Welcome to Emergence Magazine's podcast. I'm Emanuel Vaughn Lee, executive editor of Emergence

magazine, located on the unseated ancestral lands of the Coast Mewalk people of present-day

Marin County. Each week, we feature a new interview, narrated essay, or story, exploring the threads connecting

ecology, culture, and spirituality.

Tristan McConnell is a writer and foreign correspondent living in Nairobi, Kenya.

In this piece, Tristan ventures into the shrinking mountain forests that surround Mount Kenya,

home to medicinal plants, ancient trees, rivers, and rainfall.

In the wake of the legacies of colonialism and rampant poverty that have stripped much of the

country of its trees, he encounters Kenyan foragers, conservationists, and elders who are working

to restore the forests and safeguard its value.

Asking for blessing.

Say ye, the elders may have wisdom and speak with one voice.

Praise ye, and Guy, peace be with us.

Say ye that the country may have tranquility and the people may continue to increase.

Praise ye, Ingai, peace be with us.

Say ye that the people and the flocks and the herds may prosper and be free from illness.

Praise ye, and Guy. Peace be with us.

Say ye, the fields may bear much fruit and the land may continue to be fertile.

Praise ye, ye, Inai. Peace be with us.

Twice a week, Joseph Mbair trudges purposefully into the forest a few miles south of his home in the

Lee of Mount Kenya to for roots, bark, sap and leaves. His neighbours find this behaviour a little odd,

his esoteric knowledge of the trees and plants eccentric.

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