Trees for Zambia 2013 volunteers will plant indigenous and fruit trees in schools, on subsistence farms and in reforestation sites, sourcing as many trees as possible from local small-scale growers. Again Greenpop will host educational workshops for school children, subsistence farmers and volunteers. Trees for Zambia is a holistic awareness campaign based on getting people active about making sustainable changes.
This year has a particular focus on alternative energy sources, namely solar energy, and will see the making of solar cookers and awareness-raising on their use. Volunteers from around the world are in Livingstone for one, two or three weeks and are guaranteed a rewarding and fun experience and are based at the Greenpop Village (found at the Livingstone Safari Lodge half-way between Victoria Falls and Livingstone town).
Last week was Week One of the green Action Event and saw 1021 trees planted at 6 different schools, Sons of Thunder Farming Community and Dambwa Forest concession in collaboration with Lion Alert. Greenpop also hosted the Forest in Focus film event at the Greenpop Village in Livingstone, which saw the five winning United Nations short films on forests screened. Last Thursday evening (11 July) a speaker evening was held and attendees were treated to talks from modern sustainability activist Josh Ramsey, Botanist Evelyn Roe, environmental activist Tribute Mboweni and CEO of the African Lion Environmental Research Trust Dave Youldon. On Friday evening (12 July), a celebration was held with live music performances from Jeremy Loops, Tribute Mboweni and Josh Ramsay (playing together for the first time) and Flint, and Meet Spark.
Greenpop believes greening and sustainable living can be fun and is very excited about the Trees for Zambia project providing this avenue for volunteers. Greenpop aims to build connections with those working in Zambia on reforestation and environmental awareness and are looking forward to spending time with like-minded people who are ready to plant, learn, educate, share and explore their way towards sustainable change.
Trees for Zambia is three weeks of planting, solar cooking, film evenings, speaker evenings, football games, sustainability workshops, tree identification courses, teacher training, educational wall murals, live music evenings, food forest experiments, and lots more fun. For the full schedule of events for Trees for Zambia, click here.
On top of planting and various education and solar energy projects Trees for Zambia hosts a series of fun evening events to reward a hard day's work. Over the three weeks, there will be screenings of short films on eco topics on Tuesdays, soccer games on Wednesdays and conference evenings on Thursdays. Conference themes are 'sustainability' for the first week, 'deforestation' for the second week and 'eco-tourism' for the third week. Fridays are party nights with a host of local and African bands performing.
The second weekend (this coming weekend) also sees Earth Fest, a music and sustainability festival, combine with Trees for Zambia. The weekend starts with a train party from Livingstone station to Victoria Falls bridge, complete with DJs and drinks - and attendees can bunji jump from the bridge on Friday night for half price (it is also almost full moon). The festival continues on Saturday with various sustainability workshops at the Greenpop Village at Livingstone Safari Lodge in the afternoon from 3pm followed by an evening celebrating Southern African musical talent from 6pm, performers including Jeremy Loops, Chicken Bus Band, Yes Rasta, Black Light Panda, Pat McCay, Tribute Mboweni, That Mans band and more.
Greenpop welcomes anyone interested in the project to participate. This includes people living and/or working in Livingstone who want to join in the fun and attend planting or events. Tickets are available for Earth Fest in Victoria Falls from Victoria Falls Steam Train, Zimbabwe Tourism Office, Shoestring Backpackers and Shearwater Adventures Bridge and Main Office. They can also be bought in Livingstone from The Spot, Jolly Boys Backpackers and Livingstone Backpackers.
For more information, email gro.popneerg@aibmaZ or call +26(0) 96 822 0057
