Celebrating our green assets
The national week of tree planting saw four high schools in Grahamstown come together to witness and share in the spiritual act of tree planting.
On Friday 2 September Ntsika Secondary School, Makana Public School and Seventh Day Adventist School gathered for the National Arbour Week ceremony at Khutliso Daniels Secondary.
Arbour week is set aside to encourage people to plant and take care of trees.
The Umthathi Training Project along with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, started the initiative in order to create awareness among communities about the importance of trees for the environment.
One hundred trees were donated by the department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to ten schools in the area with each receiving ten trees to plant with the help of the Umthathi training project.
There was fun under the spring sunshine on the Khutliso Daniels Secondary school quad. Entertainment for pupils, staff and guests came in the form of a quiz conducted by Akhona Mtalana who is from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Mtalana was also guest speaker for the day, explain- ing to pupils how vital trees were.
She spoke about the importance of saving water and planting fruit trees which can provide nourishment, especially for poor communities. She linked the importance of water saving and tree planting to the theme for this year’s Arbour Week which is Water and Trees.
The quiz turned out to be the highlight of the day as it got the crowd and especially the pupils, sharing in jokes and laughter. Her lively presentation left many in the crowd with a good understanding of the purpose of Arbour Week.
The presentations programme was closed with a performance by the Khutliso Daniels Secondary School Choir which elicited cheer from the school pupils.
The last and most significant part of the day’s programme was the planting of a yellowwood tree by three pupils representing the different schools, with guidance from Xolela Qinela who is Community Development Facilitator for the Umthathi Training Project.
The pupils were Athenkosi Qomfa, Asiphile Mpumlo and Emihle Tshunugwa.
Staff members, pupils, guests and Umthathi co-ordinators gathered around in respectful silence to witness this new life being planted as a permanent member of the Khutliso Daniels community.
The yellowwood tree is not included as one of the 2016 Arbour Week trees but was chosen for planting on this occasion due to its ability to withstand rough weather conditions, and for the strong timber that it produces.
This part of the ceremony was conducted by Qinela. Qinela briefly talked to us about the importance of trees:
“Trees in this community are very important for many reasons. They make the area pretty by making it greener. They provide shade for pupils and also purify the air.
Schools need to become a friend of the environment and play their part in tree planting.”
The Umthathi Training Project works with schools and gets trees for planting from the Makana Municipality during National Arbour Week. To close off the day the new tree was watered and then a prayer was said by Rev Velile Quza who is a teacher at Khutliso Daniels Secondary.
Listen and watch here: https:// www. f a c e b o o k . com/grocotts/videos/10153788755770911/