Kiviwama is a community-based organization focused on forest conservation, protecting natural spring water sources, and reducing pollution. Their primary activity is a tree nursery, located at the Chemchem natural spring in Moshi Town, established to combat deforestation. At the tree nursery, Kiviwama produces indigenous tree seedlings, which are distributed to local farmers, schools, communities, and organizations.

Kiviwama also produces handmade paper, which is used for art supplies such as lampshades, bookbinding, and decorative objects.

On 2-3 days per week, as a volunteer, you will work at the tree nursery. You can also participate in tree planting activities, typically conducted at local schools. Larger-scale planting efforts usually take place during the rainy seasons, which occur from March to June and October to December. As a volunteer, you will can also learn how to make paper and paper arts.

World Unite! runs a green and fertile piece of land in the Karanga area of Moshi Town, next to a little stream. On the land, we have already planted and continue to plant various species of plants, including information boards about the species for educational purposes. The idea is to develop a comprehensive botanical garden over time.

One purpose of the botanical garden is to conserve the diversity of seeds. As part of the industrialization of agriculture, a large amount of the genetic diversity of seeds was lost. The traditional seeds of a region are often much better adapted to the specific soil and climate conditions of the location. This makes the local plants less susceptible to climatic extremes such as droughts, wet periods, or temperature extremes, which are intensified and more frequent as a result of climate change. Monocultures are generally also much more susceptible to pest infestations and plant diseases. Hence, the use of genetic diversity of seeds gives farmers more security in case of such events, ensuring food security for the population.

More diversity in crops also means that different crops ripen and can be harvested at different moments, instead of ripening all at the same time. If they all ripen simultaneously, the farmer might not be able to store or preserve them, causing the produce to rot, or the farmer might have to sell them at too low prices because all other farmers might bring the exact same crops to the market at the same time. So genetic diversity also contributes to the financial stability of farmers.

The garden also includes Jatropha bushes. The seeds of these bushes contain oil that can be extracted and used as biodiesel. Without any technical modification, the Jatropha oil can fuel diesel engines. One of the activities for volunteers is to make biodiesel from Jatropha seeds on a small scale to learn about the concept of biofuels.

On our land, we also grow bamboo. Bamboo is a fast-growing material that can replace plastic, steel, and slow-growing hardwood for many use cases. In Tanzania, most wood used is not sustainably harvested but cut wildly from tropical rain forests and not replanted.

Volunteers join workshops and learn how to make objects such as plates and cups, toys, and small furniture out of bamboo and promote the use of bamboo as a sustainable material at local schools.

We offer workshops to program participants where local artisans show us how to make small local handicrafts, such as decorative items and book covers from dried banana leaves, or wood carvings. We also make soap from soap nuts, and candles. We learn how to preserve food, for example by pickling, drying, or curing it.

A lot of such knowledge of self-sufficient living has largely been lost in developed countries, but is suddenly getting attention again in view of the threat of societal instability. As a participant in the Mother Nature Kilimanjaro program, you can learn important skills for self-sufficient living from people who have lived all their lives without a refrigerator or electricity.

We are in the planning and experimentation phase of a project to produce pellets or briquettes from organic waste materials, such as rice husks, sawmill dust, and/or charcoal dust, coffee husks. Those pellets/briquettes can be used with energy-efficient wood/charcoal stoves that have less lateral heat loss compared to traditional models, which results in a reduction of burning materials and thus reduces deforestation.

We want to run this as a self-sustainable social enterprise whereby youth from impoverished families would receive training and can start their own small-scale sustainable businesses, producing and selling stoves and pellets locally.

Other technologies used include solar cookers and heat-retaining cooking bags.

We compost organic food waste from a restaurant in town and from the food served at the World Unite! accommodation to produce fertile soil.

Aquaponics is a closed system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies the nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water. Both fish and plants can be used for human consumption. On the plot in Karanga, we are operating a small aquaponics system for demonstration purposes. Volunteers maintain and run the system.

African Blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) is a popular, high-priced hardwood, known for its black color. It is used in the manufacture of musical instruments, fine furniture, and for the "makonde" wood carving art. Makonde wood carvings are popular souvenirs for tourists visiting East Africa.

Unfortunately, due to the high demand, the slowly growing trees are being harvested at an unsustainable rate and due to its overuse, the species is severely threatened.

The African Blackwood Conservation Project is an initiative of a local citizen, specializing in growing seedlings of Dalbergia melanoxylon and planting them across the Kilimanjaro region.

After preparing with the assistance of our team member, as a volunteer you will visit a primary or secondary schools in Moshi Town to teach children about environmental topics. Besides communicating environmental topics, in a playful way, you will also make the kids learn about your home country, and engage the children in games and sports.

We will regularly drive to Mweka village on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, which is a traditional village of the Chagga ethnic group. As a volunteer, you will have the chance to learn about the life and culture of local Chagga people and will help the village community with tasks such as the harvest of coffee, bananas, or corn, or repairing and renovating school buildings, bridges, roads, etc.