Francis's story
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Meet Francis
Francis lives in Yendi with his wife and three girls. They rely on the Daka river for survival. "We use the river for cooking, washing our clothes, and catching the fish." But the effects of the climate crisis and a reduction in trees — known as deforestation — are causing the river to dry up for longer periods each year.
Francis joined a Tree Aid project and is now growing and restoring trees along the riverbank to help secure the vital water source for generations to come.
Before the project
"There are a lot of challenges the community faces. From my childhood, most of the trees species have disappeared. We have short rainfalls and it fluctuates and we face drought.
Because of the reduction of soil fertility, we don’t good yields. We have to reduce our intake of food in order to get through to the next rainy season.
When the sediment gets into the river, it makes the river dry up earlier. In the dry season when there is no water, it is a difficult time."
“In the dry season when there is no water, it is a difficult time because if there is no water for the animals and people to drink. You cannot live without water.”
Since joining the project
“We received a lot of training from the project. It is through the training that we learned how to plant more trees to protect the sediment from getting into the river.
Through this project, we can get water during the dry season because we are now planting a lot of species at the riverbank.
I will use the training on my farms when I am planting my crops to increase the crop yield.”
Looking to the future
"I will be able to use what I have learned from the project to help my family. Through these trees, I hope my family will benefit from education. It will help us in not suffering in the lean season because we will be getting a lot of fruits, and income from the trees.
Because of the project, in the future, it will reduce the poverty rate because the community can use fruits to sell and also use it as food."
