It is the International Day of Women and we have every reason to celebrate it here at CODEP. For one thing, the preponderance of CODEP workers are women. They have always been the ones who understood in their bones that planting trees was their gift to their children.
CODEP is also uniquely about the world of women. Much of the time is spent in nurseries — seedling nurseries. That is where women dry the seeds from market and then sit in circles putting the seeds into small containers for the initial sprouting stage. Women improvise vines for perimeter fences, collect and carry water, and constantly survey the early sprouts as they emerge and gain size. Women balance containers of saplings on their heads and walk out onto the mountainsides for the planting stage.
As one woman put it, “These trees are my children.”
Celebrate this International Day of Women with us. Lift up your hopes and blessings for the CODEP women who are largely responsible for the millions of trees that now cover the mountains above Leogane.
