Every month I have the pleasure of interviewing other organisations in Wales which share our core values of waste reduction, skill sharing and community cohesion. This month, I’m in Tanzania volunteering on a tree planting initiative that I started 2 years ago with The Tumaini Trust. At a time when tree planting is high on the Welsh political agenda, following the Welsh Government’s announcement that every household in Wales will be given a tree to plant,* we thought it timely to feature The Tumaini Trust and how we share Repair Café Wales’ core values.

I’ve been volunteering in Kilimanjaro for 20 years and set up The Tumaini Trust in 2005 to sponsor my Mshiri Primary School students through secondary school, vocational training college and university. The original objectives of the Trust have been met, so 2 years ago I was asked by former students, Wema and Ombeni, to support sustainable development initiatives in Mshiri. We thought that tree planting would be a great place to start. The villagers have set up the Village Environment Development Group (VEDG) and grow saplings. When the saplings are ready, they then plant them and The Tumaini Trust funds the project by paying the Group the market value per sapling. Our vision is to reforest areas which have been destroyed, rejuvenate habitats, and help in the fight against climate change. As well as the environmental benefits of planting trees, we hope to secure livelihoods and create employment.

At Repair Café Wales, our fantastic fixers share skills and inspire our visitors by showing them how their repair is done, so that they may have the confidence to try to fix it themselves next time. VEDG shares skills in several ways. Members discuss which types of trees they are going to plant and learn about the benefit of the different species from each other. They work together to find and plant their seeds or small saplings which are nurtured in a communal nursery. When they are ready, the Group meet to plant the saplings, ensuring that each person understands the process. I felt privileged to join a seed planting session in Tanzania and then a tree plant last week.

Dozens of saplings have been planted at Mshiri Primary School with assistance from Standard V students (who are about 10 years old). The students learn about the importance of trees from their teachers and VEDG members, and how to care for the saplings to ensure that they thrive.

We also collaborate with Kilimanjaro National Park (KINAPA) to ensure we are planting the appropriate types of saplings. Our next objective is to work with KINAPA and the local District to hire a local expert who will visit Mshiri and provide more training on tree planting and how to grow high yielding grass locally for animal fodder, as villagers are now prohibited from entering the National Park to collect food for their cows and goats.

The tree planting sessions are social occasion and, just like our Repair Cafés, promote community cohesion. Repair Café Wales’ pop-up sessions aim to inspire and connect local residents from different backgrounds. The joy of working together in starting off the saplings and then planting them when they are ready is evident and often accompanied by singing. Anyone from the local community is welcome and children often join their parents      

Repair Café Wales is also committed to waste reduction, which The Tumaini Trust is working towards. Last week, Wema and I visited Boma Secondary School where 100 of our saplings were planted by Wema and others last year. Whilst at the School, we were very excited to see machines that the School has acquired for recycling and repurposing plastic. Working in collaboration with a local company, students are being taught how to use the machines to break down plastic bottles and then to make something completely new.

We have now linked Boma Secondary School, which is very close to Kilimanjaro Airport, to a local hotel, so that plastic bottles can be collected at the hotel and dropped off by hotel guests on their way to the Airport. Fortunately, plastic pollution is not a major problem in Mshiri as soft drinks are supplied in glass bottles which are returned and reused. Frustratingly, however, soft drinks manufacturers are increasingly using plastic bottles and littering around the nearest town, Marangu Mtoni, is a problem as there are no waste streams to deal with plastic pollution other than for individuals to burn the bottles themselves. Although our preference would be for glass bottles to be used instead of plastic, at least we now have a way to dispose of the plastic waste safely and to turn it into something useful.

Join us next month when we highlight another Welsh organisation which shares our core values.

 

By Kath Jenkins, host of Repair Café Cathays

To find out more about The Tumaini Trust here’s the website: http://www.tumainitrust.org.uk/

Or you can follow The Tumaini Trust on Facebook or Instagram: @tumaini_trust

The Tumaini Trust is a registered Charity [number:1113901]

* https://gov.wales/every-household-wales-will-be-given-free-tree-plant-part-welsh-governments-commitment-tackle

vedg 09.01.22 2 and kath
09.12.21 tree plant mshiri primary school
many hands make light work 112 saplings started today
joyce family cypress
boma sec plastic bottle crusher