Trees for life BURUNDI
The Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal
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Imagine...
You have land -
crops.
You have animals -
meat and milk. Maybe pets.
You have a house -
shelter for your family. A place to be safe.
A school -
education for your children's future.
Then along come the seasonal rains
and, without any warning at all,
the land gets washed away
and it all disappears
down the hill.
Lost.
Forever.
Imagine...
your life suddenly being washed away
Imagine...
the land just disappears
Bujumbura
The Diocese of Bujumbura is based in and around Burundi’s largest city. Like much of Burundi, is marked by rolling hills and valleys – in that respect alone, it is not unlike Derbyshire.
But Burundi is poor. Very poor.
In fact, it is rated as the world's poorest country.
On the edge of Bujumbura in the Commune de Kanyosha there are two ‘Collines’ (colline is French for a hill) greatly at risk, Colline Gisovu and Colline Nyamaboko. There is currently no agroforestry there.
Erosion
The impact of climate change is felt by those who try to make a living by cultivating the hillsides.
Recent years have seen particularly dry dry seasons, and torrential rains in the wet season.
This often causes flooding and devastating mudslides.
One minute the land is there; the next it has disappeared, washed down the hillside by the rains.
Devastation
The administrator of the Commune de Kanyosha says that following recent torrential rain and strong winds:
■ more than ten dwellings were washed away,
■ a church and a school were destroyed,
■ many fields were damaged,
■ animals were swept away by landslides.
These hills’ inhabitants have not yet been able to take action to secure resilience to the effects of climate change.
Losing crops = no vegetables
Losing animals = no meat or milk, no pets
Losing your home = no family space, no safety
Losing the school = no education, probably no job, no income
One solution
is
relatively simple...
TREES!
Planting lots of trees
Why trees?
The roots of trees hold hillsides in place, prevent erosion, and protect lives and livelihoods.
Bujumbura is working to mitigate the effects of climate change and the seasonal rains by helping local residents plant trees.
They make all the difference locally, and contribute globally to carbon capture.
Trees are good for wildlife.
The focus of the Diocese of Bujumbura’s work, with our support, will be:
To reduce soil erosion by 20% on Gisovu and Nyamaboko hills by marking out the contours of the hillsides and planting trees strategically to offer the best protection to the land.
and
To initiate 20 climate resilience local economic groupings amongst women and young people, with a savings and credit approach to enable beneficiaries to set up a fund to help them purchase tree nursery equipment to sustain a tree planting project for the long term.
Trees = hope
£5,000
will make both these projects possible
If any more is raised, it will enable this immensely valuable work to be expanded to benefit residents of other collines in the neighbourhood.
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You can make a difference!
Perhaps you, and your church or community, can consider how to best organise events to encourage a generous response to the Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal.
Or you can make a private donation.
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Every penny you give will fund tree-planting projects to help:
protect lives, livelihoods and futures
stabilise the land
give hope to the people of Bujumbura
mitigate the impact of climate change and care for God's earth.
Want to help?
Give yourself a high five and find out how below!
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Please donate to the Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal
To make a personal donation, use your debit or credit card at our Just Giving page
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Can you help improve the lives of those desperately in need?
The people of Bujumbura need our help. Send them your gift of generous faith, courageous hope and
life-giving love