“Even if I knew that tomorrow the
world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree” –
Martin Luther King
Vimukti charitable trust® joined hands with the stakeholders in the
project area to help reduce carbon footprint by planting native
trees best known for their properties of purifying the polluted
atmosphere and providing a clean and healthy environment; ‘Maguvige
ondu Mara’, a novel method of introducing awareness among children
in their young age to cultivate the habit of nurturing and
protecting plants. Each child is given saplings and asked to take
oath that, they as future custodians would take responsibility of
preserving plants. This program targets learners in years1 and 2
with a view that he/ she will nurture the trees as he/ she continues
his elementary education. The idea is to create a bond between
children and trees, right from childhood. It has three components;
1) Education 2) planting 3) promotion awareness raising; This will
encourage and inspire more people to plant trees themselves.
Objectives realized:
Teaching the child to be a responsible member of the
community.
To raise the awareness of children on the value of trees and the
environment.
To contribute to make schools greenery.
To establish partnership between schools, government and NGOs and
the community.
To raise the profile of the schools as environment- friendly
institutions.
Success; the project has planted close to 5000 saplings for the past
five years in 32 schools and delivered learning sessions to
approximately 9000 students. It also inspired the stakeholders to
continue looking after the environment and to work in partnership
with different groups.
