Personally, this year had the most heart-breaking start, when I lost my four-legged little shadow and soulmate, Sand. After that my mental health took a tumble back into the abyss, but, (whilst I wasn’t brilliant at taking photos) continuing this project really kept me going. It showed exactly how being in nature can be so healing; after all, we have evolved in nature – it is a safe space for us all where we can just breathe. Furthermore, having something to focus on – especially something that can truly make a difference – is such a good thing to keep you actively doing, to keep you motivated, maybe even a healthy distraction from the overwhelming thoughts and emotions.

So, I was off again – this time with an array of different plant seeds, ensuring that the pollinators and other insects would love them. It’s been so sad to see the decline in insects since I was younger. At one time if the ball went under the great big hebe (aka ‘the bumbleebee bush’) a mass of butterflies would fly into the air, and the huge fuchsia would be alive, buzzing with all the bees in it. Now, there’s only the tiniest fraction of them in our garden. This is why it’s so important to me to have nature-loving plants in the garden. This is just a small way that we help our own environment.

 As the prior year, I was off taking my little plant stall to different places across my little area of Wales. I was showing people the photos from last year’s project, and they loved it. As I spoke about the array of plants I had and their benefits, people bought the plants to take home to their own gardens – hopefully, with the pollinators gratitude (and definitely mine)! 

This year, together we raised £300. Once again, I donated it through the Tanzania Development Trust‘s website (who, as a volunteer-run non-profit, donate 100% of the donations to the projects), and once they looked to see who would benefit most, it was decided to go to Mboni ya Vijana again. Last year’s project was such a success, they decided to extend it with another school garden. This time 600 orange trees were bought. As last year, these would help feed and nourish hungry and impoverished students as well as helping the environment. 

Diolch o galon/Asante sana to everyone who has helped!