Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Earth is one of the most magnificent creations that mankind has ever been able to be apart of and itâ€™s our responsibility to respect and protect it. I remember when I was a little girl in Guinea Conakry laying down on the beach and trying to win a one sided battle against the sun. To see how long my eyes could stay open. The sweet salty air that I was accustomed to mended my loses. My parents and older siblings were packing up our things, we were getting ready to travel to a different village to find work that could feed my family and I for at least a month. It only took one large suitcase to fit everything we ever had. I owned one orange hairbrush that had its handle missing, three pants, four shirts, black flip flops that never left my feet. And a yellow dress that seemed to go on forever.
In spite of the fact that I didnâ€™t grow up with a lot. I adored all the things I did have. I named everything, I took care of my belongings, made sure that they remained in good condition. Everything was a blessing. I knew when the time came I would either have to pass down my clothes that was ill fitting to my little sister or trade it with the villagers. Throwing things away was unheard of. Some would even say barbaric. We recycled all our materials, we believed nothing should ever be abandoned, not even a wooden spoon. I also understood from a young age that materialism wasnâ€™t going to bring me happiness. If I wanted to find tranquility I would need to honor the land that gave life to plants, which then nourished our bodies.
A few years later my family and I had to flee to the United States for protection. There was a civil war taking place on the only soils that I ever knew and loved. I noticed a lot of quirky things about Americans quite quickly. For instance how they loved to greet and smile at any chance they got. Another thing that wasnâ€™t so quirky that I immediately noticed living in America was the immense size and abundance of things laying around at schools, friends house and at stores. Most of the objects that people had wasnâ€™t needed and those who could benefit from the objects werenâ€™t given any. Which created an issue. One neighbor had all the possessions, everything he had went to waste. The other neighbor had nothing, the few things he did have was also waste. None of the objects were valuable. Once they were used up it couldnâ€™t be used again, or it wasnâ€™t fashionable enough to be used again. Which then creates more waste that harms our planet. Iâ€™m not the type of person to disregard an issue.
On May 3rd, 2017, I wrote a letter to myself and had my family and friends sign. I wrote that I would pledge my whole summer before my first year of college to make the world a better place. And if I was successful honoring my pledge, they would give up plastic water bottles for two months. I started my pledge on my last day of high school. May 22nd, 2017.
I was on a search to find a volunteer group that main focus was keeping the environment clean. Instead of traveling somewhere to make an impact, all I had to do was look around my own community to find work. I knew that educating people at a young age, would be very beneficial. I knocked on doors and asked parents permission if they would allow their kids to be apart of making the world a better place. It was hard for parents to say no to that. The next morning we met at the park and started our mission and it was a complete success. I went to a different apartment and asked the parents the same questions. They all said yes and we went to work. I continued my pledge for the whole summer, completing more than three-hundred hours of volunteer work.
I of course plan on starting a new pledge in college.