Bulawayo tree planting exercise sees strong community involvement
Participants came from every corner of the ward, which encompasses a number of middle and high income suburbs situated east of the City Centre.
The National University of Science and Technology (NUST), located in the neighbourhood, were well represented at the occasion by a number of students, lecturers and workers. Masiyephambili College and the Petra Group of schools both situated in the ward also sent pupils and staff to participate at the event.
Most remarkable of all, was the manner in which residents of every gender, ranging in age from eight to eighty years, and in profession from vendors to socialites, set aside their cares, and wielding tools, cleaned a selected area where they later planted indigenous saplings.
Leading the exercise was the incumbent, Cllr. Paul Malaba, a lecturer at NUST, and the Ward Four Community Action Team (CAT), who were responsible for successfully planning the event as well as mobilising voluntary workers. Bulawayo City Council staff members, with the appropriate equipment, were on hand to provide water for the newly planted trees and carted away piles of litter and brush that had been cleared in the area. The Trust has provided necessary skills training to CAT members for the saplings’ after-care requirements.
Bulawayo tree planting exercise sees strong community involvement.