Hi guys,

Coming back from Niger, I decided it was time to share this great experience with all Tree-Nation friends.

As I said, I accompanied Max, Tree-Nation founder, in order to plant the trees everybody got.

Hence we flew to Niamey, Capital City of Niger Republic. We stayed there a few days with our partners from the INRAN.
It was particularly interesting to hang up with them, and to share their passion for trees. I learnt a lot of thing about trees, and especially their values for life. Besides fighting desertification, trees are also useful for the local inhabitants for other reasons.
For instance, the baobab tree has long roots and pulls the water up ; that helps the agriculture. The leaves of baobab are used in many local sauces. The fruit is also tasty and full of vitamins.
Of course, it is always nice to rest under the great shade of a baobab ;o)

I mention Baobab, but I could speak about every kind of tree and their virtues: feeding animals, feeding humans, etc.
And every tree has its speciality: I quite liked the Moringa Oleifera which leaves contains 2 times more Vitamin C than oranges and is often used worldwide against malnutrition.

After a couple days in Niamey, we moved to Dosso, where we had to plant the trees.
We spent their four days, measuring, digging, planting, watering, cleaning etc.

It was a great feeling to be in this wonderful place, connecting with local people, learning from them, and sharing a common goal.

Niger people are so kind. Every one of them welcomed us very warmly. I really had the feeling to be part of a family.

We then moved back to Niamey, were we had a few meetings with people from different institutions, in order to get their support.
Of course they like the project, and hope it will keep going.

I enjoyed this trip so much that I am now planning to go back next year. I want to see the evolution of the trees, but more important, I want to see Niger friends again, as their smiles and kindness went straight to my heart.

Take care everbody,

Etienne