Blog, Mission Possible, Aug 2016. From planting mangoes to saying goodbyes.
It was the volunteers’ final day in the village of Mzambarauni in District Pangani as part of their Mission Possible deployment to Tanzania. Before their goodbyes to the villagers, there was time for an awareness session on combating deforestation and practical help on the subject with the planting of mango trees, as outlined by Nabil Ahmed and Asim Siddiqui.
Nabil Ahmed: It was the Mission Possible team’s final day in Pangani. Today we had arranged for the local villagers and schoolchildren of Mzambarauni to receive a training session on the effects of deforestation on the environment. I had prepared a leaflet beforehand which had been translated into Swahili and was given out at the start of the session.
The training session was interactive, involving the audience. I explained what deforestation is, the reasons for deforestation, the benefits of trees and the disadvantages of cutting down trees, as well as going through possible solutions to combat deforestation.
To finish off the session the schoolchildren sang a traditional song. After the training, we planted some mango trees in the school grounds with the help of the villagers. A total of 100 trees were planted.
It was then time for our goodbyes to the local people and we made our way to the Islamic Help Pangani office where Amjad Khan (IH Tanzania head of operations) gave a presentation explaining the numerous projects of Islamic Help in Tanzania. We then left for the airport, en route stopping at a number of masjids being built by Islamic Help. We also had the chance to see some water and livelihood projects.
Asim Siddiqui: Today was a short and sweet day. We began in Mzambarauni village doing a training session on deforestation with the local schoolchildren and elders.
We planted some mango trees alongside the locals as our way of helping counter-act the current deforestation in the area. We then headed over to the Islamic Help office in Pangani where Amjad bhai talked us through the other projects Islamic Help is involved in within Tanzania. It has done a significant amount of work in the last few years.
It was then off to Tanga airport but we stopped along the way at a couple of masjids that were being built with previous donations. They are very impressive structures with large capacities, concrete structures, toilets and wudhoo facilities. It’s very impressive how much work the charity is delivering to those most in need.
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