Oh, Uganda! the land that feeds us, By sun and fertile soil grown; For our own dear land, We shall always stand, The Pearl of Africa’s Crown. The last stanza of the National Anthem says it all and what better way to honour it than nurture “the land of beauty”.
This, National Water and Sewerage Corporation did in commemoration of the country’s 59 th Independence day through the “NWSC Green Treevolution”, a 10Million Tree planting campaign that has so far seen to the planting of over 2.9Million trees.
Today, teams all over the country out-did themselves. They started off by checking progress of the 2Million trees planted in the first phase of the campaign and then went on to plant another approximately 10 thousand more ranging from fruits to shade trees (eucalyptus, neem, mango, avocado, afzellia, bamboo, etc).
In the Western region, 1900 trees were planted in partnership with the Lion’s Club, at Mbarara University of
Science and Technology(MUST). Whereas in the Eastern region, a total 2500 trees were planted at the Manafwa river banks of Soono and Lwakhakha in Manafwa district. The Central region was split into two teams with one team touching base in Mpigi and planting up to 2000 trees while the other fist bumped with royalty and planted over 5000 trees at the newly constructed Kyabazinga palace in Jinja City.
Bajurizi Edith Isingoma, an Environmentalist by profession, member of Conservation Efforts for Community Development (CECOD) and also a passionate member of Lions Club, Mbarara Central, thanked NWSC for the campaign and was glad to be part of the tree planting session. “The partnership between NWSC and the Lions Club has not just started, we have a lot to share to better the environment and with this, we are filling in a lot of SDGs.” she said.
The Lions Club President – Tinaako Hope, was privileged spend the day taking part in the tree planting activity. She thanked NWSC for the greening initiate of the campaign and was delighted that the university is going to be green.
A number of district influential leaders graced the tree planting event and thanked NWSC for the love to preserve and conserve the environment. For one, the Mayor of Manafwa District-Mr. Kisongotsi Muhammed pledged to ensure that the planted bamboo trees grow and survive since they help in environmental conservation.
Sajjabi Godfrey Samanya, the Permanent Secretary Busoga Kingdom who as well doubled as the Chief Guest also promised to plant more trees. “When there is any celebration please commemorate it with planting a tree”, he said. The royal chiefs called upon the community not cut down trees without replacing them and also sensitized the community on the benefits of trees to our climate changes.
The mass plating event marks the official launch of the second phase of the Tree Planting Campaign across all regions and it is in order to say, “so far, so good”.
The idea of tapping into a tree planting revolution to achieve the goal of Water for all, is not far-fetched but rather just what Uganda needs right now especially in an era where global warming and climate change have dominated major waves and continue to fuel the global water scarcity crisis.
The Lion’s Club is the newest addition to NWSC’s Green campaign list of partners which already includes; the Ministry of Water and Environment, NFA, UPDF, P4WATSAN, SWAS Clubs, YWPs, SOGEA SATOM and our esteemed customers.
NWSC remains committed to water for all, for a delighted customer by a delighted workforce.
