THREE giants on the sustainable development front have partnered in a greening initiative for Mbekweni township - the Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT), The Ackerman Family Foundation and the UN award winning social enterprise, Food and Trees For Africa (FTFA).
A total of 112 resilient indigenous trees are now taking root besides the houses which were built during the annual NMTT Building Blitz Week in March last year.
A total of 500 Irish volunteers (300 of which were women) built 75 houses for this impoverished community, providing two and three bedroomed homes with kitchen and bathroom, running water, electricity and sanitation.
Now, to improve the standards of living for this community even more, one of FTFA’s uniquely developed programmes, Trees For Homes, is being implemented hand in hand with the community, with funding being provided by NMTT and the Ackerman Family Foundation.
The FTFA community-building projects achieve more than the pioneering introduction of indigenous and fruit trees into barren landscapes - they educate the community members, prompt them to action, and ensure accountability by various post-planting interactions to assess development and to receive feedback on the progress.
Currently over 2000 low cost housing units have been constructed and occupied in Mbekweni.
