Trees have memory that offers us lessons

Karura Forest in Kiambu county. [File, Standard]

One of the joys of playing golf is admiring nature’s beauty espoused by trees, flowers and grass. A few sandy bunkers and water features add to the beauty of the game.

Humbly, on a recent outing at Vetlab Golf Course in Upper Kabete, I noticed some trees are shedding their leaves. That happens in fall or autumn in temperate regions as trees and other vegetation prepare for winter.

Without a change in seasons, there are few deciduous trees in the tropics. The trees shedding leaves in Kenya are exotic - imported by mzungu from South Africa, Britain, Australia and other regions.

Curiously, they did not forget their behaviour even after being transplanted into a different climatic region. There are two major lessons for us from this.

One is that as we think of reversing climatic change, we must plant appropriate trees, more at home with our climate. Does this explain why we plant more trees but no commensurate increase in rain?

Maybe these trees feel alien and don’t contribute to nature as expected. Remember how you went through loops as newly employed? 

Trees would take a long time to get used to new weather and make useful contributions. Two, do we behave like trees when we go abroad?

We keep our traditions, from language to churches and foods. Let’s be fair, even settlers who came to Kenya behaved the same way, keeping their traditions and way of life.

Even the US, called a melting pot, has its “trees” in the form of ethnically homogeneous residences for Chinese, African–Americans, Vietnamese, Italians, Kenyans and other groupings. You find lots of Kenyans in Massachusetts, Washington and Georgia. Confirm that on your next visit to majuu (abroad).

Like trees, changing is hard. Look at our politics, your workplace, your homes and even ourselves. Even when change is positive we resist it.

But as humans, we can do better than trees, changing and taking advantage of our environment. 

That is what other nationalities have done. Change is better when one has an anchor, your culture.

How do Indians keep their mother tongue, wear a sari and still go to Harvard and Silicon Valley?

How did Britons conquer the world with their language and cultures intact?

How has China become a world power and remained Chinese? Please take a walk through a golf course, and learn from nature. You could sweet talk me for sponsorship.