Climate Action India Project #39803

Build a children's army to fight global warming

by VOICE Trust

Project Report | Oct 14, 2019
One step back, two steps forward

By Janet Preethy | Project Leader

Greetings! As always, we hope all our supporters are doing well.

We have to start this report with an explanation of a setback that is impacting all our projects: Global Giving has run into a problem with its disbursement of funds in India, and has had to suspend payment to all its Indian partners until they can resolve the issue with the government. This means that we have not yet received any of the money that has been donated to us the last few months, making progress difficult.

However, I am delighted to report that some generous local donors have agreed to provide enough money by direct payment to allow us to purchase the saplings we need to give one to each child at the Siruganur school who has a birthday in September or October. We will be giving each child a birthday card with their sapling, in order to impress upon them the importance of growing trees to slow climate change and inspire them to take good care of their saplings so that they will go into powerful carbon sequesters. Supporters locally and around the world have signed their names to the birthday cards for these two months.

We have scheduled a presentation of the saplings for Monday (October 15) and you will be able to see pictures of the birthday girls and boys on our Facebook page, where you can also go to our event page to sign up to sign a card for a November's birthday. If you would like to make an additional gift to cover the cost of a birthday sapling, please rest assured that we should receive all the money you donate by the end of the year.

Your support is a constant inspiration to us, and we look forward to being able to use your donation to plant more trees as soon as Global Giving is able to disburse it to us.

Gratefully,

Attachments:

Sample card (PDF)

1 Attachment

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Jul 17, 2019
This was such a rewarding visit

By Janet Preethy | Project Leader

We had our first meeting with the students of the Government Higher Secondary School in Siruganur village. I visited the sixth grade class with one of our trustees to talk about the role that trees can play in slowing climate change, stabilizing the soil, and providing shade and wind breaks.

We brought two saplings that we had purchased from the Forest Department earlier, one neem and one pungai. The headmaster and teachers joined us for the planting near the compound wall. The 6th grade will be responsible for making sure the saplings are watered and properly maintained.

The children were very interested in our project and suggested that we give each of them a sapling on their birthday, to plant at the school (as long as there is space available) or at their home. The most common problem we have with our projects planting trees in schools is that the saplings are not properly cared for and end up withering and dying. We hope that by gifting the saplings to students individually as a special source of joy, they will be motivated to take better care of them.

Whether at home or at the school, the students will be able to follow the growth of their saplings up through the 12th grade, as they will mostly advance together in the same school. Over the six years, they will be able to see the saplings grow into trees. At the end of each year, we will show the children how to measure the girth and height of each tree and calculate how much carbon it is removing from the air. The student who has raised the tree that sequesters the most carbon will be given a Climate Action Superhero award.

If you'd like your own Climate Action Superhero award, donate $10 this week to buy a sapling and all the supplies it needs to grow, which we will give to the next student celebrating a birthday. In our thank-you note, we'll include a link you can visit to download your award.

I was very moved by the children's interest and excitement, and I hope you are proud of the hand you had in inspiring them.

Gratefully,

Janet Preethi

Voice Trust

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