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planting trees with kids |
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It was such a hot day that these kids had the good idea to bring umbrellas to give themselves some shade. The logical thing would have been for me to borrow someone's umbrella too...since I am white and have much more sensitive skin than these Malagasy kids do. Did I use an umbrella? No. Did I get a painful sunburn on my neck? You bet. |
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Procession of schoolkids going off to plant eucalyptus trees on the outskirts of Ankily. I spent one Saturday morning planting young trees with a few of the older kids at the local primary school. The principal her assistant, Madame Delphine and Madame Victorienne, also came along and helped to supervise. |
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The kids were given two seedlings each and told to plant them. They got really excited about planting them until it came time to do the digging of holes...and then the girls went off and picked fruit and a few of the guys did the brute work. |
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"Does anyone know what this is?" Here the president of the farmer's association in Ankily talks to the kids about trees, the importance of planting them, and how to place them in the ground so that they will grow healthily. |
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Another shot of the kids on the way to the place where we planted the trees. They were making up songs the whole way there, with really obvious but endearing lyrics like "what are we doing? we're planting trees!" and "who is our teacher? his name is chad!" |
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Andreas breaks ground to make a home for his tree while his father looks on. I can't tell whether that is a smile of approval or one that says "Ahhh...to be young again and to be incompetent at even the most basic thing." But I give Andreas credit for being a quick learner and an able tree-planter. |
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Here, assistant principal Madame Victorienne, shows the kids how it is done. She may be a mother and a grandmother, but girl gets down. |
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When our work was over, a few of the older girls decided to throw a dance party, or some kind of ceremony honoring nature...I can't tell which it was supposed to be. No seriously, they just had a great time singing the same refrain over and over, clapping in rythym, and watching who ever dared to enter the circle bust a move. |
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