20,000 trees planted on the elephant island, June 2009
Buriram, June 26 – Juli 2: This week we’re staying with as much volunteers as possible at the villages of Baan Pai Yai and Baan Pai Noi to prepare for tree planting day, and to make sure all the trees will be planted. For Baan Pai Yai it is an exciting moment, because it is the first time they will be receiving a group of tourists in their houses. Understandably, there is some insecurity: what to do for breakfast? Are the bathrooms good enough? For the volunteers, who have been travelling comfortably up to now, it is quite a change. The bathrooms are clean enough, but how do you wash yourself with only a bowl of water? And the group will be spread out over several guest homes, so they’ll have to figure it out for themselves. But soon the ice is broken, and working in the village life is a unique experience for everyone. Preparing tree planting day it the heat is hard work. We have a day and a half to get everything ready: move about 10,000 seedlings to the island, make sure the seedlings are spread out equally across the area, place bamboo sticks near the holes, and catch the goats en banish them to another island. Because those goats would like to have a go at all those young trees. The seedlings are of a great quality, exactly as we want them. About 50 centimeters high, healthy and strong. The trainings by our tree expert Tik have paid off.
At first, we try bringing the young trees to the island by hanging bridge. But passing along trees on a wobbly bridge during the hottest part of the day is undoable. So we decided to bring in some boats: first, two longtail boats, and later a large karaoke boat, with which we are able to bring the seedlings all the way to the other side of the island. At the end of the day everything seems to be ready for the big day. The villagers prepare 300 lunch bags for the volunteers, there is plenty of drinking water, villagers come by with snacks and ice, the students from the agricultural school in Buriram bring along extra tools, Channel 7 is already present to film the entire weekend for an item following the seven thirty news. And the goats have miraculously gotten onto the karaoke boat, and are taking off to their new island.
On Saturday, Baan Pai Yai organizes the welcoming ceremony. The volunteers are draped with Isaan fabrics, and participate in all kinds of local activities. Like there are Thai dance, aerobics, and… about an hour of rope-skipping. After a full day of working on the land in the heat, everyone is jumping and dancing cheerfully. We are all in the best shapes of our lives, after so many tree planting days. The tree planting day goes like clockwork. The teams work together wonderfully, with great enthousiasm, and the planting is done very neatly. At the end of the day, the field with over 10,000 young trees looks perfect, and already a good rain shower helps out. It’s a great start for these seedlings. This day had one drawback: not enough villagers came out to help, and we were unable to plant the 20,000 trees. Since the planting is part of starting up the village bank, the villagers have to be present for this. And this means that the expenses for the trees cannot be transferred to the village bank, before everything has been planted. Immediately, a village meeting is organized, in which of course our partner organization PDA also has a seat. A serious message: this project can only be a success if all the villagers work on it together. It is their project, not of PDA or Bring the Elephant Home. Arrangements are made immediately, and a new tree planting day is set. One week later all the trees have been planted.
The most important job on this trip was the tree planting. But there was more to be done: the design for the elephant accommodation is done, and building can begin soon. For this we first need a contract with the local government to make sure the elephants are allowed to stay on the island. We also have a design for the mahout dwelling on the island. A wooden house with a veranda near the water. The veranda can also be used as a place for the volunteers to stay, and for the boat to dock. We design a sign to promote the island on the side of the road, with a nice picture of Nok Noi and Sri Prae. And then we have to move the elephants to the island. The goats were a piece of cake… But taking two elephants to the island will be quite a challenge. But when everything is done, it will truly be an idyllic elephant island!
Foto’s: Jeab Ploykrachang
