Paul Emes, Country Representative of CRS said it is traditional for the institution to embark on similar activities every year in commemoration of Community Day.

According to him, staff members of CRS are deployed across various communities to embark on community projects including this one at the Tacugama Sanctuary.

He disclosed that they equally embarked on a disaster risk reduction program in Dworzak, urban Freetown. He explained that the program aims at reducing risks and impact of disasters, with special focus on flood and mudslide caused by rains.

“We are concerned over projections of heavy rains for this year with risks of mudslides and flooding in Freetown, thus the move to replant more trees to stabilize the mudflow whenever it rains,” Emes said.

CRS, according to the Country Representative, operates in some 100 countries engaging in different activities including tree planting, and is mostly popular for environmental interventions.

“Simultaneously, our staff members are planting trees at school grounds in Kabala in the Koinadugu District,” he said.

Ethel Sillah, Communications and Education Coordinator, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary commended CRS for the tree planting exercise at the mudslide site as part of their community day service maintaining that they are happy to collaborate with CRS as part of community service to plant more trees in the deforested area.

“This move is beneficial to all of us because at Tacugama, we are only here as custodians with a mission to see things happen in the right direction in the national reserve and to prevent illegal activities in the sanctuary” Ethel said.

She further noted how happy they are to collaborate because it’s a national event, noting that it is a national priority for the country to plant more trees to avoid further natural disasters.