Planting 15000 trees in Madagascar

For almost a decade our gardener Jean has tirelessly been growing plants and tree seedlings for Zahana.

Most of the seedlings he grows directly in the earth of his growing beds. Like almost anywhere in the world seedlings in commercial operations are grown in black plastic bags. Lightweight and low-cost they are easy to transport. This is especially convenient when tree seedlings are given away to neighboring villages and need to be carried home for hours on foot.

Like anything else in Madagascar, these plastic bags get reused countless times until they fall apart. While they are low cost and easy to transport to the village, plus considered 'modern' and desirable, they are still plastic bags.

So, we sat down with Jean and inquired what they did before the arrival of the ubiquitous plastic bag.

You can see the results in the picture: A 100% renewable and biodegradable growing container made from locally available organic fiber materials. The added benefit is that the seedlings can be planted straight into the soil as is, in its 'container'. The natural fiber will just decompose or compost away, as the tree takes roots.

We call that: "Jean's zero waste reforestation". 

Please keep in mind:

GlobalGiving’s 2018 #GivingTuesday with $150,000 in matching funds and 30+ bonus prizes are available for all 3 of our projects with GlobalGiving. The one day '#GivingTuesday Campaign' will begin Nov. 27, 2018, at 00:00:00 ET and end at 23:59:59 ET on Nov. 27, 2018.

Links:

• Jean our Master Gardener and his nursery in Fiarenana

It is a great pleasure and exciting for us to announce: Our second village of Fiarenana now has clean water, too!

For many years, the well in our schoolyard was the only source of uncontaminated groundwater for the community.

So how was it accomplished? Our very active and engaged teacher had heard that Caritas, a Catholic charity, was accepting proposals or requests for a clean water system. He got hold of the application, applied for the project, and was successful. We are very proud of our teacher for being proactive and congratulate him on his wonderful success!

A team working for Caritas came to the village and built a pipe system from the nearby mountain all the way to the village. This is the same mountain that feeds the clean water system in Fiadanana for over 12 years now. Communal faucets throughout the village provide clean and safe drinking water for everybody. They also went the extra mile and put a faucet in the school’s yard.

This is an important milestone for us. It is the first time in over a decade that a third party undertook a major project, without financial involvement from Zahana. It is also a first that the request was initiated by one of our teachers who lives in the village.

Happy drinking, washing and cooking with clean water in Fiarenana for years to come!

Ihanta and Markus

Links:

• Rebuilding the Communal Well
• Building a water storage tank high up in the mountains
• Water!!!!