Partners

Planting Seeds, Growing Leaders
by Joyce Bayona, World Wildlife Fund/Tanzania

Abdallah Nyinga, a 16-year-old boy from Ichonde village, in the foothills of southern Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains, is “environmental education” personified. Actually, he grasped the basic skills and ideals of land stewardship as a young boy, growing up on a farm with lots of chores to do. But for Abdallah, these chores were essential in shaping his attitude towards the environment in general.

Abdallah believes that caring for the environment is a habit that has to be developed from an early age. How true—because who we are today reflects many factors in our past. Abdallah recalls the first time he began to understand this concept saying, “I was in primary school. . .the teacher told us we are going to have people from World Wildlife Fund for Nature and Tanzania National Park coming to teach us about the importance of trees and wildlife.” Like any other pupil, Abdallah was just excited to be having visitors come to his classroom. But what they taught him was even more exciting.

He learned that planting trees makes the land strong, and that wildlife is important for maintaining biodiversity and the web of life around him. The connection between tree cutting, soil erosion, poor nutrients, and a loss of biodiversity touched him. “I was so curious,” said Abdallah, “I started paying attention to different activities taking place in Udzungwa Forest and their impacts.”

But he did more than that. Abdallah started an environmental club at his school and later was given a small plot of land out front. They cleared the site and planted trees and shrubs, “with seeds we got from Udzungwa Forest,” beamed Abdallah. Watching trees grow, making bare land become green and beautiful, further inspired Abdallah to start a tree nursery at home. Today, 4 years later, it is still thriving. Now in secondary school, he is on his third nursery, tending to about 700 plants in total, including commercially valuable teak. He feels great joy in nurturing and distributing the seedlings to members of his community, who in turn are embracing his example of environmental responsibility. In addition, he has initiated a waste management project with his teachers and fellow students, making waste baskets out of local materials.

Abdallah dreams of becoming a forester, but as one of nine children in a family of subsistence maize farmers, he cannot afford the necessary education and training. But can Tanzania afford not to cultivate such a passionate, natural environmental leader? The World Wildlife Fund has paid for Abdallah’s school fees through 2004, but after that, there is no telling what will happen. Although his future is uncertain without yet a potential sponsor, the teenager remains hopeful about his dream. “God will provide the way,” he says confidently.

Abdallah’s commitment to safeguard the environment is a tribute to the value of receiving environmental teachings as a child. Great things happen when such seeds take root in our youth.

For more information, contact Joyce Bayona, Communication Officer, World Wildlife Fund/Tanzania, Plot No. 350 Regent Estate Mikocheni, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, +255 22 277 5535, jbayona@wwftz.org.