Jolene (head of Online here at Portfolio) and I, together with some friends, met up at the appointed place in Kommetjie on Friday morning to plant trees. This was part of a project by local NGO KEAG (Kommetjie Environmental Awareness Group) that they have undertaken to help protect a small natural wetland on a public open space in the seaside village.
On-site KEAG representative, Sarah Titley, managed to take time away from her cellphone (she was co-ordinating a number of projects on the day and had to liaise between the head office at Imhoff Farm, the nursery that was donating the trees, and the cleanup operation on Kommetjie Beach taking place simultaneously) to explain the purpose of our tree planting: KEAG's hope is that when development moves into the current large space at a future date (which seems almost inevitable) the indiginous trees we planted will form a protective belt around this vulnerable area and that development will not encroach on the wetlands themselves.
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| Donated compost waiting to be used |
Digging deep for Do it Day |
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| Here comes the team... |
Jolene & Marco lugging trees |
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| KEAG's truck brought the trees |
A baby tree in its new home |
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| Cleaning Kommetjie beach. |
The cleaning team from Reddam |
Despite an early shower or two, the weather soon cleared up and the team, which included a group of super-hard working men from the Men at the Side of the Road Project (whose time was paid for by way of a donation from Pick 'n' Pay) got to work, under Sarah's watchful eye and guiding hand.
Let me tell you, digging holes is harder than it sounds! Just as well we had some stronger and most willing workers to help because my own attempts at trying to dig a deep enough pit in the soaking wet soil were, frankly, pathetic. Jolene did an excellent job of counting out the 15 m intervals between holes...
At least once the holes had been prepared we could all be more involved in lugging the saplings to their new homes and planting them. Although to be fair I did slip away for a while to get some photos of the teenagers from Reddam House school who were clearing Kommetjie Beach of litter.
It was a great feeling to get our hands dirty and to feel a part of helping, in some small way, those who work full time to try preserve our corner of the world for those to come.
Greater Good SA, organisers of the annual Do It Day movement, had this to say on their facebook page...
3,862 volunteers joined hands to paint, plant, clean, read, teach, share and empower their communities on 217 projects across the country. That's a staggering 30,896 volunteer hours, or over 15 years of nine-to-five work. To all Do It Day volunteers, champions, ambassadors, corporate supporters, staff and everyone who gave their energy, time, skills and sweat: Thank You.
If you didn't sign up for a project this year, be sure to Do It next year - it's a fulfilling way to spend a day, giving something back.
Eleanor and Kelly - two other Portfolio Team members were planting trees too - across Cape Town in Ottery - their story and photos will be loaded up to the Travel Blog later today.
