Indigenous Trees for Life

In Jobe, in Northern Zululand, water is scarce and when it does rain, it usually floods. Tree-preneurs in this community have to walk back and forth for kilometres to fetch water for their families and for their trees. Giving them access to water collection tools will have a huge impact on their lives. Limiting the time they need to spend fetching water means more time available for school and extramural activities. Jobe is one of the poorest communities in KwaZulu-Natal and faces enormous challenges such as HIV AIDS , unemployment, limited access to health and other social services and declining natural resources.

Current status

There are currently 3500 (and growing) tree-preneurs in 23 communities in South Africa. So far 32 water tanks and 250 wheelbarrows have been traded at the tree stores. Tree-preneurs pay between 95 - 750 trees for these tools.

Wildlands is constantly searching for products that will make the tree-preneurs lives easier and fundraising to make these available at tree-stores. Funding is required to purchase more rainwater tanks (and the required guttering systems) as well as wheelbarrows.

We employ a number of local facilitators in the communities to help the tree-preneurs with caring for their trees and to manage the collection and trading elements of the Indigenous Trees for Life programme.

The facilitators in the Jobe community will do a needs assessment of what water collections products each tree-preneur needs and whether they have the right number of trees to pay for them. Once this is complete, Wildlands will purchase and distribute (through the tree stores) whatever tools we can with the funding available. We have budgeted for 250 wheel barrows and 30 rainwater tanks with guttering systems. Wildlands has a fleet of delivery trucks which will enable the transport of these products.

Guttering systems, for the rainwater tanks, need to be made to fit, so tree-preneurs will be required to take measurements and the correct size/length of guttering will be ordered.

To give 280 of our tree-preneurs (and their families) easier access to drinking water and to reduce the amount of time and energy they have to spend collecting water.

Goals

• 280 rainwater collection tanks and wheelbarrows distributed
• 1680 people with easier access to clean water

Most water collection tools are long lasting and Wildlands ensures that good quality products are made available for the tree-preneurs. Water tanks for example should last a lifetime. Guttering systems have a shorter life span and this is then up to the tree-preneur to save and grow enough trees to 'purchase' a replacement.

The Indigenous Trees for Life project as a whole currently requires corporate support in order to be sustainable and so the human resource support required to run the tree stores, fundraise and buy the products etc still depends on this. Our vision however is to build individual capacity so that the children and adults who grow through the programme learn to become self-sustainable, and that the sustainable use of natural resources, including water, is engrained in these communities, and becomes a way of life.