By Spy Uganda
Kampala: GRO foundation has partnered with ministry of tourism, wildlife and antiquities together with cultural and heritage Association Uganda to organize a series of activities to commemorate Uganda’s 61st independence happening today Monday October 9th 2023.
The activities including memorial tree planting at Uganda Museum, a mega tour around Uganda museum, culture performances and a national cultural festival exhibition that happened yesterday Sunday 8th October 2023, were meant to promote Uganda’s rich cultural heritage and create awareness about the activities that happened on the 8th October 1962 before Uganda officially got her independence.
The GRO Foundation a social-impact organization dedicated to changing lives through environmental conservation has boosted this years independence unique celebration by donating hundreds of trees which were planted at Uganda Museum as one of the ways to conserve the environment.
Speaking during the activities that took place at Uganda Museum in Kamyokya on Sunday Jackeline Nyirakiza Besigye, the acting commissioner for Museum and monuments noted that the day was special having been joined by different organizations to promote cultural heritage which tourists especially Ugandans have not fully acknowledged and paid much attention to compared to other tourism products.
According to Jackeline, beginning this year, the ministry of tourism intends to diversify tourism products with more focus on promotion of cultural heritage and environmental conservation as well as decolonizing the collections at Uganda Museum and improvise new means of presenting and preserving the artcrafts and monuments in the museum.
Jackeline further noted that Uganda Museum where the Independence Pavilion was established remains significant in documenting the history and the pre-activities of Uganda’s independence and called upon Ugandans to prioritize visiting the Museum as one the ways to promote and supporting Uganda’s rich history.
Adding his voice to the celebrations, Laban Musinguzi Joshua, one of the members of cultural and heritage Association Uganda noted that GRO foundation has played a Significant role by boosting the pre- independence activities this year with over 100 trees and also intends to expand tree planting project to over 250 millions trees across Uganda by 2030.
Meanwhile Dr Amos Ocheng, a lecturer at Makerere University and founding member of Umoja cultural Heritage association of Uganda intimated that the tree planting has been done to preserve and conserve the environment and climate as well as feeding the next generation in a few years to come.
He further highlighted the significance of the 8th day of October 1962 that saw the British colonizers agree to grant Uganda her independence and the former Prime Minister Dr. Apollo Milton Obote launching the Independence Pavilion at Uganda Museum signaling Uganda’s self rule.
And Here Are More Details About GRO Foundation Which Intends To Change Lives Of Ugandans With Tree Planting
The GRO Foundation is set to invest over $100m in tree planting in Uganda under their mission of planting 1 billion trees globally by 2030.
According to the Organization’s founder Mr Paul Flynn, they aim to plant a minimum of 255 million trees, invest about 100 million USD in the process and generate 1 billion USD for the Ugandan government.
Paul Flynn is a Ugandan-Irish born in Germany, an internationally acclaimed environmental philanthropist who was awarded at the recent PAP Global Awards with an African Environmental Philanthropist Award.
The Organization on Monday 4th September 2023, working with Hope International, an NGO that operates schools, visited various schools in the areas of Lugazi, Kampala, where they planted trees and also checked on the locations where they had planted community fruit trees.
”We are finalizing discussions on several pocket forests. But large-scale reforestation is being discussed at Mabira Forest and R.Riwizi,” Mr Paul Flynn told the media recently.
Through planting these trees the Foundation harvests ISO-certified carbon certificates, which they sell to individuals, corporations, and global brands and this is their source of income that enables them to push their dream of ensuring a greener world but more importantly lifting families out of poverty forever.
GRO certificates are independently verified and registered on the blockchain to certify the buyer as green. And with this, you can now protect the environment and positively change people’s lives by offsetting your carbon footprint with GRO Foundation.
The Foundation uses proceeds from certificate sales to establish livelihood projects such as small-hold farms, fruit farms, food forests, fish farms, and animal and beekeeping and fund education, healthcare and clean water facilities not for themselves but for the communities.
Here Are Some Of The Pictorial Moments We Captured For You From Uganda Museum
