President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame on Saturday, May 27, joined the basketball community at Nyandungu Eco Park to plant trees as part of the monthly Umuganda exercise.

Also present was Amadou Gallo Fall, the President of Basketball Africa League (BAL), Mark Tatum, Vice President of the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as several senior government officials.

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Kagame toured Nyandungu Eco-Park before he planted three trees. More than 300 trees, according to City of Kigali Mayor, Prudence Rubingisa, were planted on the same day.

Shortly after planting the trees, Kagame commended participants for taking their time off to see that the country maintains what it had achieved.

He said: "Welcome to our friends and family. This is something we have done for the last 15 to 20 years. The Community comes together to do things of common interest; whether it is cleaning or planting trees, [and] later on, the maintenance of what we have put in place.”

Through Umuganda, Kagame said, especially to the visitors, Rwandans also support the vulnerable through different activities.

"We even help people who have different problems by building homes or even schools. Sometimes not to completion but that work is complimentary. We are grateful for you being here. It is an inspiration for us to see that we are joined by people from so far away.”

"For those who are not here, I always want to remind ourselves that when we have built something it is equally important to look after it. Maintenance is equally important. We need to do more, and better, including keeping in good shape everything we have built,” he said.