“Thorns and Trails: A woman’s journey of resilience and revelation”

3t Vakil (Miss Tree)
7 min readAug 9, 2023
Thorns & Trails. AI Image created with Midjourney and photoshop by 3t Vakil

As a child, I was cradled in the emerald embrace of my aunt’s garden in Nairobi, Kenya. The ‘shamba’ was a playground of foliage, dazzling me with many plants in all sizes of recycled containers, pots, barrels, and cans. The air was a perfumed melody of floral scents, underscored by the sound of hidden insects and their rhythmic chirps, barking dogs, and a bleating goat. When I wasn’t racing through the gardens, playing with the dogs, or on games with my siblings, I stood still in front of giant, multicolored anthuriums, trying to understand what I was looking at, touching very gently what looked like weird crayons stuck in the plastic petal.

Exaggerated Anthurium. AI Image by 3t Vakil

I poked my nose into a myriad of rose hybrids, inhaled the various perfumes, and counted petals on giant dahlias that looked like fireworks had just exploded. It’s like Mother Nature had a party and invited all the colors to join. It was there, in that wild setting, that my fascination with plants, (and animals) was sown.

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3t Vakil (Miss Tree)
3t Vakil (Miss Tree)

Written by 3t Vakil (Miss Tree)

Performance Scientist Research Artist -trees, botany, plants, conservation in Puerto Rico

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