The community of Botriver recently welcomed the planting of 58 trees compliments of the 2017 FNB Wines2Whales (W2W) Mountain Bike (MTB) Events, Botriver School and Themba Trees.
“We are thankful to all FNB W2W entrants who, on entering this year’s event, donated R100 to the Botriver School Tree Project,” says Johan Kriegler, FNB W2W Director. “A total of R20 000 was donated to the project. The trees were planted where the W2W route enters Botriver (at the railway crossing) up until the Botriver School. We also planted trees in front of the four crèches that form part of the FNB W2W Crèche Educational Initiative. Private homeowners helped to dig the holes and have agreed to look after the trees that were planted in front of their residences. This project forms part of our greater goal which is to enrich the communities that are situated along the FNB W2W MTB route.”
Photo: Tobias Ginsberg
According to Yusuf Haas, Principal at Botriver Primary School, the community of Botriver is in need of trees. “A lot of the trees in the area died. We decided to start a campaign to save all indigenous trees and asked W2W for assistance. Through this project we’ll be able to educate our learners as well as families along the W2W route on the benefits of having trees in their surroundings. We’ll teach them to look after the trees and hopefully inspire a love for nature. The school’s involvement includes the allocation and planting of the trees as well as the monitoring of the development of the project.”
Started in 2007, Themba Trees is an indigenous and ornamental wholesale tree nursery that is situated on Kromvlei Farm in the beautiful Elgin Valley.
“Themba Trees strives to give hope and a sense of place to those who seek to improve their environment,” says Caroline de Villiers, Owner and Manager of Themba Trees. “We felt that the money that was donated had to be allocated to the purchasing of trees. Therefore our contribution towards the project included: transporting and delivering the trees to the various identified locations, a bag of compost and some fertilizer per tree, as well as the planting know how and tree monitoring support throughout the year.”
“The FNB W2W/Botriver School Tree Project is extremely important,” continues de Villiers. “I would love to see it replicated at all the major sporting events in our country. An event must create environmental awareness in the communities that it touches, while entrants need to be able to give back to the communities. It is also vital that the communities benefit in tangible and long term ways that will improve the quality of life of all community members. Together with FNB W2W and the Botriver School we are proud to do our part for the community of Botriver.”
Source: Newsport Media
