Hello readers,
Welcome to #Women4theClimate on CleanbuildVoices!
It’s another great Wednesday where you get to meet one of the African women speaking up about climate change and the environment.
We’re bringing Doyinsola Ogunye into the limelight today, the founder of the Mental and Environmental Initiative for Children ( MEDIC). Doyinsola and her crew run the MEDIC, a children’s club where they teach youngsters about environmental stewardship from a young age.
Doyinsola is a native of Ondo State, Nigeria, and was born on October 28, 1986. She attended the famous University of Lagos for her schooling. She subsequently went on to Nigerian Law School, where she was admitted to the bar.
Her fascination with nature dates back to her childhood when she used to enjoy playing outside. Having developed a passion for the environment coupled with her legal profession as a trained lawyer, she saw the need to teach the next generation about preserving the environment and its valuable species, the sea turtle.
Her organization believes that young people’s involvement is critical, and they are set to instill the traits of global cleanliness, global safety, and patriotism in every child, as well as to reach every household, school, and religious institution through the children.
With a renewed purpose to protect the environment, particularly the beach, Doyinsola organizes young volunteers to clean up Lagos, Nigeria’s coastal city. Understanding that marine pollution poses great harm to the marine ecosystem (including aquatic lives such as sea turtles), she and her volunteer group collect over 50 huge sacks of litter every week.
It’s a daunting task, but the 30-year-old has stepped up to the plate to fight pollution’s devastation. She not only cleans the public beach but also helps endangered sea turtles by planting trees and rescuing them.
She and her volunteer group collect over 50 huge sacks of litter every week. It’s a daunting task, but the 30-year-old has stepped up to the plate to fight pollution’s devastation. She not only cleans the public beach, but she also helps endangered sea turtles by planting trees and rescuing them.
Doyinsola Ogunye has been cleaning the environment since 2009, a truly noble undertaking. “Clean up!”, she says over and over on her social media platforms. Her stance has remained consistent for the past nine years, from picking bottle tops on Lagos’ worst beach to lecturing residents about the need to clean up their environment.
Doyinsola feels that residents of coastal towns must be taught about the importance of wildlife conservation. According to her, it’s critical to explain to fishing-dependent communities what they stand to lose if sea turtles go extinct. Her life’s work is to see Nigerians and Africans care for the environment.
Doyinsola joined Babatunde Fashola, the then-Governor of Lagos State, in a tree-planting activity. She also initiated the creation of Nigeria’s first-ever Kids’ Garden, a safe place for kids to blended and learn while having a great time, as well as the first-ever recycling sensitization day events, which took place on August 20 and October 1, 2011, in Lekki and VGC, respectively, in partnership with the Lagos Waste Management Authority.
She has battled vehemently for the prohibition of nylon bags, advocating instead for the use of paper bags, and hopefully, her voice will be heard one day.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation chose Doyinsola as one of its goalkeepers.
Doyinsola is a member of the Royal African Young Leadership Forum, which is led by the Ooni of Ife and honors young Africans who achieve in many fields.
