DICT SUPPORTS THE COMMUNITY
February 08, 2010 by dyertrust
A JOINT PROJECT OF DYER ISLAND CONSERVATION TRUST ANDGROOTBOS FOUNDATION 08 FEBRUARY 2010
Gansbaai finally has a high school. The new Gansbaai Secondary School opened in January. It was opened as a no fee school to benefit the local community, and although a low fee has been implemented to cover some running costs, this still leaves the school with many requirements. Besides supporting our environment, the Dyer Island Conservation Trust feels very strongly about giving back to the community and the offer by the Trust to donate some trees to the school grounds was met with much appreciation by school principal, Wessel Havenga.
The Trust called on the expertise of Sean Privett, Director of the Grootbos Foundation and together with Joan Carboni of the Foundations Landscaping Collaborative, and the efforts of theGreen Futuresteam, we were able to donate twenty trees in total, along with a much needed hosepipe.
The Grootbos Foundation Landscaping Collaborative does landscaping for residential, estate, commercial & industrial properties & conservation sites using graduates from theGreen Futures College. Profits from this are then fed back into theGrootbos Foundation, and this in turn supports the Green Futures College, Growing the Futures & the Spaces for Sports projects.
With our local press in attendance, and some very enthusiastic school pupils of Grade 9, we all got our hands dirty, learning how to correctly plant and position a tree as well as how often to water it. We planted two hardy tree types to withstand the winds and salty airthe camphor bush (Tarchonanthus camphoratus) and the wild silver oak (Brachylaena discolor). The trees were given personal names by the pupils as they took ownership as to their future care. We hope that in twenty years times the trees will stand as testament to the schools history and something that those pupils involved will look back on with pride.
Special thanks go to the Grootbos Foundation team – Sean Privett, Joan Carboni, Susan Lochner, Sharlene de Villiers, Eric Nteto and Viola Siyotwya and Fasttrax Marine for assistance with photographs.
