On the 8th of May schools in Needscamp, Potsdam and Mdantsane (near East London) excitedly received deliveries of fruit and indigenous shade trees for planting on their properties. The following day, 9th May, staff from the East London Konica Minolta South Africa (KMSA), a division of Bidvest Office (Pty) Ltd, visited the area to assist in planting the trees.
Lumanyano Primary School in Needscamp hosted KMSA and Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) for the day. Fruit trees were planted to create an orchard near the school vegetable garden, and indigenous trees were planted out to shade the property.
Mrs Peters from a neighboring school, Msundulo Primary, attended the event as a guest. “I’m so excited to return to my school and plant our trees,” she said after the event. Msundulo was also allocated 50 trees from the KMSA donation. The donations to Lumanyano and Msundulo schools are part of a 550 tree donation to the area which saw a total of 13 schools receiving trees.
These 550 trees will offset 202 tonnes of carbon dioxide in their lifetime, whilst providing shade, increasing biodiversity and providing access to fresh fruit for the local community. These gifts will keep on giving to the local community and the local environment for upward of 40 years.
Heather Wolmarans, FTFA facilitator, was very impressed with the schools’ preparation and the welcome by the community, “the learners at Lumanyano Primary Schoolwere absolute champions!” This bodes well for the tree care and survival rate going forward.
This tree planting forms part of KMSA’s commitment to plant 2,993 trees between January and June 2018 and brings the number of trees donated by KMSA to 37,796 since 2008, through the company’s ongoing commitment to ‘green’ South Africa.
