IN celebration of Arbour Week from 1 to 8 September, the Wildlife and Environment Society South Africa (WESSA) Treasure Beach branch visited five schools in Lamontville.
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Arbour week is celebrated annually and this year’s theme of ‘forests and water’ aims to highlight the importance of planting indigenous trees that conserve water.
The Bluff branch identified schools which were pro-active and had a willingness to learn about indigenous trees and the importance of them in the environment.
Each school had the opportunity to house the tree of the year, the buffalo thorn tree or Ziziphus Mucronata. The last school visited was Bhekaphambili Primary School. This school was already adorned with beautiful indigenous saplings and trees. “We wanted the pupils to understand the importance of trees and what better way to do this than give them something to work for. The little gifts we handed out were to reward the pupils who gave correct facts about why trees are vital to our survival and the survival of this Earth. I was impressed at how much the children knew and how well the school has accommodated so many trees,” said Dudu Vilane-Ntombela.
Guest speaker and Mondi CSI manager, Leonard Mbokazi spoke to the children about recycling and caring for nature. “Do not destroy trees, we need them for so many things such as a shade, oxygen, a home for animals and many more. Thank you to WESSA for affording me the opportunity to address the pupils and for them for allowing the pupils the experience the responsibility of planting trees and providing them with the information on how to care for and maintain the trees,” said Mbokazi.
