CINDERELLA Ndlovu is a 28-year-old environmentalist and founder of the Green Hut Initiative Trust, a non-profit organisation that aims to protect the environment and combat climate change. Her passion for the environment started at a young age, sparked by watching environmental programmes on television.
Cinderella was always touched by every challenge and act that happened on these programmes and would instantly come up with measures or solutions to address some of the problems.
After graduating from Lupane State University with a degree in Environmental Science, Cinderella had a lot of ideas and projects in mind but had no platform to express them. She wanted to make a difference, so she decided to start her own organisation where she could utilise all her environmental project plans and see where they take her.
Cinderella founded the Green Hut Initiative Trust in 2020, and since then, it has been working with different communities, especially in Bulawayo, to ensure that the integrity of the environment is preserved. The organisation’s mandate centres on issues related to climate change and the conservation of the environment.
Cinderella Ndlovu takes her programme of planting indigenous trees to schools.
“In the organisation’s name, ‘Green Hut Initiative Trust,’ the meaning of green comes from the aspect of sustainability, and the hut represents the African home structure since I am African,” explains Cinderella.
One of the projects that the Green Hut Initiative Trust introduced is planting indigenous trees in communities.
“During my university days, there was a module that gave me a struggle as I had to identify indigenous trees. It was hard because I grew up in Pumula South suburb where there were no such trees around,” says Cinderella.
She adds that most young people today do not know them as there are very few of them around the city, and there are plenty of foreign ones. The organisation supports groups that do clean-up campaigns, gives trees to communities and schools free of charge, and works with young people from various schools.
Cinderella says that the biggest challenge is funding for most of the projects that need a lot of money.
However, the organisation plans to work closely with other organisations under the same criteria to know how best to deal with some challenges. The organisation also wishes to expand its projects that are mostly based in Bulawayo to other places as well, such as in Matabeleland South and North provinces, so that communities from there can also benefit.
Cinderella was part of the Zimbabwe delegations that attended a Conference of Parties (COP) 27, a climate change convention that took place in Egypt last year in November. She urged other women to believe in themselves and know what they want to achieve in life.
“It is what helped me to push through difficult times since I knew what I wanted,” she says.
Cinderella’s story is an inspiration to many who want to make a difference in the world. Her passion for the environment has led her to start an organisation that aims to preserve the integrity of the environment and combat climate change. The Green Hut Initiative Trust’s work is vital in creating a sustainable future for generations to come. – The Chronicle
