As Uganda joins the rest of the world today, to mark the 2019 World Environment Day, under the theme ‘Beat Air Pollution’ we feature Nakabuye Hilda, one of the youths championing climate change in Uganda through ‘Fridays For Future’. ‘Fridays For Future’ is a global movement demanding for climate change action in Europe, USA, Australia and spread to parts of Africa like South Africa and Uganda. Fridays For Future Uganda is comprised of 30 members with children as young as 7 who organize strikes every Friday on the streets of Kampala.
Holding placards with slogans like ‘Plastic Kills’, ‘Climate Emergency Now’, ‘We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. We now know the need for climate action. The time is now. Rise up Uganda’, among others, they demand for an emergency response to the spiraling climate change crisis in Uganda that is characterized by sporadic low rainfall levels, high temperatures, among others.
Nakabuye Hilda Flavia is a Green Girls Ambassador at Green Campaign Africa, an organization that seeks to unite African people in climate action to save, protect, conserve and interact sustainably with Africa’s natural resources.
The 22-year-old who studied Climate Change and Agribusiness at Young African Leaders Initiative Network and current Procurement and Supply Chains Management student of Kampala International University is one of the main organizers of Fridays For Future.
Hilda says she was inspired by Greta Thunberg to join Fridays For Future after landing upon her tweet while carelessly scrolling through Twitter. The 16-year-old Swedish student sparked an international youth movement after she staged a “School Strike for Climate” last year, gaining international recognition.
Since then school students around the world have gone on strike to demand action on climate change.
After reading her story, Hilda decided to commit herself to missing classes on Fridays to strike for climate change action. She has since participated in a number of strikes, taken an active role in the sensitization of people about climate change, carried out tree planting activities in different parts of Uganda, among others.
“You may fear standing on streets because people are looking at you, but I am not because its our role. I am even scared of what will happen to earth if I don’t stand up to demand climate action now.’ She says.
Hilda and her team have registered a number of achievements with the most notable, holding a fruitful meeting with the Speaker of Parliament Hon. Rebecca Kadaga in which they asked her to enforce environmental laws like the plastic bag ban and a commitment to reforestation in Uganda. she pledged her full support and promised to address the matter.
To celebrate World Environment Day today, Fridays For Future Uganda, will be taking part in a dialogue on air pollution in children and youth at Makerere University, aimed at finding solutions to the climate crisis in Uganda.
Leah Namugerwa, the 14-year-old climate change activist who recently called upon United Nations Environment to intervene on the plastic bag implementation in Uganda, will give a key note address at the event that will start at 2:00pm and will be followed by a strike.
Hilda has appealed to the general public to join the movement and attend the event in large numbers.
