Origins of the Project

Unsanctioned small scale gold prospecting in the communal lands around Chinyere and Chiriseri villages (Domboshawa, Zimbabwe), held community members since before the colonial era, has exacerbated the combined effects of climate change and dependence on local firewood for cooking and on chemical fertilisers for growing crops. The local community witnessed the sudden loss of mature trees and the pollution of essential waterways as a result of the gold panning activities of outsiders.

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This experience of the erosion of tree cover and with it their hopes for the survival of future generations on these ancestral lands has prompted a small but deep rooted cultural response. Together with family members and some local food growers, Wellington Chinyere began to experiment with seed collection and propagation in the local forest area and to explore traditionally held knowledge of the biodiversity on which the communities have depended for centuries. The Trees of Hope Project (treesofhopezim.com) emerged from these shared restorative and regenerative actions.

In a mirrored response by his brother, Kennedy Tafara Chinyere, a small UK based group, Trees of Hope UK (ToH UK), was established in 2019 and promoted through community based music, arts and
activities on the east side of Dartmoor between Chagford and Bovey Tracey. This initiative gained status as a UK based Community Interest Company (ToH CIC) in 2022, providing an accountable base for raising funds and distributing proceeds to support the activities of the Trees of Hope Project. Regular transfers of monies are attempting to keep pace with the aspirations and achievements of the growing Zimbabwean based team. The narratives of this exhibition, shared through pictures and words, provide a glimpse of how, on a small plot of planet earth, the relationships between people and land are changing.