“Our home is dying,” the teacher said to the class. Everyone in class was listening as the teacher was talking.
“Our Earthly home is dying,” the teacher continued.
“What do you mean, teacher? Asked Tebuho.
“I mean, every day the earth is being destroyed,” he said.
“How?” Tebuho asked again.
“Global warming is a sign that our earthly home is being destroyed.”
“What is global warming, teacher?”
“It is a situation where the earth is becoming warmer every day,” the teacher explained.
“Isn’t that good?” Asked Sepo, “We will no longer feel cold in the cold season.”
“No, on the contrary, it is a problem,” the teacher said.
“How is that a problem, teacher?” Tebuho asked again.
“When the earth becomes warmer, all the water in the North and South Pole will melt and the whole Earth will be flooded,” he explained as he showed them the map of the world.
“Aahhhhh!” Exclaimed the class.
“We will have floods in some areas and severe drought in some,” the teacher said, “we will have wild fires.”
“Our home is dying,” Tebuho said.
“Yes, our assignment for tomorrow is to find out what we can do to save our home,” said the teacher.
When school was over, Tebuho walked with her friends home. They were discussing planet Earth. They were talking about what they could do.
“What should we do to save planet Earth?” Tebuho asked her friends.
“The best way is to leave planet earth,” Sepo answered.
“And where should we go?” Asked Mutinta.
“Mars,” Sepo answered, “it’s a beautiful planet.”
The girls laughed about it as they went to their various homes. When Tebuho got home, she helped her mother to sweep the kitchen and to prepare supper. When they had eaten supper, she felt very tired so she went straight to bed. She was still thinking of what should be done for planet earth. She thought about going to Mars. In no time, she was fast asleep.
In her dream, Tebuho was an astronaut preparing to go and find a new home. She was going to find a new home away from home. She was part of the crew who were on a mission to Mars. She was excited that she would get to see the beautiful planet. She put on her space suit and got into the space ship. She would be the first Zambian female to be in space.
They were leaving planet Earth from the Mongu Space Centre. The three of them were in the space ship when the countdown started.
“In three, two, one, blast off!” Announced the controller as the space ship went up. Tebuho was excited as they went up into space. After some minutes, they were above the Earth. They were able to float in space. She was very happy.
“Are we almost there?” She asked the other astronauts.
“Ha, ha!” Laughed one astronaut, “it will take us two years to get there.”
“Two years?” Asked Tebuho in shock.
After two years, they got to Mars. It was very far from planet Earth. Tebuho was not excited any more. She did not like Mars. The planet was a desert with no sign of life. There were no trees and no rivers.
“Can this be our home? Asked one of the astronauts.
“No, our home is better,” Tebuho responded, “they don’t even have oxygen here.”
“Our home is dying,” the astronaut stated, “we have to shift everyone from Earth to this place.”
“No way,” Tebuho said, “we only have one home, Earth.”
“It’s dying,” he said.
“We will save it,” she responded.
When she said those words, Tebuho heard her mother’s voice. She was awake. It was time to go to school. She was happy that she was not in Mars. At school she presented on how Earth could be saved before the class.
“We need to stop cutting down trees and we need to stop polluting the environment,” she said.
“Our home is dying but we can save it,” she continued.
“We need to stop burning things and we need to make things that don’t pollute our Earth.”
She displayed a large chart which read,
“Earth our dying Home! We can save Earth.”
Read – Home – A Children’s Story by Lovelyn Ugwuezema, Nigeria
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