Twelve year old Simphiwe Xulu has paid his own school fees this year by growing trees. He is in grade seven at Ntabeni Primary School in Richards Bay and is a “tree-preneur” in the Indigenous Trees for Life Programme run by the conservation NGO the Wildlands Conservation Trust. Tree-preneurs are individuals 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.
Simphiwe’s mother Sindisiwe Mpanza said of the programme, “I am a single parent. I didn’t have money to pay for the school fees. The trees helped me a lot to make that payment. I got help with the food and the uniforms.” Simphiwe used twenty trees to pay for his school fees. He has also “spent” his trees buying his school uniform and books. He was very excited when he grew enough trees to be taken on an environmental education expedition to False Bay in September last year. Day trips and overnight stays in nature reserves are arranged by Wildlands to reward tree-preneurs that grow a certain number of trees, and they are taught about the environment. “I saw the animals I only see on TV,” said Simphiwe.
Mrs Magubane, the Principal at Ntabeni Primary school, has noticed the change in the children who are growing trees. “Most of the tree-preneurs are orphans. The tree project pulls off lots of weight from the guardians, and the children become confident at school knowing they have paid their school fees.”
There are now over five hundred tree-preneurs spread across six projects in the Richards Bay area. BHP Billiton and Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) seed funded the projects and have supported them for the last five years. December Matenjwa, Project Manager for Indigenous Trees for Life in Richards Bay said, “We are teaching the tree-preneurs to be aware of their environment. The child that pays for school fees with trees is taking responsibility for their education as well as learning entrepreneurial skills and caring for the environment.”
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)