Planting Trees in South Africa

After leaving Soweto, we headed toward the small town of Dennilton, a poor farming community with a high rate of AIDS, orphans, and unemployment - but full of warm, dedicated, and giving people. Days before we left for Africa, back in June, a colleague of mine had mentioned a non-profit and orphanage she helps support in South Africa and suggested we contact them for a visit. While traveling, I'd e-mailed with the group, and it worked out that they had received funding to purchase trees for the orphanage (Youth with a Vision) and needed help with planting trees. The orphanage had just received the grant money to plant trees, but they didn’t know which ones to plant or how to plant and care for them. I saw an opportunity to help this community, using my experience working and planting trees for the non-profit TreePeople in L.A., and began to create and plan for a tree planting workshop. Whenever I had a moment to use the internet while traveling, I organized and prepared for the tree planting at the orphanage, calling on colleagues from the U.S. to help.

By the time I arrived overland in South Africa, most of the preparation for the tree-planting workshop was ready, and the community was too! The orphanage and supporting community was so thankful for our help, they fed us and arranged for us to stay in a family’s home. Upon arrival, we began the on-the-ground preparation for the tree planting event, suggesting the purchase of certain species of trees to plant, and arranged for the orphanage to receive a large drum of water to keep their community garden going and water the new trees (their water supply had been shut off for a week as their subsistence garden wilted). Of course, it was much harder to find the right equipment and supplies to plant trees in rural South Africa than it is in the U.S., but I improvised and found equivalent materials for mulch, tools, etc. Then, came the workshop where I organized about 30 people (adults and children) into tree planting teams and taught them the steps of how to plant trees. Over the course of three days, we planted over 60 trees by digging into the hard, red earth and coming together as a community. Through this experience I learned how important networking with former colleagues and staying in touch with old friends is, as it just took one person from home to connect me with this small African community that needed assistance. Although I had just met these people, we found mutual respect for one another to improve their community and formed friendships.