A girl’s labour of love with the environment

Vincent Gono , News Editor

AT just 17, she is probably too young to be thinking of how to be environmentally productive through adopting a tree nursery project that she is running with very little resources at her disposal.

The labour associated with it and the retrogression that she suffers from the vagaries of harsh weather inspired by climate change are some of the intricacies that one feels and cannot help but feel for her as she endures and ensures the trees in her nursery are taken care of.

Hers is a hearty labour of love with the environment and most of her age mates do not think about that.

They immerse themselves in fashion, partying, food and other things that town life throws recklessly at them, but for Simelweyinkosi Masuku, what is important is not age, it is the difference that one desires to make in the world.

She is just but a small little voice crying out for the recognition of environmental issues in a community where such issues are an afterthought and relegated to the periphery on the priority list.

What makes her story a little sad and discouraging is that she has not been getting the support both morally and in form of the little resources that can push her passion forward despite her spirited efforts to conscientise her age mates — the youths to sway their attention from drug and substance abuse as well as raise awareness in schools around on the need to conserve trees.

Her nursery consists of a variety of fruit trees such as avocados, peaches, oranges, mangoes, lemons, umnyii, paw-paws, water berries, and a variety of indigenous trees that are not necessarily fruit trees.

She has been carrying out demonstrations on how best trees can be planted and nurtured for free and has been giving out some of the fruit trees to various institutions, even planting them for no charge and yet the eyes of the responsible authorities have not been so willing to face her direction despite her noble efforts.

Her nursery that has a number of fruit trees speaks volumes of the dedication that she has to her calling.

She said despite the lack of support, she would continue doing what she was doing because she was convinced that it was the right thing to do.

Besides, it speaks to the vision that the country has of limiting imports especially in the production of fruits to exporting them and bringing in the much needed foreign currency, which was an essential component of the country’s economic development blueprint, the National Development Strategy 1 that points to a wholesome national vision of having an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

“I inherited this tree nursery from my father Mr Kheyi Masuku after completing my O-levels last year. I have a natural love for the environment and I have been running it and keeping records of my trees with detailed discipline.

“In terms of the challenges that I am facing in running my nursery, I would say they are mainly water followed by fence, soil, sheds and planting pockets. We started off on a small area at Mzilikazi Primary School before we were allocated a stand by the city council in North End close to a stream opposite Victoria Falls Road.

“I am using water from a shallow well that we dug after realising that the water from the stream was not suitable for watering the tree nursery. They would die because the water is either polluted or sometimes raw sewage.

“The well dries up and besides, the process takes a long time, sometimes four to six hours since I will be using a bucket,” she said without showing signs of dreading the laborious process.

Simelweyinkosi said the area was not fenced making the trees very prone to thieves and attack by animals such as donkeys that roam the environs of Bulawayo with little attention and enforcement to make owners account for them.

She said her project was inspired by the need to addressing deforestation, provision of fruits for household and national consumption that aids in fighting food insecurity and malnutrition.

She said she has been doing some awareness programmes in schools although with little attention and support from the relevant Government departments despite having approached them for a partnership.

“I have done some avocado planting programme at SOS Primary School and in Matobo. As you are aware that there are mixed theories on avocado seed planting, in this programme I visited these two schools and practically demonstrated that they simply plant the seeds upside down for it to germinate.

“This was in June 2023, the seeds planted all germinated and will be ready for planting next month. The programme was very exciting and children fully understood and told me they will pass on the lesson to their parents,” she said.

She said her passion for trees was probably inherited from her grandfather the late Mr Zolongwane Masuku who worked in the parks department of BCC and was part of the people who planted most of the trees around the city.

“I want to involve youths in this tree planting project so that I play a role in fighting drug abuse from them by keeping them busy. By getting involved in tree planting they contribute in the fight against climate change.

“I also felt I should do something as a contribution to vision 2030 of achieving an upper middle-income society. By the year 2030 I want my country to be a major exporter of avocados, Mexican pear (mazhanje), lemons and many other citrus fruits. By the year 2030 no woman must walk long distances to look for firewood, and all our wildlife must have food security because this is one of my target to plant more fruit trees in our forests,” she said.

The young Simelweyinkosi said she was committed to giving institutions of higher learning such as Nust , Solusi, Gwanda and Lupane State Universities a total of 50 avocado trees for each university at US$10 for 50 trees.

“They can contact me from now since the avocado trees will be ready for planting by December (next month). This is part of my project to intensify avocado production in this part of the country. There is a growing demand for avocados in Europe and Africa. This will also push my numbers to reach 10 billion trees planted by the year 2030.