May 15, 2026 | written by: Treedom
Imagine living on the equator, and imagine having built - through sheer hard work - an important nursery with 80,000 young seedlings ready to support the production of mango, papaya, and other local trees. Now imagine that you built this nursery using wooden poles, because iron ones were too expensive. Can you picture it? Can you measure the effort, the commitment, and—once the work was done—the satisfaction of having created something that, before, wasn’t even imaginable?
That was exactly us: exhausted, but proud.
Now think of the perfect storm, the one in the film with George Clooney, out at sea. Only this time, it happened on land, across a fairly large area on the border between Kenya and Tanzania, right where some of our projects are located and where the nurseries grow the young trees that make them possible. These are fairly densely populated areas, where houses are mostly built with thatched roofs—so you can imagine the impact on people’s lives as well.
And now, think again of our nursery, with all those wooden poles…
Oh, sorry, my name is Riccardo, I’m Treedom’s Forestry Manager, and I oversee reforestation projects in Kenya. Writing articles like this isn’t my job, so please forgive me if my writing isn’t exactly polished.
But I’d like to show you one of the videos we received right after those days.
Even though people there are used to heavy rainfall, this event was particularly destructive. That’s why we received requests for help from our partners, who manage the nurseries and projects on the ground.
I took action immediately, and thanks to Treedom we were able to send initial financial support—€3,500 against total damages of around €10,000. This allowed us to ensure continuity of work for all the people who care for the young trees in the nursery every day. We are now replacing the wooden poles with more durable iron ones, so that this will be the last time a storm—or even termites—can destroy the nursery structures. These poles support the shading nets that protect the seedlings from the African sun.
As mentioned, the total damages and the cost of fully restoring operations are significantly higher than our initial support. That’s why, in recent weeks, Treedom has launched a campaign featuring two limited-edition trees. If you purchase them, the entire amount will go toward this goal. The full amount.
The campaign is going well, but we’re only halfway there when combining Treedom’s initial support with the contributions already made by our community—whom I sincerely thank.
That’s why I asked to use this space as well: to reach a wider audience and support this meaningful effort. It will help rebuild, but above all it will support communities that rely on these nurseries as a vital point of reference.
If you’d like to help these communities, you can click on the images below to find the trees you can plant to support this reconstruction project.
