Green success in Ndwedwe

Two Wildlands employees were recently rewarded for their commitment to educating and empowering Ndwedwe residents to be self-sufficient.

The Ilembe District SEEP & ECO-Schools Awards for 2015 were held in KwaDukuza and honoured Wildlands project manager, David Moldenhauer for his role in the Youth Environmental Services (YES) programme.

“The YES programme is aimed at helping matric leavers realise their full potential, by teaching them to learn to use what they have in hand, head and heart, that is, skill, knowledge and passion,” said Moldenhauer, who worked with 27 youths in Ndwedwe alone.

The YES programme is a partnership between the Department of Environmental Affairs and Wildlands.

“It is impossible to protect or rehabilitate a forest without the surrounding community’s involvement. We run various projects to help achieve this.”

This is where his team supervisor and fellow award winner for making a difference in the Ndwedwe community, Thinta Khumalo comes in.

“Thinta is a magic guy. He is the neatest person I have ever met. We work in rural areas, which means dusty, dirty roads and so on, but Thinta is always spotless. His bakkie is clean, clothes neat, shoes polished – incredible.”

With the Greenpreneurs project, they teach the community about indigenous plants and how to harvest and grow seeds. When the trees they have grown have reached a certain height, they barter with them.

“The trees are swapped for Jojo tanks, school fees or Shoprite vouchers, for example.”

They have a similar project called Wastepreneurs, which is based on recycling instead of planting trees.

Khumalo has worked with Wildlands since 2013 and loves his job.

“Leading people makes you humble. I am passionate about seeing communities take responsibility for themselves and being proud of who they are. Working with the gogo’s is my favourite.”

Besides working with people, he enjoys running and has recently started a running group in his hometown, Ndwedwe.

“Five of us run every morning at 4am. I start work at 6.30am and after work, I go to adult school to complete my matric.”

Khumalo is involved in three different areas – planting indigenous trees through the greenpreneurs programme, removing and monitoring alien plants and his favourite, community projects.

“We have clean-up projects, awareness campaigns to teach the community how to plant vegetable gardens and harvest and grow indigenous seeds. We also work with schools and do youth development.”

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