***This is the second page for the same fundraising which launched in April 2023. The first page expired and had raised £1053 from 33 very kind supporters.

In 2018, when revisiting her father’s land in Western Province, Namwaka and her husband were alarmed by the deforestation they saw and, as a result, the following year they decided to invest their lives in the area. They swapped city life for village life moving from Lusaka to Silundu, 20 minutes drive south of Mongu, to begin a new life with their two children and set about work to address the decades of tree loss. In order to make this goal a reality, Namwaka established Rain Drops Community Foundation (Rain Drops) in 2019. Alongside Namwaka, there are 3 women and her husband who support the activities and serve as board members.

They have since attracted many locals who visit to find out more, given out 700 tree seedlings, organised events to talk about the loss of trees, climate change, the benefits to planting, producing sustainable charcoal from rice husks and meeting with the local chief to gain support. All this work has been possible through personal funds and family support, but the organisation cannot grow from this income source. Therefore, Rain Drops is now raising £6,000 for their ambitious community outreach work in 2023. This work will focus on informing, inspiring and incentivising the local communities about the importance of their forests remaining healthy, of understanding climate change and supporting them to plant trees that will provide lasting benefits.

How will the funds be spent.

- Grow bags, seeds, compost and travel costs for 10,000 tree seedlings,

- Travel costs for up to 4 Rain Drops staff for meeting village chiefs and events with groups which follow, and allowances for food and accommodation where necessary,

- Hire of venues for events,

- Allowances for all attendees at events, and - Marketing through flyers and posters for meetings and events.

- Installation of a borehole and pump for irrigation at the Silundu tree nursery and garden.

The project in more detail

After fundraising in April and May work will begin towards the objectives with a particular focus in those 4 months before October. Why this time frame? The local region is heavily influenced by the meandering Zambezi River to the west. The next 6 months are quieter ones for most local communities who have already planted their rice fields along the river's banks and will return at the end of the year for the harvest. Therefore, now is the best time to engage with these communities as they are more often at home and with more time to give.

The region Rain Drops focuses on includes 8 districts stretching from Mongu in the north and reaching as far south as Sesheke, a distance stretching 300km. Any organisation wishing to work in a district must meet with the local chief to gain their support and approval for activities, so these stakeholder meetings are an essential first step.

With the funds raised the Foundation will inform, motivate and support communities so that they can reverse the decline in their local forests. Firstly, they will highlight how decades of deforestation, at a pace far quicker than nature can naturally regenerate, is posing a risk to the livelihoods. Secondly, they will inform communities about climate change, how the situation in the forests is exacerbating trends and how urgent the need to act is. Lastly, they will demonstrate the long term benefits of increased tree coverage including greater access to wood, the value of fruits produced from trees supplied, increased protection against wild fires and the wider role reforestation will have for the climate.

The challenge in Western Zambia

The local region has sadly seen many decades of unsustainable removal of trees from the forests and most people would agree that wet season rain has decreased considerably. As well as international logging companies, often Chinese owned, being given access to almost completely decimate the precious Rosewood trees that stood for hundreds of years, wood is a regular necessity for the majority of homes. In this rural province, communities relay on trees for building, fires for cooking and hot water and to make charcoal which they sell as a small source of income.

The way of life for most village communities is simple but requires a lot of work relying largely on the surrounding environment. Be this the need for wood or planting a variety of crops such as cassava, corn, rice, sorgham, etc. The standard of living, low level of education and a lack of information or support means that local communities are rarely willing or able to invest time to address deforestation. Rain Drops aims to inspire and support communities to try new approaches in relation to their dependence on forests and the local environment. For example, many locals would not see the benefit of planting trees that they do not live to see, such as the Rosewood, or which take up to 3 years to grow fruit. It is these mentalities and cultural challenges which make it important to give people incentives (covered by allowances and supply of trees).

The tree saplings given out to communities will be made up of a mixture of fruit trees, the Mongongo, Rosewood and a few other species. Rain Drops is particularly interested in combining tree planting and increasing the range of locally grown produce, and have therefore decided to focus on providing fruit trees such as Guava, Lemon, Mango and Papaya. Many local people only believe a few species can grow in the sandy soil but Rain Drops has shown what trees it is possible to grow at their garden in Silundu.

The Mongongo tree is very resilient due to its thick skin, its increased presence in local forests will provide greater resilience against wildfires benefiting both the forest and communities. Namwaka and her team have also witnessed another of the Mongongo's strengths; new trees can be planted by simply putting a branch in the ground and a new tree will grow with little work. Even in the Rain Drops garden, the team witnessed logs used as a fence poles that quickly grew into small mature trees with no intervention.

On the fruit trees, their goal is to increase the coverage of Mango trees to communities as it is the fruit tree lowest in number. In addition, the Rosewood tree was an iconic tree in the region and in Western Zambia sadly most of its population has been felled. Rain Drops wants to bring this tree back. They will inform communities about the importance of such a tree as an asset, the role it plays in healthier forests and what such a tree can do for addressing climate change. The team will also provide full training to community members ensuring they have all the knowledge to look after their new trees and those they already have.

Join the Foundation in its vision to create a healthy environment. Not just for this generation, but for many generations to come.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Rain Drops and read this campaign.

Follow on Facebook @ Rain Drops Community Foundation, Zambia.