“The Arsenal Forest has changed our lives”

We recently received a letter from Mthawali Charo, who wanted to tell us how the Arsenal Forest has changed the lives of him and his family…

“We are very glad we got the opportunity to work with Bore Green Umbrella on the Arsenal tree planting project. Before the Arsenal project was introduced, it was very hard to get work of any kind around Bore and sometimes we had to opt to work in the firewood and charcoal business, which is very tiring and destructive to our environment. When the Arsenal project was started, we were among the first people to be recruited.

“We have been doing different tasks such as bush clearing, removing stumps, weeding, hole digging, and planting and watering the seedlings.

“Before, even feeding the family was a problem. Working at the Arsenal project site has also boosted our social life. We have more friends now than we had before and we have expanded our social circle, which in turn has promoted unity in our community.

“Working at the Arsenal project has also opened our eyes to see the importance of environmental conservation because often we are reminded of the importance of trees and forests in our daily lives – something we did not know before. Because of this, we have also been planting trees in our compound and in our fields.

“Our children are still at school and one of the main benefits we have obtained from working at the Arsenal project is that we have been able to pay their school fees.

“We used to live from hand to mouth but now we have been able to save some money for not only emergencies like hospital bills but we have also been able to move from our old traditional house to a newer, much better one with better walls and a corrugated roof. We have also been able to buy and raise goats, which have become another source of income for us.

“The Arsenal project has changed our lives. It has improved our living standards and impacted our lives positively in multiple ways. Thank you Arsenal.”