Climate Creatives Challenge Winner - Amara Nwuneli (Commended)

This poem narrates my life through my relationship with the ocean, highlighting the need to understand, care for and respect it. My grandmother drowned in the ocean 2 months before my birth. Living in Lagos and Cot’DoViore, two countries bound by the sea, my family lived afraid of nature and its immense power. I was different, I was entranced by it, constantly pushing back any restraints - believing that we had to take protect it instead. In the summer of 2019 my family home was flooded, further calling to my attention its unrest. I wanted to understand how it happened and how to fix it. That year our oceans were further harmed and neglected and I founded Preserve Our Roots, a by-youth for-youth Climate NGO. For the first time, @ COP27, I snorkelled near a coral reef. Through this poem, I speak about the power, beauty and need to protect mother earth.
By: Amara Nwuneli
Learn More: / preserveourroots