As a Building Tomorrow Fellow, Herbert Murungi couldn’t help but notice the role nature plays in the life of a rural Ugandan community. In conversation with parents and students, Herbert began to clearly understand the need for those he served to accept their roles as stewards of the environment in which they live.

During his Fellowship, Herbert kept himself quite busy. In addition to enrolling out-of-school children such as Stephen—a 10-year old Primary One student who quickly ascended to the top of his class—he also established the Rural Environmental Sustainability Initiative—RESI. As a last-mile distributor of cooking biogas technology, RESI aims to increase access to clean energy in rural communities long dependent upon charcoal and kerosene. Doing so not only helps slow climate change, but also ensures the women and girls so often tasked with cooking are breathing cleaner air.

And this Earth Day, RESI is gearing up for what promises to be their biggest splash yet—the release of what is believed to be the first locally-authored children’s book about climate change and environmental protection, James the Steward. On Saturday, 25 April at 8a EST/3p East Africa Time, climate activists from Africa, Europe and the USA will join the RESI team on a YouTube LiveStream to share portions of the book and ‘inspire action through storytelling.’  James the Steward will be available in bookstores throughout Uganda (once the COVID-19 lockdown is lifted!) and online at Amazon, both as an e-book and in paperback.

This Earth Day, we’re proud of Herbert and the entire team at RESI for the work they continue to do to protect our planet!