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TREE PLANTING: Taking the city to the farm
By Angela Wathoni
Since late 2017, Farmeco
Community
Care
in
conjunction with Mojatu
Foundation, GAIN Diaspora
and other partners have
come together to plant 4500
trees donated by Woodland
Trust to establish the edible
woodland section at Farmeco.
The project is aimed at
benefiting
the
isolated
and
often
economically
disadvantaged communities
living in the inner-city areas,
especially those who never have time or opportunities to
get out of the city over winter and spring to engage with
one another by taking part in full day activities together
in the countryside.
This project creates intergroup contact opportunity by
bringing people together thereby reducing prejudice
between majority and minority group members. It
creates
long-term relationships and engagement
while building mutual trust and respect of the new-
found friends. It encourages young people to consider
agriculture and environmental oriented studies, an area
many BME communities are hugely underrepresented.
such as driving, drilling, planting, putting guards on,
monitoring, reviewing and writing the reports. They
develop a sense of mutual trust and caring for one
another through team working, linking people with one
another and shared activities thereby creating mutual
trust and interest in one another
We collect people from various areas of inner city and
take them to the farm for a whole day – 8 hours – for
tree planting, pruning, juice making, working with
farm machinery, working with the rural and farming
environment training sessions on these activities. Here,
they link with other local communities during the tree
planting sessions and share meals.
Researches and reports in the city and beyond also show
more of minority groups are highly segregated and
distant from local white communities whom they rarely
engage with unless at professional levels.
Improving congregation of people with different views,
ideas and backgrounds will also improve – coupled
with better health by getting outdoors – through such a
project that will take people to the rural areas. Creative
and innovative approaches have also been found
necessary to improve people’s willingness and ability
to have longer-term sense of citizenship. The project is
taking place between January and April 2018.
See page 17 for more details
The community members who participate in this
project also gain skills and knowledge in managing and
organising meetings, managing and determining all
aspects of the project including how best to organise
transport, food sharing, practical skills and opportunities