Lehman Group Travels to Kenya June 1 to Aid in Reforestation

(l.-r.): Ravi Rampersaud, Wanda Majette, Jessica Ortiz, Grace Barry-Pemberton, Jaci Maurer, Johanna Rojas, Olga Spearman, Amanda Dubois, Nicole Burnor, Holly Saltzman, and Fowler (Tony) Murrell.

A group of Lehman L.I.F.E. (Leaders Involved for Everyone) students, along with faculty and staff from the College's Child Care Center, will travel to Nairobi, Kenya from June 1-12 to aid in reforestation and other community service projects near the capital.

The Lehman group will work in conjunction with the Greenbelt Movement on projects that help sustain Kenya's natural environment, such as planting trees to ward off soil erosion. They also will help build a local school and take part in community-based projects with local children, including a visit to an animal orphanage. The group will attend workshops on the history and culture of the communities of Kenya, board with local families, and travel on safari to the northern extension of the Serengeti Plains (Tanzania).

This is the first trip to Africa for members of Lehman L.I.F.E., who took part in campus bake sales and other kinds of individual and group fundraising to raise the money needed. The trip was organized through Lehman's Office of Community Service, Service Learning, and New Student Programs.

The Greenbelt Movement Kenya is a non-profit grassroots non-governmental organization based in Kenya that advocates for human rights and seeks to empower communities worldwide to protect the environment and promote good governance and cultures of peace. One of the most prominent women's civil society organizations based in Kenya, the movement has helped to plant more than forty million trees across Africa.