Tree planting project in East Africa

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　Until December 2000, our main activity had involved building schools in Vietnam, sending commodities to the country and providing help that was urgently needed in other areas. We arranged a study tour to Madagascar and this was the first opportunity for us to engage in supplying our labour. It was also the first attempt by both the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and a NGO to organize this kind of project.

We have run three tree planting projects at total. Following to the study tour to Madagascar in 2000, we arranged another study tour to Madagascar in 2001, and we went to Kenya in 2002.

	Period	Place	Purpose	Participants	Notes
1	11th to 20th December 2000	Madagascar	To prevent soil erosion	About ten	The thirtieth study tour
2	24th August to 11th September 2001	Madagascar	To prevent soil erosion	About thirty	The thirty-third study tour
3	16th to 28th August 2002	Kenya	To research social conditions	About thirty	The thirty-six study tour

The first project;

In 2001, the first project took us to Madagascar. We planted trees to prevent soil erosion and stayed with local families in a village. Our project was highly praised by its local inhabitants.

[Tree planting volunteering in Madagascar] ([Building Love Bridge] Vol.17, 11th June 2001)

The second project;

During the study tour in 2001, in addition to planting nursery trees, we went to see a place where natural trees had been destroyed. We also observed a project in a village called Rachinof and at a social gathering with the local people we shared each other’s culture. After participating in this study tour to Madagascar, some of the participants went on the tour to Vietnam while the rest returned to Japan.

A report of the study tours to Madagascar (Please click if you are interested in our tours!)
This is a report of the study tours to Madagascar, which was distributed at our thirteenth charity bazaar and in other places.

The third project;

We went to Kenya for the first time in our third tree-planting project in East Africa. We stayed with farmers who were the first to plant nursery trees to prevent soil erosion. We conducted a fieldwork to research their social conditions. We compiled a report and it was published as the ninth volume in our series on 23rd March 2003. The name of the book is milima haikutani lalini binadamu hukutana: Yamato Yamaha Deawanaiga Hitoto Hitoha Deau, which means that people meet together even when the mountains separate them.