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Today, a friend has sent a message, in which a short paragraph got my special attention:

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Here is my reply to him:

Dear Friend, you are completely right. All those big projects are doomed to be unsuccessful, simply
because a number of limiting factors (like water) will always hinder the achievement of the goals.

Instead of spending all the good money at reforestation without taking care of the hunger and poverty
of the local people, foreign aid should concentrate on    , creating small family gardens and
surround these with fruit trees (these are TREES too).

2009-02 - Burkina Faso, Niou village, Jardin des Femmes: community garden combined with
mango trees, created in 1994 for the village women¶ association Gueswende (Photo
Committee Maastricht-Niou)

We should not look first at economic return on our investment, e.g. planting trees and shrubs for
biofuel, but first of all eliminate hunger and diseases in a region, which is a conditio sine qua non to
count on the collaboration of the local population at reforestation projects in the future.

How can we ever justify that we '

' the local people if our main objective is to gain 'something' for
ourselves?
For me there is only one solution:  






 


  
  and then see how they can
really help us to create return on investment.

2009-02 Burkina Faso: Jardin Kabouda, a community garden created with the support of the
Committee Maastricht-Niou. A splendid example of combating hunger, child malnutrition and
poverty. (Committee Photo)

Unfortunately, it is always business as usual, even for some international organizations, surviving
thanks to the unsolved problems like hunger, child malnutrition and poverty, for which billions are
continuously collected, without changing much at the grassroot level.

I get tears in my eyes thinking at all those poor people out there, seeing how billions are spent year
after year at what is called combating the problems.

Hunger, child malnutrition and poverty should be combated in the field itself, at the grassroot level, by
offering people a chance to grow their own fresh food and fruits in a private family garden or in a
community garden (see photos).

We will never win that war if we continue to ship only food (the ammunition) to the frontline, not the
necessary weapons (a fence, fertilizers, seeds, ...) to create gardens, the ideal platform for self-
sufficiency.

For sure:  


 ! Let us make the right strategic move.