Christmas came early for some community members in Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas, when Wildlands Conservation Trust set up 4 “Green Future Stores” at the end of December for their Tree-preneurs and Waste-preneurs, as part of the Integrated Greening Programme (IGP) made possible through the KZN provincial government and local businesses.
The KZN Integrated Greening Programme aims to develop and implement community-based greening activities that not only benefit our environment and our economy, but also help establish self-motivated environmentally conscious Green-preneurs.
Tree-preneurs and Waste-preneurs (collectively known as Green-preneurs) are individuals that nurture and grow indigenous trees and collect recyclable waste at their homesteads – guided by Wildlands facilitators – and barter these trees (once they have reached 30cm or more) and waste for items they need such as, food, bicycles, building materials and even education support, with redeemable vouchers. The barter process ends at a “Green Future Store,” like the 4 that were setup at Save Hyper (Cash & Carry) in Pietermaritzburg on Victoria Rd and in Howick late last year.
Swapo and Haniville Green-preneurs redeemed their vouchers on the 14th of December, Imbali Green-preneurs shopped up a storm on the 18th and 19th, while Dambuza, KwaPata, Mphophomeni and Willowfontein Green-preneurs visited the Save Hyper “Green Future Store” store on the 20th of December.
The excited community members redeemed their “green” vouchers for livelihood support items, such as food, personal hygiene items and even home appliances. The total value of trees and waste collected in return for redeemable vouchers at these 4 “Green Future Stores” amounted to an impressive R438 554! Most of the Green-preneurs bought food to stock up for Christmas and the New Year, but some of the community members even managed to purchase Television sets, stoves and cameras. Tree-preneur Xolile Mthenjwa was ecstatic, “my Christmas is going to be very good because I have nice food to take home, thank you Wildlands,” said Mthenjwa.
Ziningi Gcabashe, Wildlands Project Manager for eThekwini kept congratulating the Green-preneurs for their achievements and hard work. “The work that is being done by these people is too good,” commented Ziningi. “Not only are they helping themselves but they are also doing their bit for conservation,” said a proud Ziningi.
Wildlands are grateful for strategic and key partners’ contributions to this programme, namely Bonitas Medical Fund, Unilever, BHP Billiton, Rand Merchant Bank, the Department of Public Works & Human Settlements and the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Affairs and Rural Development.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)