From Ukasi to the World: Why Women Must Lead Climate Action

My mother, Pauline, was born in a very dry place in Kenya in Kitui County, in a small place called Ukasi.

Ukasi is beautiful in its own quiet way. Wide skies. Endless land. Sunsets that stretch across the horizon. But beauty does not always mean ease.

She grew up where the sun was harsh and the rain was uncertain. Rivers that once flowed became long paths of dry sand. The land cracked open. Crops failed. Livestock weakened. Hunger was not a dramatic event it was a season that stayed too long.

As a young girl, my mother did not wake up to prepare for school first.

She woke up to look for water.

Sometimes she would walk for hours under the burning sun, carrying empty containers that would feel heavier on the journey back. By the time she returned home, exhausted, school was no longer the priority. Survival was.

And even after that long walk, there was often no food waiting.

No harvest.

No rain-fed maize.

No vegetables from the garden.

Just dry land and tired hope.

Because of these struggles, she did not finish her studies. Not because she lacked intelligence. Not because she lacked dreams. But because climate hardship stole time from her childhood.

When rivers dry, education suffers.

When crops fail, classrooms empty.

When water is miles away, girls carry the burden.

My mother’s story is not rare in places like Ukasi.

And that is why I #GiveToGain a world where women lead climate action.

There are many girls who go through this in some parts of Kenya especially in arid and semi-arid areas and in other dry regions around the world. In places where drought returns again and again, it is often girls who miss school first. It is girls who wake before sunrise to fetch water. It is girls who sacrifice education so families can survive.

And it does not have to remain this way.

What can be done to help them?

Communities and governments can invest in reliable water systems boreholes, water harvesting projects, and small dams closer to homes so girls do not spend hours walking for water. Schools can be supported with feeding programs so hunger does not chase children away from classrooms. Climate-smart agriculture can help families grow food even in dry seasons. Scholarships and community mentorship programs can protect girls’ education during times of drought.

Most importantly, women from these regions must be included in climate planning and policy decisions. Their lived experience holds the solutions.

If women like my mother had been at decision-making tables — if their realities shaped water policies, drought-response systems, and agricultural programs perhaps fewer girls would have had to choose between school and survival.

Women understand what drought means at ground level.

They understand the cost of a failed rainy season.

They understand what it means to stretch one cup of flour to feed a family.

When women lead climate solutions, we gain systems that protect girls’ education. We gain community water projects placed where they are truly needed. We gain farming methods that match the realities of dry regions.

If my mother had not spent hours fetching water, maybe she would have spent those hours reading books.

If the land had been supported with sustainable climate solutions, maybe hunger would not have interrupted her future.

Her story reminds me that climate action is not abstract.

It is personal.

It shapes who finishes school.

It shapes who thrives.

It shapes who gets left behind.

When we give women leadership in climate action, we gain more than environmental protection.

We gain justice for girls like Pauline.

We gain opportunities that drought once erased.

We gain a future where no child has to trade education for water.

#Climate story.

#GivetoGain.