BY STEPHEN AKABWAY JR
Many people in Kitukutwe village, Kira Municipality in Wakiso district grew up and went to their graves thinking that whoever would dare and cut a single tree from a forest known as Semalizi would not live to see the next day.
For that matter, locals strictly avoided to pick firewood from the natural forest out of fear of dying if they did so.
Semalizi forest was located a few metres after Kiwologoma village in Kira Municipality in Wakiso district as one moved to the next village known as Kitukutwe.
Many years later, Semalizi would slowly be cut down until now when it’s completely wiped out and yet no one is known to have died for cutting down the forest.
Where the forest was previously located, is now littered with real estate developments including a Total Petrol Station and a private stadium.
Our ancestors were marvelously intelligent people without having gone to school and that’s why they coined myths to protect forests many years ago prior to the emergency of climate change and it’s debilitating effects.
The forests also used to be sources of herbs, water, food, eatable animals and acted as well as breakers of strong winds capable of razing houses and crops.
So, therefore, our ancestors knew better than destroying forests as opposed to we their descendants who have gone to school and left there without having appreciated the usefulness of forests.
Compellingly, in the past there was no much pressure on land as today because then there were a few people on earth as opposed to now when the population of the world has ballooned, culminating into clearing forests to create space for construction of homes and other buildings.
The only measure we can use to keep forests is to replant more trees whenever we clear others because climate is a real phenomenon currently. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
