Our forest has grown

Thanks to you, our Buy One Get One Tree forest for Temwa is going to be even bigger than we thought.

All those cider pies you enjoyed over the summer have raised enough to plant 57,176 trees (7,176 more than predicted).  This means that our forest will cover the same area as 30 full-sized football pitches.  That’s a lot of lovely trees.

These trees will make a massive difference to many peoples’ lives in Northern Malawi.

Take Mary Banda for example:

Mary, a widow, lives in Usisya in northern Malawi with her eight grandchildren.  In 2014, Mary watched the crops she had planted and tended for four months literally wash away in the wet season when her village flooded. She feared that she and her family would starve.

Luckily Temwa was able to help Mary through their agriculture and forestry projects. She learnt new sustainable farming techniques and the importance of trees in increasing soil fertility and providing food, shelter and protection.

Mary is one of many people in Usisya who will receive trees because of our Buy One Get One Tree campaign. She will plant some on her own land and more in a communal wood-lot, so that the wider community can benefit from the new trees.  She says,

‘Already I have benefited a lot from the projects and this is the first time that I have be able to grow food during the dry season.  I don’t think we will go hungry. I now understand the importance of trees for my family and the impact that they have on preventing flooding and droughts’.

Mary can’t wait to get her Pieminister trees.

‘Just think -they will help my soil so I can grow more crops, then I will be able to sell these at the markets. In four years time I will also have fruit on some of them!’

Joseph Chango also lives in Usisya where he used to struggle to grow enough food to feed his family, let alone generate an income.  Realising the earning potential from fruit trees (and seeing first-hand the devastating effects deforestation was having on his community) Joseph joined Temwa’s forestry project in 2009.

With Temwa’s support, Joseph has developed his own fruit selling business. He now has his own orchard and tree nursery and sells oranges, lemons, guavas and papayas.  He’s even built a dambo (wetlands) region to grow rice. His thriving business means he can provide for his family while demonstrating the importance of sustainable farming to others in his community.

Today, Joseph is a trained Lead Farmer, using his orchard and field as a demonstration garden to train and educate other community members on agro-forestry principles. He distributes Temwa trees from his nursery throughout his village and promotes natural resource conservation as a member of his local Village Natural Resource Management Committee.

Mary and Joseph are just two of the many people we will help as a direct result of your excellent cider pie-eating abilities.  So a big well done to you all.

Find out more about Temwa’s forestry project here.