THE story of a Bulawayo-based enterprising environmentalist and national tree ambassador Never Bonde is a touching tale that can only be believed when heard from the horse’s mouth.
A homeless child in his early days of life, Bonde grew up without his parents and up to now, he does not know his real age and true identity.
However, to some who have roofs on their heads, parents and have never experienced destitution, the story may sound like fiction. To others of no fixed abode, Bonde’s story inspires them that it’s not over and their lives can change for the better.
Bonde rose to fame through his tree planting projects that saw him donating thousands of trees to various schools, government institutions and political leaders, a development which earned him the tree ambassador’s title in 2015.
The then Environment and Climate minister Oppah Muchinguri, who is now Defence minister, bestowed the honour upon Bonde.
In an in interview with NewsDay Weekender, Bonde told his story of not knowing his parents, surname or real age, adding that he believes he was born between the 1970s and early 1980s.
“I do not have a father or a mother. I was brought up by the social welfare and at various children centres in Rusape and Harare.
“I was picked up in Rusape by a Good Samaritan, Egifa Chitswa, between 1984 and 1985 and I stayed with his mother Doreen Chitswa. They are the ones who took me to social welfare when I was an infant,” Bonde said.
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“As an infant I was taken to Secret Heart, a centre run and owned by the Roman Catholic Church in Rusape, and the social welfare also took care of me.
“I was also taken to Chinyaradzo Children’s Home in Harare and Hupenyu Hutsva Children’s Home in Mutare. I was at some point placed at a place of safety at Mutare Probation Centre.”
Bonde said the last place where he was accommodated was at the Ruwa and Beatrice National Rehabilitation centres in Harare.
“The most problematic thing that affected my life for a long time was acquiring my birth certificate. I had to be assisted by the likes of the late former First Lady Sally Mugabe, late former Primary and Secondary Education minister Aeneas Chigwedere and ex-Labour and Social Welfare minister Florence Chitauro, who intervened to have the court order that I should be given a birth certificate,” he said.
“The order was issued by a Rusape magistrate and that is when I was able to acquire the document. It was problematic for me to use the surname that I have.”
Bonde said after getting the birth certificate, he was assisted to go back to school by a Swedish organisation that was paying his school fees, while also taking care of his welfare.
He attended Chiwundu High School in Makoni district, where he developed a passion to plant trees after nurtured by a villager named Jura.
Bonde said after Chiwundu High, he was in Harare during Christmas holidays when he followed the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo to Bulawayo and settled at a place owned by Nkomo’s employee.
“I stayed with Kafungu [Nkomo’s employee] and that is when I started working at a company called Bosal. I also worked at ZBC [Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation] and National Railways of Zimbabwe as a general hand before forming my own construction company called Ezra Construction. That is when I resumed my tree planting projects,” he said.
“I would plant the trees and donate them to schools. At some point, I went to Zambia, South Africa and Botswana when the economic situation worsened in the country.
“In 2016, I donated trees to police stations and someone advised me that I should also engage journalists to sell my idea to the public.”
Bonde later donated trees to the provincial ministers of Matabeleland North, South and Bulawayo and the then Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa during his visit to Bulawayo.
“That is when I was later called to Harare where then Environment minister Muchinguri appointed me the national tree ambassador. Since then, life has been changing for the better, although I still have challenges.
“I want to thank all those who contributed to my success in life. I want to thank the whole media sector for sharing my story to the public.
“I also want to thank the Travellers Lodge in Mutare, who gives me free accommodation all the time when I visit the place in support of my tree projects.”
Bonde plans to start a project of giving the Bulawayo City Council 1 350 trees to replace those that are old.
He, however, expressed concern that after engaging the council, he was told that the project should go to tender and this had hampered his efforts.
Writing letters to the council has not helped his envisaged project, he said.
Bonde said this was an issue of concern to him because trees are life.
He bemoaned the upsurge in the selling of charcoal which he said was damaging the environment, blaming high electricity tariffs and gas prices which has resulted in rampant tree poaching for firewood and charcoal.
Bonde said he was embarking on a project to export trees to Dubai and has written letters to the country’s leadership, which had promised to seal the deal.
He said he was also targeting other countries that have been affected by environment degradation and climate change effects which destroy the vegetation such as Germany and India, among others.
“We are also engaging authorities such that during the coming Sadc [Southern African Development Community] meeting to be held in the country in August, all heads of State would be asked to plant trees.
“We also have a programme where we have asked the police and soldiers to join such that anyone who joins the programme, we will plant trees for them within five years,” Bonde said.
Bonde is married with three children.
