Mbombela - Pupils from a Mpumalanga school want all schools in the province to have indigenous trees.
The pupils, from Tekwane Primary School outside Mbombela, planted 50 indigenous trees on Wednesday following a donation from ABSA.
"Trees are life and they also help us with oxygen. I will make sure that these trees we planted today produce fruits and shade during hot days. Our wish is for businesses to donate trees to every school in Mpumalanga and keep our province green," said Grade 5 pupil Sphesihle Ndwandwe.
Eleven-year-old Sphesihle said she was happy to plant trees at her school and she would encourage other pupils to water the trees and protect them.
Tekwane Primary School also received vegetable seedlings to create a garden.
The ABSA donation was part of the bank's Eduplant programme, which seeks to educate and train school children, teachers and communities about environmental issues.
ABSA's Corporate Social Investment general manager Mihloti Mathye said the bank's 2011 Make a Difference (MAD) campaign aimed at donating indigenous trees to 37 selected schools countrywide.
She said the campaign included the cleaning of school grounds and the expansion of existing food garden projects in partnership with NGO Food and Trees for Africa.
School principal Nombango Maphanga promised that the school's garden project would be fruitful.
"Our school is still young and we have already planted few trees in the yard; this will add to the beauty of the school and we are happy that we are addressing climate change," said Maphanga.
"We promise that they will enjoy fruits from the mango trees next time they visit the school."
