Chinese firm in Uganda plant trees with local students

WAKISO, Uganda, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan students and a Chinese company planted trees here on Monday ahead of China's National Tree Planting Day, which falls on March 12.

Students from Good Samaritan Secondary School and officials of CRJE (East Africa) Limited, a construction company, planted trees at the school in Uganda's central district of Wakiso.

Liu Qiang, general manager of CRJE (East Africa) Limited, told the students that planting trees has been a prevalent practice for the Chinese.

China designated March 12 as National Tree Planting Day in 1979. To mark the day, citizens are encouraged to adopt or nurture trees, donate money, and conduct volunteer work related to trees.

Quoting a Chinese saying, "It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate people," Liu encouraged the students to continue learning throughout their lives, explaining that the current generation should emulate their predecessors who planted trees so that future generations could enjoy the benefits.

Anthony Mutambo, the school's head teacher, thanked the Chinese firm for partnering with the school to plant trees.

"I would like to hail the Chinese firm for partnering with our school in this tree planting campaign that would enable our students to learn the importance of maintaining a good environment in school," Mutambo said.

Joan Namagembe, a student at the school, also said planting trees is important to protect and preserve the school's environment.

According to Uganda's National Forestry Authority, a state-run agency, Uganda has lost 3 million hectares of forest cover in the last 25 years. According to the agency, restoring about 36,000 hectares of forest cover each year would reverse the country's deforestation trend by 2040.