On May 14, we launched a tree planting campaign around Mpanga river in Western Uganda. The ‘’Urban Greening” themed project aims to plant 30,000 trees in the city of Fort Portal. It is based on a partnership with Fort Portal city council that was flagged off by Mayor Asaba Ruyongo with a tree planting event which saw 800 trees planted in 2 hours. In the years to come, we plan to make Fort Portal a city under a forest.
Fort Portal is located in the Western Region of Uganda, approximately 296 km west of Kampala. It is the seat of both Kabarole District and the Toro Kingdom. In 2020, Fort Portal was elevated from municipality to a Tourism city status. 200 people attended our first tree planting event, including the city mayor Asaba Ruyonga, deputy mayor Marunga Stella, City Clerk Doreen Murungi and Physical Planner Musana Sam.
In his address, City Mayor Asaba Ruyonga said, “We as the people of Fort Portal need to work together to protect our environment. Since we have got a chance to work with Fairventures Worldwide that is willing to restore the environment, we should embrace this opportunity. I call upon you all to take care of the trees we are going to plant to make Fort Portal green again”.
Enormous Support by Ugandan Youth
Patience Naamara, Country Director of Fairventures Worldwide Uganda explained, “we are glad to be working with the people of Fort Portal City in the Urban Greening Campaign. Our project runs for a period of 5 years to plant 30,000 trees in the city. We have agreed to contribute all the trees that the city needs to do this greening exercise. We shall buy the seedlings from the nursery operators in Fort Portal city in order to support and improve their livelihoods’’.
After the successful planting event we hosted in Katosi in May, the kick-off to our campaign in Fort Portal once again signaled the enormous support we receive from the youth in Uganda, with students from Buhinga Primary School, Westville High School, Fort Portal SSS, and Kihingami Vocational Training Institute showing up for the tree planting.