A major tree planting program that seeks to have thousands of trees planted in Rwandan schools has has been launched by a local organisation (Umoja Foundation EMCE).
EMCE that aims to develop Rwandan youth wants help young people take part in protecting the environment from where they learn.
This agenda was officially launched by the Umoja Foundation on October 20, 2023 at Ecole San Marco located in Nyarugunga Sector, Kicukiro District.
Umoja Foundation focuses on the education, development, and enlightenment of young people to build their own capacity and ability to learn and solve emerging and growing social and global problems.
The organization’s Treasurer, Chantal Rugabira Mukayiranga says that this program is new and aims to support the Rwandan government in the program of planting trees and dealing with climate change.
Mukayiranga who is currently a civil servant in the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) said that as she enters retirement, like many other members, they wish to instill environment protection values for the future.
“This activity aims to educate children to understand the current issues. These teachings gave them an open mind and they really understood that there is a problem and they should do something about it. That’s why we ended up planting trees,” Mukayiranga said.
Mukayiranga noted that the global climate change challenge (also seen in Rwanda) requires the coordination of education activities and planting trees throughout the country, and thus they plan to expand these activities to all schools in the country starting from Kigali City in the next five years.
In this program, Mukayiranga says that they will work with all 30 districts to choose where the trees will be planted in schools, especially in districts where there is a lot of heat like Bugesera among the most affected areas.
“We want this to be a sustainable activity. We will work with the districts which will guide us on areas that need planting forests around the nearby schools, and also select the schools to work with,” Mukayiranga added.
Starting this month (October), the Ministry of Environment in Rwanda has announced that every household is required to plant at least three trees during the approaching tree season.
About 63 million trees are expected to be planted in the 2023/2024 season.
Retired teachers Eugène Munyakyanza, and Lawyer Brigitte Mukandoli are some of the members of Umoja Foundation and are former civil servants, who are looking at their retirement time.
They say that as they prepare to retire in active life, the project’s activities will help to forge a connection with the young generation so that they can leave a good legacy in the world.
During the launch activity at San Marco Schools, the organization’s officials, teachers and pupils were engaged in a tree planting exercise on their campus.
The pupils were given a public talk on climate change and its impact on the world, alongside lecture on the rights of the child in Rwanda and they responsibility in taking action.
Many of the pupils displayed knowledge and awareness about climate change, its effects, and how to protect the environment, saying that this knowledge is gained from their studies, media and mass campaigns.
One of the students, 10-year-old Keza Nelly, who is studying in the 5th year of primary school, says that knowledge about climate change is necessary for them to take measures that include taking care of the trees they planted and avoiding things that damage the environment in their communities.
