Planting 30 trees seems like an easy task and in America it probably would be. You’d find a spot, dig the holes, plant the trees, give them water and be done with it. But not here. It's not mathematically precise, but if I had to guess, projects here are about five times harder, more complicated and more time consuming than an equivalent project would be in America. I knew this, so I started three weeks ago and for three weeks straight, I marched on into the mayor's office and ask that he help me plan the project down to the nitty gritty details. As I had predicted it would, the project turned into an ordeal! Here are all the variables we had to take care of:
Trees: which kind, who buys them, where do we find them, how do we transport them?
Soil: who has fresh soil to use, what do we put it in, how do we transport it?
Water: who will bring the water for the trees, will we continue to water the trees for days, weeks, months?
Labor: who will measure the space between the trees, when will we dig the holes and who will be in charge, who will help us plant, when should we meet and how often, who is responsible for brining the shovel, stakes, and other tools?
Goats: how do we prevent them from eating the trees? (this turned out to be the most important variable of the entire project!)
Fence: where do we find the wood to make fences to protect the trees from goats, who will make the fences, how do we transport the wood, who will provide said wood?
Other: what about food and water for us, who will provide tools, will the youth help, who takes pictures?
Our little Robles ready to be planted!
My green thumb at work
Bing, the casi mayor getting dirty!
Helper from the Ministry of Agriculture
Down they go!
My tree ready for her new home!
Men using machetes to make the fences to protect our babies from goats.
The fences are in the works
No goats getting through this fence!
Mi matita!
Done! And it feels so good!
Finally, we had the holes dug and evenly spaced. Saturday rolled around and we still didn't have the wood we needed to make the fences and stop the goats from eating the trees. I had to call the mayor and tell him sternly I thought it was irresponsible of us to plant trees when our work would be destroyed by roaming goats. He assured me he had a plan. Additionally, only one of the fifteen youth I invited to the event showed up. Thankfully, we had some men from the Department of the Environment helping us and they were a huge help!
It took us about 30 minutes to plant the trees once we loaded them from the vivero and dropped them in their holes but the rest of the day (8 hours) was spent creating wooden fence-like protection against the goats. Suddenly, my job turned from tree-planter to goat-herder. Already, within fifteen minutes of planting, two of the trees were completely destroyed. In the 200 meters we had planted trees, more than fifty goats began wandering in and out of the area eating our trees without a care in the world to the hard work we’d just put in. The men and I got to work protecting the trees and around 2pm, I had to excuse myself to head to my women’s meeting. I left them with water and snacks and they assured me there were going to finish the fences before they left for the day.
I left the area feeling proud, happy and content! This was the first project I could measure and see with my own two eyes. There was a tangible goal, a physical product, and a start and an end. I had done something. I was in Peace Corps euphoria!
However, apparently when I mentioned to the mayor it would be irresponsible of us to plant the trees without protection, he didn't seem to mind as long as he got his photo op of them going in. The men only had enough wood to make 16 fences for the trees, so that left the other 16 completely eaten within a day. I went back to check the work on Sunday and there was no evidence that we had even planted the other 16. It was extremely frustrating to see our work destroyed, but I suppose that only means we'll have to do another tree-planting day!
