"The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy,
and after all, our most pleasing responsibility."
― Wendell Berry
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The Matim Primary School is a government-run school in the Arusha District of Northern Tanzania. The area is extremely arid and dry. I traveled with a number of my Unite teammates to visit Matim in December 2021, and together with Matim headmaster Angweni Lang’o and co-directors of the USA-based nonprofit A is for Africa, which has been working with Matim for years, Rick and Mary Anne Smith, we came up with the concept for Project Green Matim. Our goal: To help address the school’s desperate need for water, trees, and nutritious edible gardens to create a healthier and more hospitable environment in which the 1,544 young students (ages 3 to 13) can grow, learn, play, and thrive. Click HERE to see Rick Smith speak about Unite’s partnership with A is for Africa and our shared mission to improve conditions and create enhanced educational opportunities for Tanzanian children.
(Left) Students at the Matim School in December 2021 during our Unite team visit. (Right) Mwalimu Lang’o shows us where the gardens will be planted.
Elements of Project Green Matim include the planting of ~500+ trees, including fruit trees (Lemon, Banana, Guava) as well as shade and timber trees (Markhamia Lutea, Lolindo, Sesbania, Grevillea, Ficus). Many of the trees for Project Green Matim were donated by ECHO East Africa. ECHO is an international non-profit working to reduce hunger and improve lives by providing small-scale farmers around the world by providing such essential resources as agricultural training and seed banks of highly underutilized plants. Click HERE to see ECHO’s Tanzania Country Director Erwin Kinsey speak about the importance of this project. Unite is purchasing additional species of trees (not available through ECHO) including Avocado, Mango, Tangerine, and Orange to round out and complete this new fruit tree orchard at Matim School.
Matim School children help with the first wave of tree planting. Click HERE to see a video of these “Project Green Matim” students in action.
Additionally, “Project Green Matim” includes the planting of school/community gardens filled with plants donated by ECHO (and those chosen by Matim’s Headmaster Mwalimu Lang’o) to make more nutritious vegetables available to the children and community.
A is for Africa sponsors a porridge program at Matim school. The porridge is made of maize, sugar, water, and fortified cooking oil. While these students are lucky to have food provided (most government day schools do not provide any food or water), the addition of a school garden and the fruit trees will provide much-needed added nutrition.
Additionally, to ensure there is enough water on-site to nourish the tree seedlings and school/community garden, Unite has engaged ECHO to build two water hafirs. Hafirs are water catchment basins built with earthen walls and lined with tarpaulins that collect and hold rainwater to provide a stable, long-term water source. Water hafirs have been used in central Sudan for centuries Click HERE to see teammates of ECHO in the process of building out these water holding tanks.
Unite is funding the construction of two hafirs at Matim School to provide water for Project Green Matim.
A very special thanks to our teammates in Tanzania who are making this “Project Green Matim” possible. We are grateful for your partnership and shared commitment.
Teammates Clara Wilson Ngowi (Unite Environmental Scientist), Gaudence Moshy (Unite Logistics Coordinator), Erwin Kinsey (ECHO Director), Venance Mollel (ECHO Trainer), Anty Marche (Unite Program Director), and Calvin Kessy (Unite A-Level Scholar) at the ECHO nursery in Arusha, March 2022.
Matim teachers assisting with the planting and care of the trees and gardens: Elizabeth Leskari, Jackline Mollel, Paulina Laizer, Ezekieli Saitoto, Upendo Mbwambo; and (right) Headmaster of Matim and Project “Chief” Mr. Angweni Lang’o.
Unite Executive Director Anne Wells with a few of the 1,544 students of Matim school (photo taken in December 2021).
Note: In June 2022, I will visit the Matim school again with a number of teammates and partners to execute environmental workshops for the children and to assess the progress of “Project Green Matim.” I look forward to updating you about this project again once I return home mid-summer.