My Tree Story: Clifford Chatima

Posted June 9, 2021

My Tree story

My name is Clifford Chatima I grew up in Bindura. Bindura being a mining town made tree appreciation a thing of no value. I always thought it’s the fruit trees that needed to be planted since we get direct benefits from them. I would see trees being cut without replacement for illegal miners to perform their mining activities, somehow it made sense as they would get gold and other minerals which catered for their survival and that of their children little did they know not replacing the tree they were actually putting their lives and that of others on the line.

As time goes on I started seeing a clear picture of how these miners were degrading our environment making it ugly, unsafe and infertile. I opened my eyes and envisioned something different. I decided to venture and learn more on how best our environment can be maintained and greening it was the way to go. I had exposure of the Marange forests, pleasant and beautiful the level of tree appreciation at the area was just overwhelming and it moved me. The place already has more trees than where I come from but they still feel the need to green it. There are a lot of ghost lands in Bindura and I feel the responsibility to address the issue and green our environment.

If you were a tree what tree would you be and why?

I would be a blue gum tree. Strong and tall, it gives a beautiful sight. Their waving sound and beautiful blue leaves brings harmony. When I am down I come back as many times stronger, just like a gum tree does when cut.

Its wood is used for timber and pulp. An essential oil is distilled from the leaves and its flowers are favoured by bees.

I would love to be a gum tree as it saves as motivation to many people, its seed are very very small yet it produces a very big and tall tree. No matter how small someone is big things can come from them. And when it has been cut it shoots from many angles and comes back in many numbers.