Schools back bid to plant a million trees with Self Help Africa

Schools across Northern Ireland are being urged to support a Northern Ireland wide campaign that’s aiming to plant one million trees, to combat climate change.
By Helen McGurk
Published 27th Feb 2023, 11:11 BST
Staff and pupils from Ballyclare Secondary School plant a tree in support of Self Help Africa's One Million Trees project to help combat climate change. Pictured are 12 year olds Brian Russell and Robert Sloan with General Secretary of the NI branch of the Irish National School Teachers Association (INTO) Gerry Murphy, INTO rep Brian Adams, General Secretary of the UTI Jacqui White, UTI rep Leigh McKay, Rev T. Kirkland (Chair of school board of governors), school principal Wendy Shingleton, Sean McMahon of Self Help Africa, Siobhan McElhiney (NC Chair), and Jim Campbell, Sean McMahon and Ciara Tallon, representing the charity. www.selfhelpafrica.orgStaff and pupils from Ballyclare Secondary School plant a tree in support of Self Help Africa's One Million Trees project to help combat climate change. Pictured are 12 year olds Brian Russell and Robert Sloan with General Secretary of the NI branch of the Irish National School Teachers Association (INTO) Gerry Murphy, INTO rep Brian Adams, General Secretary of the UTI Jacqui White, UTI rep Leigh McKay, Rev T. Kirkland (Chair of school board of governors), school principal Wendy Shingleton, Sean McMahon of Self Help Africa, Siobhan McElhiney (NC Chair), and Jim Campbell, Sean McMahon and Ciara Tallon, representing the charity. www.selfhelpafrica.org
Staff and pupils from Ballyclare Secondary School plant a tree in support of Self Help Africa's One Million Trees project to help combat climate change. Pictured are 12 year olds Brian Russell and Robert Sloan with General Secretary of the NI branch of the Irish National School Teachers Association (INTO) Gerry Murphy, INTO rep Brian Adams, General Secretary of the UTI Jacqui White, UTI rep Leigh McKay, Rev T. Kirkland (Chair of school board of governors), school principal Wendy Shingleton, Sean McMahon of Self Help Africa, Siobhan McElhiney (NC Chair), and Jim Campbell, Sean McMahon and Ciara Tallon, representing the charity. www.selfhelpafrica.org

Self Help Africa Northern Ireland is distributing native Irish tree saplings and age appropriate classroom resources to each school that signs up to support its tree planting initiative.

To date the charity has signed up more than 300 schools across Ireland to support their effort. The Northern branch of the Irish National School Teachers Association (INTO) is now launching their springtime campaign, with saplings being delivered to participating schools between March 6 and 10.

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The schools’ tree planting is part of Self Help Africa’s ‘One Million Trees’ campaign which is planting a million trees in Africa and 100,000 new native trees in Ireland.

Participating schools are asking for voluntary contributions per child towards the One Million Trees project, with each donation of £2 enabling the charity to plant five trees in the school’s name, in Africa.

Ciara Tallon of Self Help Africa said: “Children are extremely passionate about the environment. Young people are already actively engaged with initiatives like Green Schools, they are frequently the champions of waste reduction and recycling in the home, and they understand how important trees are to removing damaging greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.”

Campaign co-ordinator Sean McMahon, a former President of INTO, said that they have received some great expressions of interest from schools across Northern Ireland and that lots of classes are planning a ‘Dress Up in Green’ day to support the project, over the coming months.

Schools are being asked to register their interest at: https://selfhelpafrica.org/onemilliontrees/schools/

Related topics:Northern IrelandSchoolsAfrica