One Miraculous Night

Orissa, India

At Trees for Life we experience miracles every day. Yet each time I am still amazed.

Three years ago Balbir and I were in a small village in Orissa, India. The villagers welcomed us with songs and flower garlands.

After introductions, the village leaders sat down with us. "Our land is very degraded and we are very poor," they said. "If our children were educated they could get jobs, but there is not enough money for their school. It's like a trap, and we can't break free. What can we do?"

Orissa, India

At Trees for Life we experience miracles every day. Yet each time I am still amazed.

Three years ago Balbir and I were in a small village in Orissa, India. The villagers welcomed us with songs and flower garlands.

After introductions, the village leaders sat down with us. "Our land is very degraded and we are very poor," they said. "If our children were educated they could get jobs, but there is not enough money for their school. It's like a trap, and we can't break free. What can we do?"

Balbir closed his eyes, listening intently with great reverence. Then he spoke.

        

"If you will donate some very poor land to your school, we can help you regenerate that land, and it can provide income for the school," he said.

Several villagers started grumbling. "Our lands have been divided and passed down for generations," they argued. "How could our people give up their inheritance?"

Balbir spread his hands. "Nothing comes without sacrifice. The more important the task, the greater the sacrifice."

After an hour's intense discussion the villagers turned to Balbir. "We can do this!" they said fervently. "We must!"

It was after dark when we left for the next village. As our car bounced along the deeply rutted dirt road, I marveled at the generosity and faith of those villagers. Donating land to their school was a great leap of faith for them.

When we reached the next village, it was alive with small lights like fireflies in the dark. A group of village leaders with flashlights had come to greet us, but not with songs this time. Instead, they bombarded us with excited questions, even before we could get out of the car. "We have the land for our school!" they exclaimed. "What is the plan? Tell us the plan!"

It seemed impossible. We had driven there in a car, and somehow ? without telephones! ? they had already received the news of hope for their village.

Within one year, five villages had started similar projects.

At our Wichita office I received pictures of villagers tilling the land and digging water wells, and horticulture experts training students and teachers. The schools became models for their communities, teaching people how to regenerate their own land.

Today nineteen schools are involved, and many more are waiting to get started.

As each village shares its story, I think of how that one miraculous night continues to touch thousands of lives.

Step by step...

                                                               

1. People in a village donate a few acres of land to their school.

2. On this land the teachers and students plant fast-growing fruit trees and vegetables. Income from the produce supports education at their school.

3. Trees for Life provides training, technology, and start-up funds for an irrigation well, plants and materials.

4. The school makes a commitment that, from the profits, they will help two other village schools in the same way they have been helped.

 

. . . the movement continues . . .