As the work on the land at Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh, takes pace, the children from the ashram school (that faces the ‘soon-to-be-forest’ ) have started showing more and more interest in the tree planting. Every evening, after school big groups of children gather on the land with tools, compost and saplings, all set to make a forest. As more and more trees are being planted, the children understand better and better about the tree planting technique and the logic behind it. While the older kids get busy with the tools, the younger children run around collecting mulch for the trees. The children are full of motivation and work with energy that is highly contagious.

 It is very inspiring to see the dedication of these children. After a Sunday break last weekend, as we returned to the land on Monday we were inspired to see that some of the children from the hostel had spared their Sunday evening to do some voluntary tree planting.

Yesterday Sarabjeet Bharaj the secretary of the ashram, gathered all the staff, teachers, and devotees of the hostel, as well as all the boys of all ages lodging in the hostel here, for a big push in the tree planting effort. We gathered at least 70 people in total and we all gathered for some motivational yogic breathing with Swami-ji Guru Sharanand. 10 teams were divided up, with some of the older boys and staff with tree planting experience heading each team. Guru Sharanand declared it a competition for each team to make the most mounds, which created a very energetic atmosphere, and Niki and I could hardly keep up! By the end of the day we had created 35 new mounds, pushing the total number of mounds up to 50 now. We also planted at least 15 trees. The rest we will plant during the week.

 This week we are also working on putting together some tree identification sheets with photos and cuttings of leaves on them. We have also painted tree labels on rocks to put under the trees near the school.

 As we continue to absorb all the beautiful energy, excitement, motivation, music and love that comes along with these tree planting sessions we hope that the weeks ahead will continue to grow more forests and more people.