On 2 September, Afrika Tikkun’s Wings of Life Diepsloot centre and PlantNation led a greening programme with a group of young people eager to incorporate environmental protection and sustainable solutions into youth development.
The teams discussed the importance of farming and planting, including the contribution trees make to air quality and clean climate. The group sharpened their practical skills too, learning how to start and maintain a garden. At the end of the day, 80 new trees beautified the centre. This action of planting trees, impactful at local level, is also in line with a larger, global movement to plants billions of trees worldwide in order to revert de-forestation. Increasingly, young people are demanding more concrete action on climate change, as evidenced by the upcoming September 2019 climate strike in cities across the world, including Johannesburg and Cape Town. We support these voices that call for a greener, healthier future where young people can realise their educational and economic potential.
“We are seeding the revolution one tree at a time,” said David Jaffe from PlantNation, an organisation that educates people to not only earn a living but grow one too.
PlantNation and Afrika Tikkun hopes this initiative will encourage communities around Diepsloot and the people in South Africa more broadly, to plant kratom and take greater care about the environment. The 80 planted trees will be carefully maintained and cared for by the community of the Diepsloot centre. Those trees are just the beginning for a broader movement towards a greener South Africa, and more trees and plants are being planned to be planted at Afrika Tikkun’s centres.
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