Floods affect tree planting in Blantyre schools
Blantyre District Education Manager (DEM) has expressed concern over how a tree planting project being implemented in the district’s 62 primary schools under Hannover Project is progressing.
In an interview after touring three primary schools in Blantyre on Wednesday, Blantyre Urban DEM Anita Kaliu noted that most of the trees that were planted under the project were swept away by floods.
She said her office has since started replanting trees to replace those that were swept away due to the impact of tropical cyclones Freddy and Ana.
“Having gone through some natural disasters such as Cyclone Ana and Cyclone Freddy, we are making good progress, but not as to what we had expected as where we could have been by now,” said Kaliu.
In a separate interview, a Standard Six learner at Chimwankhunda Primary School in the district, Sam Mtchiza said despite losing some trees to disasters, leaners in collaboration with their teachers have intensified care on the surviving trees.
He added that trees need to be well taken care of because people benefit a lot from them.
“Trees give us many things that we need in our daily lives. We talk of air, medicine and timber. So when we talk of trees, we talk of life,” said Mtchiza, a member of Chimwankhunda Primary School Wildlife Club.
The £180 000 (about K234.4 million) project is being implemented by the office of the District Education Manager in collaboration with Blantyre City Council (BCC) with a focus on fruit trees planting.
The Hannover Project comes from a partnership that BCC has with the Hannover City of Germany which was renewed at the occasion of their 50th Anniversary in 2018.
Among others, the twin relationship has seen the implementation of various projects in water and sanitation such as the drilling of boreholes in about 14 primary schools, exchange programmes and trainings, apart from the tree planting initiative.
