Ariokot Faith Patricia is a 29 year old Ugandan born who wants her name embedded in the Guinness World Records.
Faith is a tree planter and a climate activist who started a tree planting initiative called Faith In Trees to focus on using education and simple knowledge to promote tree planting in Uganda and world over.
“We use a plantable pencil called boom pencil and this pencil has seeds inside which can be used by scholars and children who plant the seeds after use,” she revealed.
With her campaign and help from well-wishers, they’ve been able to give out 50,000 pencils each year for the last 2 years and they’ve been able to give out success cards to candidates in schools — they have managed to reach 10,000 children. A remarkable milestone for her efforts.
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Ariokot Faith picks her inspiration from Wangara Mathai and her father who have the utmost admiration and love for trees. Mathai was a Kenyan social, environmental and political activist who founded Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organisation focused on planting tress, environmental conservation and women’s rights. She became the first African woman to win a Noble Peace Prize in 2004.
According to illuminem.com, Uganda has lost 41.6% of its forest cover in the last 100 years (1921-2021). 62.5% of Uganda’s forest land has been logged in the last 3 decades, and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be no forests outside of protected areas remaining. It’s in this alarming situation, efforts by government through enactment of policies, institutions engaging in tree planting activities and individuals like Ariokot Faith, demands are being made to preserve the forest cover.
Faith wants people to see and recognise trees as the soldiers of the earth and friends of the people and that’s why she’ll be attempting the Guinness World Record on December 29, 2023 to celebrate trees by hugging a tree for atleast 13 hours dubbed A Tree–mendous Hug.
She broke the record before on December 8, 2023 but encountered a camera glitch that disrupted her initial successful attempt and now this will be the second attempt.
This will be held at Hotel May 7 in Soroti district, Eastern Uganda. She calls on everyone to come and join in and celebrate the TREE.