|
Planting
a tree on International Volunteer
Day, in Wawesy village. Photo
by UNV |
Khartoum,
7 December 2009 - Arriving
in five buses at the desert village
of Wawisi, 50 kilometres north of
Khartoum, 150 volunteers set out
with the local community to plant
1,000 trees in commemoration of
International Volunteer Day on 5
December.
“We need the
trees for water and to make us healthier,”
18-year-old student Suha said, sitting
with her classmates under a bright
red tent erected for the opening
celebration within the girls’
school compound.
Opening the event,
which was celebrated under the theme
Volunteering for the Planet, UN
representative Nils Kastberg said
the world needed more volunteers
acting against pollution without
waiting for incentives.
UN Volunteers (UNV),
in partnership with volunteers of
the Sudanese Environmental Conservation
Society, chose the rural area in
particular for the project to lessen
the effects of the nearby oil refinery,
said UNMIS UNV Projects and Advocacy
Officer Daniela Bosioc.
The Sheikh of Wawisi
said that the trees were greatly
needed because the village had been
experiencing harmful effects of
the oil refinery, including premature
births, animal deaths and decrease
of crops.
The rural area was
previously forested, but lack of
environmental knowledge and the
need for firewood had urged locals
to cut trees down, inhabitant Basheir
Ahmed said, thanking the volunteers
for investing time and energy into
improving conditions.
Following discussions about the
environment at Wawesi’s two
high schools weeks before the event,
volunteers of UNMIS, UN Development
Programme (UNDP) other agencies
and local organizations planted
1,000 trees on the main street,
around mosques, schools and mud-brick
houses.
|
Volunteers
from UNV and the Sudanese Environment
Conservation Society, together
with community leaders from
Wawesy village, talking to secondary
school students about the importance
of trees, as part of the environmental
awareness campaign. Photo by
Sudanese Environment Conservation
Society |
“Trees offer
shade and protect against pollution,
and mean beauty,” third-grade
high school student Jibril Ibrahim
said, standing near a freshly planted
sapling that still needed to be
fenced against hungry goats.
The event was accompanied by a drawing
competition and a puppet show, which
taught children about environmental
protection with animal characters,
including an ignorant donkey, a
chattering monkey and a cunning
fox.
“I used to volunteer with
wildlife conservation in my home
country,” UNMIS electoral
UNV Lawrence Nagbe from Ghana said,
adding “When I heard about
the tree planting project I jumped
on board!”
“The aim of Volunteer Day
is to highlight the efforts that
volunteers make all over the world,
throughout the year,” Ms.
Bosioc said.
Sudan has some 900 UNV volunteers,
including about 350 people with
UNMIS, 400 with UNAMID and 150 with
UN agencies, making it the biggest
programme country.