Mr. Odinga, who was accompanied by his wife, Dr. Ida Odinga, three government ministers and a number of advisors, arrived at the tree planting ceremony directly after a visit to the nearby Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. "The story of the holocaust of European Jewry touched us very deeply. Many of us knew about it previously, but for some of the members of our delegation, this was the first time that they heard about this dark chapter of human history," the prime minister said.
"Planting trees in Israel is also symbolic, since here, as in Kenya, trees symbolize the source of life. Our county has recently been very concerned about tree planting. When Kenya was declared an independent state 48 years ago, 12% of its territory was covered by forests. Over the years, many forests were destroyed, and the forested area dropped to only 1.7%. The government of Kenya decided to rehabilitate large forest areas as part of an ambitious program that aims to forest 10% of Kenya's territory by 2017. In order to achieve this goal, we need to plant 7.6 billion seedlings, which will demand a tremendous effort."