VOA新闻杂志2024--Refugees Once Cut Trees in Uganda, Now Work to Plant Them

Refugees² Once Cut Trees in Uganda, Now Work to Plant Them

Enock Twagirayesu was seeking safety when he and his family fled³ violence⁴ in Burundi more than 10 years ago. They found it in Uganda. The small East African nation has taken in thousands of refugees from neighboring countries.

Twagirayesu and his family live in Nakivale Refugee¹ Settlement, near the Tanzanian border. There were two children in his family when they arrived in Uganda. Today, there are eight children.

Growing families like his -- and the arrival⁵ of new refugees -- have put pressure on the land that makes up the settlement.

Twenty years ago, the area was a thick forest. Today, the trees are mostly gone. They have been cut down for cooking fuel. When Twagirayesu saw women digging⁶ up roots to burn a few years ago, he knew it was time to act.

"When the trees are finished, we will also be finished," Twagirayesu said. "Because if there are no trees to be used for cooking, even the people cannot survive."

Twagirayesu and two other refugees began planting trees in 2016. That early group quickly grew. Twagirayesu now leads the Nakivale Green Environment Association⁷. Its members carry out what Twagirayesu calls the urgent⁸ business of reforesting.

Nakivale is the oldest refugee settlement in Africa. It has about 180,000 refugees. Some are from Burundi, while others are from Congo and Rwanda. New people come all the time. Once the refugees register⁹ with Uganda, they are granted¹⁰ a small piece of land on which they can live. They can build small homes and plant gardens.

Nsamizi Training Institute for Social Development is a local organization. It is supporting the tree-planting activities of Twagirayesu and others. The institute's yearly¹¹ goal is to plant 300,000 trees.

On a recent afternoon, a group of refugees planted baby pine trees on a hill above a school. One of the school's teachers said she hopes the tree-planting project reduces the amount of water that runs off from rains. If it rains too much, the water floods the schoolyard and students are forced to stay inside.

Twagirayesu said the group has planted at least 460,000 trees in Nakivale. The trees are pine, acacia and bamboo. The refugees who plant the trees say being able to walk under the tree cover provides them peace.

But they also worry officials may one day want to send them home. They believe Ugandan officials may seek to protect the new trees and remove the people from the land.

But for now, Twagirayesu says, "when we are walking in the places where we planted trees, we feel much happiness."

I'm Dan Friedell.

1 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

2 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

3 fled   

v.逃走，逃掉( flee的过去式和过去分词 )；逃离，逃避

参考例句：

• The robbers fled empty-handed. 抢劫犯一无所获地逃走了。
• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 violence   

n.暴力，暴虐，暴行，猛烈，强烈，强暴

参考例句：

• It was an absolutely senseless act of violence.这是毫无意义的暴力行为。
• They attacked with violence.他们猛烈攻击。

5 arrival   

n.到达，达到，到达者

参考例句：

• She's impatient for her father's arrival.她急切地盼望着父亲的到来。
• The new arrival was none other than the President.刚到的不是别人，正是总统。

6 digging   

n.挖掘v.挖，掘( dig的现在分词 )；（如用铲、锨或推土机等）挖掘；挖得；寻找

参考例句：

• They were digging up worms to use for bait. 他们正在挖蚯蚓作鱼饵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade. 在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

8 urgent   

a.紧急的，急迫的，紧要的

参考例句：

• He asked to see the manager for something urgent. 他有急事求见经理。
• A part of this urgent task was allotted to us. 这项紧急任务的一部分分给了我们。

9 register   

n.登记簿，花名册，注册员；v.登记，注册

参考例句：

• Please list your name in the attendance register.请在点名册上登记你的名字。
• He was looking over a hotel register.他正在仔细检查旅馆住宿登记表。

10 granted   

conj.假定，就算v.（退一步）承认( grant的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指正式地或法律上）同意；准许；让渡

参考例句：

• The president granted a general amnesty for all political prisoners. 总统大赦了所有的政治犯。
• She feared she would not be granted re-entry into Britain. 她担心不会获准再次踏足英伦。

11 yearly   

adj.每年的，一年一度的；adv.一年一次地

参考例句：

• The flower show is a yearly event in our town.我们镇上的花展一年举行一次。
• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。