The Winnie Madikizela Mandela local municipality celebrated Arbor day on the 27th of September at the Oliver Tambo Cultural Village, the celebration hosted schools that are in close proximity with the town, schools like, Ndunge junior secondary, Didi Senior secondary school, AD Tshayingca senior secondary school, St Patrick’s senior secondary school and Bizana senior secondary.
The first week of September is in known nationwide to be arbor week where the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment reserve this week to raise awareness’s on how people should treat the environment and encourage the planting of trees while advocating that the environment can co-exist with development.
Leaners from grade 3, 8 and 10 did presentations around the issues of deforestation, forestation and global warming, the schools each gave detailed explanation on each of the above themes on how individuals impact the environment be it positively or negatively.
Didi senior secondary school focused on staple food that is found in the Pondoland region which is as a result of preserving the environment and planting trees, giving examples like Isigwamba, amarhewu, iinkobe, and tea that is produced at Magwa in Lusikisiki. They explained that the people of Pondoland enjoy the benefits of these because they take care of their environment.
Lihle Ngongoma (teacher) from Bizana senior secondary school said the WMMLM has been quite unbending in keeping its themes around the curriculum which is a great thing and shows that the municipality prioritises education and it is encouraging to the teachers and the leaners.
The WMMLM gave each school an award encouraging young people to participate in global debates and engage in conversations that are happening in around the world.
