Well, the mangrove forest was as I remembered. VERY hot, bit like planting trees in an oven. There were several community groups, primary school kids, women's groups, and local villagers. No churches though, so glad that our Christian environmental group was present. It seems that here, like so many places, the church is absent from these types of events. Had an interesting conversation with someone who explained that the elders of the village didn't really get planting the trees. They said trees were a gift from God, so no need. My response to this person was and if I could speak Swahili to the elders would be "you are exactly right, trees are a gift from God." But to me that implies exactly the opposite, that they are something that we need to steward and see as having value because the Creator made them. We can use them, of course, but to simply harvest them until they are gone is to dishonour God who gave the gift to us.
Well, enough preaching. Was exhausted, frankly, from the heat, so took a bit of a nap, did some reading, then went for a walk in a small village that was very reminiscent of where we lived in India. Lots of coconut palm trees and lots of poverty. There is a primary school that we hope to start working with.
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