As the rainy season has been hard on Malawi this year, my community decided to go green with the support of two organizations; Child Legacy International and Peachtree Foundation. The idea of planting trees has been the topic of discussion for over a month and now things are moving as planned.
I have been working with Peachtree Volunteers and Child Legacy International since I came to this community. Together we identified this tree planting project late last year after a meeting with representatives from each organization and the community. The tree planting project has been a success because the community really wanted the trees for different reasons including getting firewood and timber from the future trees. Just this past week the community has planted over 190 trees. The day the trees were planted both the young and the old members of my community took part. The community was unified and the pictures tell a lot of stories.
Before the rainy season comes to an end, we hope to plant over 1200 trees with the community. Each household will receive 10 trees and they will be planted across the community. Some trees will be planted in the fields while others will be planted within the yards of community members.
The chairperson for the Afforestation committee was happy about the project and the commitment of the community members. He said, "This is a great opportunity for the community to work together in development work and although the fruits from this project might take some time to see, we hope that one day the community will be transformed because of this one project."
This project has just shown me how eager the community is towards development. Going green has and will improve their environment and surrounding area. I hope to continue to see positive changes in my community because working with its members is really exciting.