Being craftsmen of your own destiny. Taking up Pope Francis’ invitation, Brother Fabio Mussi, a PIME missionary in Chad, has launched a series of awareness-raising initiatives and some projects involving above all students and women to combat deforestation and encourage the planting of new trees
Every evening, just outside the mission of Am Timan, in the Salamat region of southeastern Chad, the streets come alive with people coming and going for the wood market for the kitchen. As early as the early afternoon, young women begin to arrive with dozens of overloaded donkeys. And from 4 pm the actual market begins with animated discussions between sellers and buyers, generally all women.
Without any scientific pretensions, I have estimated that only in the away-from-home market the wood sold corresponds to two large trees a day. It means that at least 730 are killed every year to meet an essential need: to prepare food for the families in our neighborhood. If all 4 of the “local” markets are taken into consideration, the number becomes enormous: almost 3,000 trees cut down every year just for our town of 20,000 inhabitants.
According to the United Nations, since 1990, the world has lost 178 million hectares of forest, that is, an area as large as Libya.
Pope Francis reminds us in his latest encyclicals that every human being must be an “artisan of his own destiny”. The recent encyclicals “Fratelli tutti” and “Laudato si” on the one hand “challenge” us and on the other help us orient ourselves in seeking adequate responses to current reality from a Christian point of view.
We are often satisfied with solutions proposed by large institutions which base their actions, sometimes, on a vision of “immediate effectiveness”, others on unfeasible pharaonic programmes. With the risk of forgetting the concrete problems that seem “trivial”, but which require elaborate and well-planned solutions.
Therefore, if we want to be a little coherent, we should start rolling up our sleeves and “search” for non-theoretical, but realistic and practicable solutions in our context, also drawing on the “best fruits of scientific research available today” (LS 15). So the Pope’s words invite us to value the results of the experiences of others and of scientific progress, adapting them to different life situations For the sake of all.
A responsibility for each of us
Together with some people from Am Timan, interested in the challenge of deforestation and advancing desert, we started looking around and looking for endogenous and feasible solutions in the short and medium term. We have ascertained how complex the problem certainly was and not easy to solve, but this does not mean that it should be set aside and delegated solely to the State or to international bodies. We asked ourselves for a long time: “What can we do now with the means at our disposal?”
First of all we started with an analysis of the situation to understand first of all the causes and the deep reasons. Which are basically two. The first is the fact that in Chad, but also in other parts of Africa, there are no realistic alternatives to wood for cooking. The second, no less important, is that the wood trade provides work and subsistence to an important number of women and therefore of families.
Always in Laudato Si’, Pope Francis says that “every change needs motivation and an educational path”. This means that sometimes we must not be satisfied with already pre-packaged solutions, but seek out new ones that are more consistent with the values proposed by the encyclical.
So, as a first step, we decided to start from school to educate young people to protect Creation, our “common home”, by planting trees that will produce firewood. First of all, we sensitized the teachers on this issue to be discussed with the pupils. And progressively, boys and girls from elementary, middle and high schools were involved in preparing the ground for planting the trees.
The third step was precisely the planting. With the active collaboration of the pupils, divided by age group, around 1,000 trees were planted neem, a plant very suitable for the Sahelian climate and with a good growth rate. It’s a paltry figure compared to the 2,920 trees needed for the kitchen every year, but we think it’s a good start that we would like to repeat every year.
Adopt a tree
With the start of the new school year in September 2022, we also launched another initiative with elementary school pupils, the initiative entitled “Adopt a tree”. In fact, each child is invited to put a plate with his name on the tree which he undertakes to follow throughout the school career. Certainly the example and the pedagogical contribution of teachers is essential. This is also a great bet, and one that is worth pursuing. At the appropriate time, then, it will be possible to plan the “pruning” of the trees to recover a good quantity of wood to be sold on the market.
Productive forests and “improved” kitchens
Furthermore, we plan to involve groups of women in the creation of “productive forests”. It is a medium-long term project that can also be implemented with the support of the administrative authorities who will have to make 5 or 10 hectares of land available to women’s cooperatives for the planting of various types of forest trees. This initiative also aims to create an income-generating business as the wood can be sold.
Finally, we would like to promote the dissemination of “improved cookers” which allow you to save about 50% of wood and time for cooking food. These “kitchens” are generally made of sheet metal and have the advantage that they can be transported and last a long time. They are “cheap” also because the production costs are not high
A hope and a commitment
Sure, these small projects can appear like a drop in a sea of needs. But, as Marc Twain said, speaking of the pioneers, “they didn’t know it was an impossible feat, so they did it”. We too would like to follow this criterion. We have done the first step. And we invite everyone to do his part. Sometimes it doesn’t matter so much – or only – the result, as having dared to try and accomplish even what seems impossible.