Save Our Rivers organized a tree planting exercise in Athindilo-Igembe as part of its efforts to keep the Athindilo River from drying up.
According to a member of the group, they planted trees at the Kiengu dispensary and a county government borehole.
He regretted that the trees planted around the borehole in the past were non-indigenous. The well-known charitable organization replaced them with indigenous trees.
“We are confident that the water will not dry up after planting the trees. We gathered at the Athindi Stream today to plant trees so that the stream does not dry out downstream and can supply enough water to other rivers.
“I’d like to thank Chief Mugambi, the assistant chief, and the community leaders for digging holes before we arrived,” said a member of the group.
A resident said: “My request to the government is that they identify water catchment areas where we can plant trees.”
The Assitant chief said: “Water catchment areas and public lands are underutilized, and I appreciate the donations of tree seedlings for planting.
“We will protect the trees by fencing the water catchment areas and ensuring that they reach maturity. The trees will help to preserve the environment, making the world a better place to live.”
The area Chief said: “I’d like to thank the youth of Kazi Mtaani for their invaluable assistance in making the tree planting exercise a success by digging the holes. I believe that by planting trees in all catchment areas, our water problems will be alleviated.”
Another member from the Save our rivers group told Baite Tv that the group is involved in river conservation activities such as planting trees. He said that the goal of the organization is to ensure that water scarcity decreases in the future if more trees are planted along rivers and water catchment areas.
“We were contacted by Athindilo residents for a tree planting exercise through one of our members of the save our rivers and also a resident,” he said.
“Save our rivers was founded in 2019 during a prevailing drought that affected most of the country after many people complained about rivers drying up.
We encouraged our members to plant a single tree if they could not afford to plant many.
Every time we make a commitment to plant trees, we delegate responsibility for tree care to a member of the community who is also a member of the Save Our Rivers group,” he said.
