The Greening of Maria Auxiliadora

After lots of prep, bumps in the road, and even tears on my part, we will be planting 17 beautiful, flowering Qucarda trees along the main road of the community where I´ve had the honor of doing most of my work, the cooperativa Maria Auxiliadora!!! And by we, I mean more than 12 youth from our youth group as well as the promotoras of family gardens in the community (bringing together the two groups I´ve been working with most intensely over the past few months). It was a dream of mine and several others to add some plants to this community plagued by dust and erosion to beautify and add shade where there isn´t much. Now, the holes are dug and the doubters have pretty much been convinced that trees are a good thing. I tell you, it´s an uphill battle when the culture of caring for the environment and volunteering hardly exists in any of the generations... But I´m thrilled that it´s gonna come through on my second last day of work thanks to the cooperation of so many. I only wish I had several more months to dedicate myself to building environmental consciousness here, but I´ll have to just carry that mission with me wherever I go and keep holding out hope... I´ll be sure to post photos after the event!