was still new, she might not be able to do it, but Riya wanted to make a point that it was possible.

Kassam explains, “I wanted to help Riya make her dream a reality and I knew with the partners that EduKwanza has, we would be able to raise enough funds and gather willing participants to join us in this project.”

It was indeed a great partnership for Riya as she was able to use the partnership to convince people to start investing in Project Uhuru. Because of the partnership, they managed to secure more than 10 sponsors who finally turned the project idea into reality.

On 26th June, 2022, Riya and Kassam conducted the first activity for project Uhuru – a hike in the Uluguru mountains in Morogoro Region.

With Riya and Kassam were about 35 people who wanted to join the cause, hike and clean up the mountains. Riya was delighted by the amount of support that she received on just her first project.

“This project means so much to me. It has so much significance, especially given that it is my first time to organise a huge project like this. I am really happy to see a large group of people who have joined this cause.”

Riya hopes that the project gets to save nature and preserve a better planet for the future generations, a legacy she hopes will live on.

“We may neglect nature right now but we need it as much as it needs us. We don’t want our children to go to museums to see trees, we want them to go outside and enjoy the nature. I want our future generations to see and enjoy what we are able to see and enjoy today,” says Riya.

Supporting and engaging in projects like these is fundamental as it doesn’t only reflect on young girls like Riya, who are doing their best to preserve the environment for future sustainability, it also means that young people are here and are ready to become a part of change in their society.

Kassam adds that this project is a great example of what EduKwanza as a business means to them: Fulfilling students’ dreams and doing as much as they can to save our planet, one step at a time!

This dream may start with 16-year-old Riya but the cause ends with all of us. Saving the planet is not only a dream for Riya but it is a necessity for all humans.