Makhotso Sotyu, deputy minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, will launch the “1 000 Stories, 100 000 Trees” initiative in Hoopstad, Free State, in commemoration of women and their contribution towards liberation. Celebrating these strides made by women, the initiative will be launched tomorrow, Tuesday (08/08) X coalescing with the annual Women’s Month celebrations.
The “1 000 Stories, 100 000 Trees” initiative is a collaborative grassroots project initiated by the non-profit organisation (NPO), She Evolves. This organisation strives to empower women across South Africa’s rural landscape. The initiative is targeting women in the Tswelopele Local Municipality and presently has about 200 participants. A selective number will share their stories too at the launch.
This initiative unites women from all walks of life to share their inspiring stories while planting trees, sparking a wave of positive change in their communities. Community change makers gather with other women to share their personal stories of triumph in hopes to inspire more change makers, inspire social cohesion and environmental development through storytelling, the planting of trees, and launching of food gardens.
This year’s Women’s Month has “Accelerating Socio-Economic Opportunities for the Empowerment of Women” as its theme. The promotion of women’s empowerment is central to efforts to combat poverty and stimulate sustainable developments. One of the project’s key goals is to establish a community food garden which will create a micro informal market for women in the area.
Historically, women’s celebrations during this month is in reference to 9 August 1956, when more than 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the apartheid government’s introduction of the legislation of the pass laws aimed at tightening control of black women movement in urban areas in South Africa.
The marchers protested the introduction of the apartheid pass laws for black women in 1952, and presented a petition to the then prime minister, Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom, also known as Hans Strijdom and nicknamed the “Lion of the North” or the “Lion of Waterberg.”
