Sometimes we become bound by other people's thoughts because we are not sure about ourselves.

Using trees as a symbol of peace is in keeping with a widespread African tradition. For example, the elders of the Kikuyu carried a staff from the thigi tree that, when placed between two disputing sides, caused them to stop fighting and seek reconciliation. Many communities in Africa have these traditions.

There's a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.

People are dynamic. They change, and soon as there are enough of you, things change [for a whole society].

You can't reduce poverty in a vacuum. You are doing it in an environment.

For example, they have land. The government of Qatar wants to lease the Tana River delta, which is in Kenya, from the Kenyan government, so that they can produce food there. People in Kenya need food. We have people who have studied agriculture. Why is it that if we really need food, we cannot go into the delta and develop our own food?

Obviously the world is moving away from high carbon energy to low carbon energy, and eventually moving away toward renewable energy. So it is in the interest of Africa to move towards that, because that's where the world is moving.