Project Greenhands Restores Trees and Dignity

In 2004, a tsunami devastated the coastal communities of Tamil Nadu in Southern India.  The Isha Foundation which is a non-profit yoga organization in India came to help the villagers who were equally devastated.  The foundation decided to give the villagers tree saplings to plant.  One sapling was planted for every life that was lost in the tsunami.  This helped the villagers with their grieving.  As they took care of the trees, their hearts as well as the land was healed.

Planting saplings in tsunami area as a tidal barrier

This act of generosity grew into a larger mission.  Much of Tamil Nadu had been deforested which led to extreme desertification.  Wells dried up and the land was unable to support life. 

The people were so demoralized that the volunteers started with helping the people with yoga, meditation and playing volleyball so that they could have some fun.  And that started a “planting revolution” that has resulted in 28 million trees being planted so far with what is now called Project Greenhands.  You can learn more about this project in this 3 minute video and see the amazing things that are being created by children and adults.

There are many facets to Project Greenhands but the one that costs the most and is desperately needed is to make sure that the agricultural culture of this state is not lost.  And so TreeSisters is supporting the education of farmers so that they can learn about agro-forestry.  This is a poly-culture approach that combines animals, crops and trees. 

The trees provide shade, increased soil fertility and moisture to bring life back to the earth.  They can also be used for crops of seeds, nuts, fruit, medicine, and oil.  To grow the trees initially takes a drip irrigation system which is costly.  But then the trees bring back the rain and streams and the land can be farmed again. As the land is rehabilitated, people don’t have to leave the villages for the city where they end up living in poverty.  Planting the trees allows the people to stay on the land and retain their dignity.

Lines of women planting (all images Project Greenhands)

This is just one of the projects that TreeSisters supports through monthly donations of Tree Sisters and Brothers all over the world.  More and more people are joining this planting revolution and as I am writing this blog, the estimated number of trees that TreeSisters has funding for is 2,044,996 per year.  When I joined this group in October of last year they had just reached one million trees.  And now 5 months later that has doubled. More and more people are waking up and realizing that as we take care of the Earth, she takes care of us.  That is the relationship that sustains us.