Zimbabwe Urban Greening: Bulawayo community members excel in tree aftercare
Members of the Bulawayo community, specifically the Bulawayo Ward 12 Community Action Team (C.A.T), have continued to render utmost attention to their trees, a practice that has seen the plants thrive despite a lack of rain.
ZDDT News Correspondent, Ntando Sibanda (NS), was invited to witness the C.A.T busy weeding and providing after-care to their plants. He then utilised that opportunity to conduct an interview with the Ward’s C.A.T leader, Mr Zwelani Dube (ZD).
Below can be found part from the interview that ensued:
NS: How many trees did you plant here?
ZD: We planted 110 trees and only five of them did not make. The rest are healthy as you can see. The old problem that is bothering us is that this piece of land is not accessible by Municipal vehicles when they want to assist us in watering the trees.
NS: You said that you have a problem with watering the trees, yet they are so healthy, how do you manage to keep them so well?
ZD: We constantly weed and cultivate around the trees. We also carry water from the nearest borehole, which is at least 500 metres away. We do this routine every fortnight.
NS: Why did you chose this particular areas to plant the trees? Was it because it has fertile soils or that is has a water source near-by?
ZD: We just chose this piece of land as we saw that it was lying idle. Without anyone utilising it, we thought it was the best place to grow the plants. Having said that, we surveyed the soils and we were convinced it was fertile enough and we then applied to the City Council (Town Planning), which approved quickly.
NS: What is your opinion on the Urban Greening initiative?
ZD: This programme is very good in that trees are essential for a healthy life.
ZDDT has donated tool kits for the voluntary implementation of this and other interventions in the communities. The kit includes picks, wheelbarrows, grass slashers and shovels.