No plastic bags no problem: School girl in Meru astonishes as she improvises dried banana leaves into a shopping bag

By Derrick Oluoch | 7yrs ago | 2 min read

**Hilda with her improvised shopping bag**

Hilda is a form three student at Materi Girls in Tharaka Nithi With the ban on plastics on as from Monday, her photo carrying an eco-friendly bag made of banana leaves has gone viral She had spent the day busy and when time for school came, she did not have a bag and she had a reporting deadline to beat

Photo of a school girl carrying her shopping to school on an improvised bag made from dry banana leaves has caused excitement online. Hilda Gaceri, a form three student at Materi Girls in Tharaka Nithi County, borrowed from their tradition of carrying farm produce in improvised banana-leaves bags.

With the ban on plastic bags taking effect as from Monday; she extended her culture’s creativity and carried her shopping in a similar environment friendly bag made of dried banana leaves.

Talking to journalists who caught up with her, she said that she had spent the day busy and she had planned to go to school by 3 p.m. She did not have a bag and buying one would have cost her Sh 200 that is when she decided to go for the dry banana leaves and made a bag.

**She carried her bag to the supermarket to do her school shopping**

With her makeshift bag, she ran to a supermarket in Nkubu town, bought a few items and left for school in a rush to beat the 5 p.m. reporting time deadline at her school.

**With** **polythene** **bags banned, Hilda had her bag to carry her shopping**

She did not know who took her photos and when.

Kenyans online are making calls on National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to make her an ambassador for the plastic bags ban. She is receiving praises from netizens and Kenyans are promising to help her out with some of her needs.