The heroes she studied included Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt movement and the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace prize. She was struck by the importance of Professor Maathai’s tree planting efforts. Upset by the widespread cutting of trees causing environmental degradation in Kenya, Ellyanne set about planting trees. 321 initially and reached her target of 1000 trees a few months later. Six years later, having launched the Children with Nature – an organisation led by youth and children to support and promote tree planting – she is now at 1.3 million trees in schools, government forests and several riparian river banks. Her new target is to plant 1 million trees in the Sahel Desert, North of Africa. Ellyanne’s passion and zeal has not gone unnoticed. She was invited by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Nairobi for the 2017 World Environment Day celebrations, themed Connecting with Nature. Kenyan Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko recently appointed Ellyanne as Co-Chair of the Task Force for Michuki Park, an Urban Green Space in Nairobi. She is charged with helping to regenerate the green space and provide a suitable play area with learning activities for children and youth.