Personal testimony - Sylivester Nyinyimbe

Country: TANZANIA Name: Sylivester N. Nyinyimbe Date of birth: 27th Dec 1957 Home address: PO Box 147, Bunda, Tanzania Co-ordinator FIOH Tanzania After completing secondary school education I was employed as a bank clerk. After that I became a an electronics technician repairing radios, cassette players, etc. I am also a peasant farmer in horticulture and forestry. I have a wife, one son and four daughters. I have been interested in tree planting and gardening since I was a boy and I have corresponded with many environmental and development non-government organisations and institutes in other parts of the world. I have done this with a view increasing my knowledge so that I would be better able to help others in the district where I live. In 1994, I joined with a group of friends to promote afforestation activities. We established a tree seedling nursery and distributed seeds to people in the area with a view to halting desertification. The area around Bunda has been severely deforested in the past to increase agricultural areas, provide wood for fuelwood and charcoal and timber for construction of houses and furniture. In 1997 we were able to transplant trees for fruit, timber, shade and for ornamental uses. Now much of the district is attractive and several people have come to take seeds and cuttings to plant in their own areas. In the same year I came to know of a UK charity named Plant a Tree in Africa (PATIA) which provided a very helpful small grant which enabled us to expand our activities. In 2000 I decided to devote my time to development work and founded an NGO provisionally called the 'Environmental Conservation and Development Project'. In 2001 Mr Marios Cleovoulou, a volunteer from London, UK came to visit me on behalf of PATIA to inspect the work we were doing and write a report. Early in 2002, after we came to know of the Future in Our Hands in the UK, we decided to become the Tanzania branch of FIOH and were officially government registered in 2002. Our present activities (2003) are related to health, environmental activities and poverty reduction and we have obtained a grant of £800 from the Future in Our Hands Education and Development Fund to help us take this programme forward. We would like to collaborate with other organisations world-wide who would like to support our efforts.