Form three Student Hilda Bundi Appointed Environment Ambassador after Her Banana Leaves Shopping Bag Went Viral on Internet

The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has appointed Hilda Gacheri Bundi, whose photo went viral for carrying her back to school shopping on an improvised bag made of banana bark and leaves, as an Environment Ambassador.

The Form 3 student at Materi Girls School in Tharaka Nithi County won the hearts of many Kenyans for her creativity, which has prompted the environmental management agency to name her the Environment Ambassador in South Imenti Constituency.

"Congratulations Hilda!
Remember HILDA GACHERI the form three student of Materi Girls who reported to school with an improvised bag made of banana barks?
We'll, this afternoon she was visited by officials from NEMA. And they had good news.
She has been appointed ENVIRONMENT AMBASSADOR.
Help me congratulate the new Wangari Maathai. The future is looking great," Ndung'u Nyoro a social media mobiliser posted on his Facebook page.

Gacheri is also expected to meet the Environment and Natural Resources Cabinet Secretary Prof. Judi Wakhungu on a later date.

Hilda was going about her business when an unknown person took pictures of her carrying the improvised bag and she quickly became an internet celebrity among Kenyans, after her photos went viral.

"To me I see a very confident girl bearing in mind the ridicule she would get from her peers being a digital generation. She must be commended for being bold," Gikeri Thomas commented on a Facebook post on Ndungu Nyoro’s page.

Mesmerized by her courage and creativity, several Kenyans offered to pay her school fees because ‘she fought the odds’.

Others likened her to nobel peace price winner the late Wangari Maathai, with many fronting a campaign to get Miss Bundi recognized by NEMA as an ambassador.