Jan 14 cont.

Community Woodlot Proposal
1 hectare of land set aside on some of the land at the school. ¼ of the hectare will be used to plant trees for use of traditional medicine. The other ¾ will be for community use of wood: for construction, for cooking. A committee will set a price for an amount of wood and if community members want it, they will pay that amount. The money will go into the school parents group fund, to be put towards school needs. It’s a good concept I think. There is such a need for firewood, and most women in village go “en brouse” at great distances, in search for firewood. Having access to it closer is a good thing, as is planting trees in village generally. (I’m wondering, though, if families will still choose to go ‘en brousse’ to find wood if it means it’s free, rather than pay to buy wood right in town…) My counterpart has dreams as well, as holding seminars there, to teach people about different uses of trees in medicine, and wants to have little plaques at the bottom of each tree with the name in French, Fulfulde, Mafa and Latin. He has a teaching heart, which is beautiful. All of it will be surrounded by a live fence of spiny trees.