Ushindi Kashali tells us about their tree-planting activities in Bugarula, DRC

Recently, our community from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reached out to us with an update on the trees they had previously dedicated.

Ushindi Kashali is an environmental activist from the organization ASOSOasbl, and he tells us “We checked the planted trees. While some trees had grown to be 1.5 meters, others were still around 60 cm. We also found trees that did not succeed. This can be linked to soil variation and unequal watering efforts in different environments. The lack of watering cans, water access points, and enough helping hands, led some of the trees into a water-stress situation.”

Ushindi and his group replaced some of the plants that had not succeeded. “We replaced 68 trees”, he tells us.

Apart from these, the group also planted 115 new trees in the village of Businga, Kagouchou, and at the hotel solidarity huts of Idjwi.

Ushindi shares the group’s hardships regarding planting and maintaining the trees: “Some of the difficulties we are experiencing with tree planting are the lack of resources such as watering cans, hoses, and machetes. We also feel we could benefit from having a better connection to local tree nurseries as we observe a large number of trees being cut on the island of Idjwi. Deforestation is massive in our territory.”

Thank you for your efforts to combat deforestation and desertification in your area. We hope your work bears fruit.

If you wish to learn more and assist the work of Ushindi and his organization, you can reach out to him via email at bamenyirwekashali@gmail.com

You can also follow Ushindi on Facebook and stay up-to-date on his work.