The love for plants led citizen Eurico Xavier to take care of afforestation, spending his own money, in various places in the city of Luanda
A senior member of TAAG, the retired Eurico Xavier always liked dealing with nature, as he wanted to study at the Tchivinguiro Agricultural School, when he lived in the city of Lubango, province of Huíla, but for various reasons his desire did not come to fruition. come to fruition. Still, in 2010 he decided to follow his passion and planted the first two acacias, in the 4 de Fevereiro Airport car park.
Unfortunately, only one survived, while the other didn’t survive because it was exactly on this tree where those passing by were urinating. She continued with the plantations, on Avenida Brasil, from the old judiciary to the Chechenia Building; in Chamavo, from Movicel to the Faculty of Sciences; in Largo do Anangola, in front of the Hotel Alameda, in the Alto das Cruzes Cemetery, at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, next to the Dona Ana Joaquina Court, and the last ones were planted following the Corimba viaduct.
Plants grow healthily, despite the various attacks they suffer. Eurico Xavier spends out of his pocket to buy the plants in the Kikuxi canal, he has had the support of two or three young people, during the planting period, who carry water, a hoe and other means. Normally they spend the morning, on weekdays, planting, and at the weekend, Saturday or Sunday, irrigation is carried out.
Unfortunately, the planted trees do not all grow, because street children, when under the influence of drugs, destroy them. Even so, the plants are replaced and “currently I have to make a new plantation, from Largo da Independência to the old TPA facilities, because I have some seedlings that were broken.
I even planted 30 red acacias, only 14 are still standing”, lamented Eurico Xavier. Recently, the interviewee received two donations from the Provincial Government of Luanda consisting of 24 acacia seedlings and a three-wheel motorized tanker, with a capacity of one thousand liters of water. Along the same path, it also received support from the Sambizanga District Administration, which provided more tree seedlings. In total, he says he has already planted, on his own, 55 acacias in various parts of Luanda, plus the 24 that were recently donated. A recent plantation he made was following Shoprite do Palanca, where he planted 18 acacia seedlings.
According to the resident of the urban district of Ingombota, for now he is planting red acacias, which, despite some people arguing that their roots are very strong and destroying the sidewalk, he tries to maintain enough space so that this does not happen. Eurico is of the opinion that areas such as Avenida Brasil and the descent from the 1st Congress should be intervened now, including the Island of Luanda, where the GPL advises that palm trees be planted. “The palm tree is more expensive, it costs between three and five thousand kwanzas, in addition to, in my opinion, it does not provide shade and only contributes to the beautification of the city”, he maintains. If I might plant 50 trees over the weekend, I would, but unfortunately it depends on my pensioner’s salary.
Jacaranda might also beautify Luanda
According to Eurico Xavier, there is no limit area for plantations, every area he passes through catches his attention, it just needs to have an empty space. On one of his trips abroad, he met a different acacia, called Jacarandá, which produces rock-colored flowers, and which has only three seedlings in the growth phase in its nursery. “The biggest obstacle has been the lack of knowledge regarding the importance of a tree among the population. Initially, when I started planting, I had to replant two to three times a week in the same space because people would just rip it out,” he said.
Now, whenever he plants a tree, he places some sticks around it for protection, which the garbage collector boys later take out and use to sort through the waste in the containers. Our interviewee argues that every citizen should plant and care for a tree. Regarding the fact that many defend the planting of fruit trees, Eurico said that, due to the lack of environmental education, it would not be viable, exemplifying that on the Island of Luanda, where there are many fig trees, children throw stones even when the fruit it’s green. “If we improve in terms of environmental education, I will be able to plant orange trees, guava trees, loquat trees, fig trees, lemon trees, among other trees. For now, it is not viable”, he concluded.
