Heritage Day 2011 saw the coming together of 500 eager volunteers, 1000 trees, 16 plant sites and heaps of passion to green the undergreened. With RamsayMedia as a media sponsor, Greenpop managed to raise 1000 indigenous and fruit trees, all of which were planted around the Cape Town suburb of Manenberg – in schools, the local police station, the bus terminal, community gardens and the Manenberg Waterfront. Planters included volunteers from the recipient schools, Hershel School, the German School, the Durbanville Methodist Church and the Department of Human Settlements.
The most uplifting part of my day was the coming together of helpers from different walks of life, all excited to partake in this revolutionary urban greening project. Planters started to arrive at 08h30 on Saturday (that’s what I call true commitment!) and were split into 14 teams, each with a Greenpop affiliated team leader and a trained horticulturist. Before planting kicked off, students from Red River Primary School led everyone in singing the National Anthem and Mo from Mfusion Danz warmed us up with hip-happy dance moves to Mango Groove. With muscles warmed and smiles stretched, everyone left the Proudly Manenberg headquarters for their designated plant sites.
Within four hours all the trees had been planted and volunteers returned to Proudly Manenberg for an afternoon of music and celebration, and of course a Heritage Day braai! Planting was hard work but with a positive attitude and great teamwork all teams managed to plant their allocated number of trees with hours of sunshine to spare. Huge congratulations to Greenpop, their partners and all the tree planters for an extraordinary day!
Join the treevolution: Gift a tree or sign up as a volunteer at www.greenpop.org
