It was a busy period at The Rwenzori Founders and Kyemihoko village in July 2022. The film crew arrived with a tight schedule and spent their time talking to many members of our community as we built a picture of what we do here, our challenges and our successes. They were interested in how we create awareness, protect wildlife and encourage biodiversity alongside any responses from the community.
They raised initial production funds by offering to plant trees with us which was tremendously successful. We are proud to say a variety of 1200 indigenous species were purchased and care funded for 6 months. Our next task is to bring the village electricity as part of the hospital development and a community donation from Films for Change in thanks for people's participation, will contribute to that.
The tree planting was an engaging activity for our village who formed their own planting team. Isaac our head re-wilder drew up a planting plan with coloured pegs hammered in place representing different tree types. Wood for which was recycled from the new hospital offcuts. These were pegged where farmers chose to plant them which included lining some along the road. We look forward to becoming the greenest village as they rapidly grow and produce fruit. Every villager who came forward was given a fruiting tree or medicinal tree as well as a shade tree.
The most challenging planting session was to provide one of our good neighbours with trees to help stop erosion on the hills above us - an example to others. Here the soil is loose and easily washed away. The hill climb was a tough scramble but expertly covered by the film crew. Up there it was important to plant before the rains came to give the saplings a fighting chance and that meant carrying water up daily. A huge thanks go to our dedicated village planters and to all our sponsors.
If we are to save the Rwenzori water table, water issues cannot be ignored and we were filmed repairing a leaking pipe and seeking new sources. Our trees need water but part of our community offering when we started was to provide the village with piped water, this season when the pipe dried, that had to be maintained.
The season was very dry and much of the wildlife kept hidden but the team will be back next year with the rains to compare and contrast and focus on our wildlife so please watch this space.