Where We Work

Trees for Life International does not create its own projects in the countries where we work. We work with people or groups who are already in these areas and wish to serve more effectively or in new ways. Our goal is not that the name “Trees for Life” be established or remembered; it is simply to serve and empower. The projects belong to the people.

We have worked or are working in the following locations:

Africa

Ethiopia

In 2003, Trees for Life began working with Ethiopia Reads in Addis Ababa. This nonprofit organization supports reading, literacy and education for children in Ethiopia. The main center, Shola Children's Library, opened in April 2004 and hosted more than 40,000 visits from children in its first year. The library provides more than 20,000 books for the young people who visit daily. Ethiopia Reads has also established tent libraries in outlying towns, donkey-powered mobile libraries to travel from village to village, and libraries at schools in Addis Ababa.

Kenya

In 2006, three women from Kenya visited the Trees for Life office in Wichita, Kansas during a trip sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Trees for Life provided books to schools in the women's villages—Lamu, Kwale, and Mombassa—through our Books for Life International initiative.

Malawi

In 2005, two women from Malawi visited the Trees for Life office in Wichita, Kansas, and shared about the living conditions in their homeland. They were inspired to start "Trees for Life, Malawi" when they returned. Through the efforts of local people in their area, 10,000 trees were planted. Trees for Life also provided a brick-making machine so they could complete the building of a school in a poverty-stricken area.

Tanzania

In 2001, Trees for Life supported Buguruka Orphan and Community Economic Development (BOCED) in providing environmental education and helping build self-sufficiency in Tanzania. Part of this effort was developing an educational poster about the highly beneficial Moringa tree.

Zimbabwe

In 2004, Trees for Life provided support for the Zimunya Skills Training School Project in Zimbabwe. Trees for Life has also been working with Compassion Consultancy Initiatives Projects—Zimbabwe (CCIPZ) since 2006 to help establish a library for children.

Asia

Cambodia

Since 1999, a group called Mlup Baitong has been supported in spreading awareness about beneficial trees, digging water wells, teaching composting and sustainable farming practices, establishing home gardens, and training school children and Buddhist monks to plant and care for trees. They have planted more than 9,000 timber, multi-purpose and fruit trees, including: coconut, banana, mango, pineapple, jackfruit, papaya, guava, cassava and dragonfruit.

In 2003, a partnership started with Prek Leap National School of Agriculture. Trees for Life helped the university create a nursery for fruit trees and other beneficial plants. Buddhist monks from surrounding areas learned how to start nurseries at their pagodas and then distributed saplings during religious ceremonies.

India

Trees for Life's first projects were in India, and it continues to be a major focus of our efforts. Volunteers are active in hundreds of villages throughout the country. Often programs will be developed in India and then replicated in other countries.

Allahabad

Umrao Singh Memorial School in the city of Allahabad has been a major partner with Trees for Life. A computer lab, library, pre-nursing course, medical lab with health testing for the students, along with guidance and empowerment for management and teachers, have changed the lives of countless students. Knitting machines and vocational education courses have helped students after graduation.

Volunteers have distributed seedlings for many years at the Kumbh Mela religious festivals in Allahabad.

Several village schools in the area have also been supported with English instruction, school supplies, and management and teacher support.

Orissa

In 1993, in the western part of the state of Orissa, local people donated 48 acres of land for Trees for Life to establish a Learning Center. On this land, fruit, fuel and fodder trees were planted, and a medicinal plant garden was created. Water harvesting and purification techniques have been taught. Environmental education has been provided for both school children and area farmers, including the use of beneficial microbes to help in soil regeneration. A medical clinic was constructed, and a school learning center and sewing center help teach children self-sufficiency. Fuel efficient cookstoves have been provided to many communities, and a micro-enterprise loan program operated in the region.

Delhi

In partnership with the Rotary Club in Delhi, Trees for Life supported the planting of 150,000 banana saplings. We have also worked with village schools and leper colonies in the Delhi area.

Himalayas

Himalayan Consortium for Himalayan Conservation (HIMCON) helps villagers help themselves. From 1993 to 1997 Trees for Life helped HIMCON with nurseries, transplanting, and protection and maintenance of fruit trees, nut trees, and medicinal plants. In addition, we assisted with water harvesting, spring rejuvenation, water management, measures for income generation and promotion of self-reliance projects.

Nepal

Working with local organizations and assisted by the Rotary Club, Trees for Life has facilitated the operation of village tree nurseries and planting of fruit trees in Nepal.
150,000 banana saplings projected for 1991
Assisted by Rotary Club

Latin America / Caribbean

Bolivia

During 1999 through 2001, we supported the group Tamandua Tetradactyla, who were inspired to create educational posters with local villagers about conservation of the environment in Bolivia.
Brazil

In 1991, Trees for Life worked with Projecto de Alimentaçã P/A Bacia Amazônica (PABA, Amazon Basin Food Project) to improve the lives of villagers in six Amazonian villages. The project trained community health personnel; helped people develop community gardens, dig wells and construct latrines; distributed water filters; taught nutrition and hygiene and the planting and care of fruit, nut, fuel, and fodder trees. The project cooperated with women's groups and farmers in decision making and provided sustainable alternatives to traditional slash-and-burn farming methods.

Costa Rica

In the mid 1990s, Trees for Life supported the Centro Feminista de Información y Acción (CEFEMINA) Project to teach children in ghetto schools to plant trees in their urban community.

El Salvador

During 1994 through 1996 Trees for Life worked with the Instituto Centro Americano de Investigacion y Technologia Industrial (ICAITI) Micro-Enterprise Stove Project in San Salvador. Women small business owners were able to borrow funds to purchase fuel-efficient cookstoves for their one-woman food businesses. The wood burning cookstoves were constructed of brick, clay and a metal chimney. These stoves save up to 75% of the wood previously used in cooking. In addition, they drastically reduce the amount of smoke women breathe, prolonging life and enhancing health.

More recently, a library was established at a youth center, Generation XXI.

Guatemala

In 1991, work started with fruit tree planting and construction of fuel-efficient cookstoves in Parramos in the highlands of Guatemala with a full-time volunteer from Pennsylvaina. Schools and environmental education programs were launched. Some school programs have earned much-needed income for the school, and they have also helped students learn how to better care for the environment while improving their health. More that 1,000 fuel efficient stoves have been constructed by the local people in several villages as a demonstration of what can be done.

In 2005, we provided support to help villagers with planting and training for a macadamia tree nursery. The villagers planted Macadamia trees among coffee plants to dramatically increase the community’s cash income, provide nutritious food, create crop diversity, and provide shade.

We also provided support to help a middle school in a returned refugee community called Copal AA and to establish a student-tended tree nursery. The nursery produced 5,000 mahogany saplings that were sold to the community to reforest their watershed. The resulting funds were used to support the middle school and purchase soccer uniforms. Students participated in science classes to perform soil and water testing, grew organic vegetables and corn, cleaned and reorganized the community library and organized a student art exhibition.

Haiti

In 1996, work began in community of Lambert. Villagers established a papaya nursery and a water well for irrigation. School children learned about the environment as well as improving their health by planting a school garden. Later, a micro-lending program called the People's Bank was set up. People also created and distributed a Moringa Poster to educate their community about this highly beneficial tree.
Mexico

In 2005, trees were planted in Mexico through a joint project with Compañeros en Ministerio US/Compañeros en Mision Baja California AC Mexico. The latter is a not-for-profit Christian mission organization focused on cross-cultural ministries of education, economic self-help, and empowerment. This project has provided trees for a nursery at a drug rehabilitation center in Tijuana, Mexico. The drug rehabilitation center, named “Creer,” used the nursery as work therapy, job training, a food source for the center, and future community outreach (donating trees to the public sector, including families, schools, public parks and roadways.) The nursery has grown three types of trees: lemon, guayaba, and Moringa.

Nicaragua

In 2005, some women in the community of Tisma were inspired to start their own preschool for street children. More than 75 young children are receiving an education that otherwise would not be available to them. In 2006, the citizens took it upon themselves to plant 25,000 trees, and they also provided 50 fuel efficient stoves to poor people. A community children's library was established, followed by eight other such libraries in nearby villages. The local Audubon Society group has also planted more than 25,000 trees with local farmers.
In the community of Juigalpa, a husband and wife couple helped the environment and improved local health by building ecologically sound latrines.

North America / Europe

Austria

Trees for Life Austria was established in 1992 by a woman in Innsbruck to promote an educational and tree planting program for school children.

Canada

More than 110,000 elementary school children in Ontario have participated in an educational and tree planting program since it was established in 1991. Inspired by Trees for Life, the International Co-operation of Children (I.C.O.C.) for Trees for Life Canada, Inc. has enabled teachers and children to plant more than 2 million native trees in their local communities. They also have branched out into Trees for Life China and Trees for Life Chile, promoting cultural awareness along with learning about environmental issues.

USA

In the USA, we provide a platform for those who wish to participate and contribute knowledge and resources for global networking to serve life on our planet.

In an educational program called The Trees for Life Adventure©, schoolchildren plant trees from seed and watch them grow. Students not only witness the miracle of life, but they also learn how all life is interconnected. They see how a small act on their part can have an impact on people thousands of miles away. The program also provides children in the United States with an opportunity to help children in the developing countries plant fruit trees. More than 2.7 million students have participated.