Indigenous Trees for Life “tree-preneurs” spent a weekend in the Drakensberg with Unilever staff volunteers and learnt about nature, each other, and life, and had some fun in the process. Unilever South Africa has for over ten years been a funding partner with conservation NGO the Wildlands Conservation Trust, and since those early years regular Volunteer weekends have taken place with Unilever staff members spending time with Wildlands staff and the communities involved in their programmes.
To help celebrate National Water Week from the 15-19th March, it seemed fitting to hold a Volunteer Weekend in the Drakensberg, a vital water catchment area in South Africa. This Volunteer weekend was also different in that tree-preneurs from WIldlands’ Indigenous Trees for Life programme took part. Tree-preneurs are adults or children from township and rural communities in need, who are taught to grow indigenous trees from seed and care for them until they grow to a certain height. The trees are then traded back to Wildlands for goods such as food, clothes, school and university fees and the trees are then planted back into the community or planted out into forest restoration projects.
The group of nearly thirty stayed overnight at Entabeni education centre near Rosetta, and the next morning worked in groups clearing alien invasive plants together. Nick Shaw, the Director at Entabeni then led an interpretive crane tour, explaining the importance of conserving the Wattled, Blue and Crowned Cranes. The group went on to Royal Natal National Park where they hiked and camped, spending time in nature and learning about leadership, life-skills and issues affecting the environment.
By combining the two groups, Unilever Volunteers had the opportunity to act as mentors and share life skills and motivate the tree-preneurs who were all young women between the ages of 13 and 18. “I enjoyed being with the tree-preneurs, it felt amazing to share knowledge and motivate young girls, letting them know that we identify with them. The weekend gave Unilever staff the platform to motivate, inspire and be role models to the learners,” said Nokuthula Zungu, a Food Solutions Planner at Unilever in Pietermaritzburg who attended the weekend as a volunteer.
“Camping and backpacking gave us an opportunity to interact not only with each other, but also with nature, which reinforced the importance and significance of us working together with the Wildlands team,” she said. This sentiment was reiterated by Sinenhlanhla Mthembu, a grade 12 learner and tree-preneur from Buffelsdraai near Durban. “I enjoyed the hiking; it improved my knowledge regarding nature. The older folks were so caring and inspiring and by this trip I managed to deal with stress,” she said.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)