from
"S.Prout & A.Advani"
date
Feb 12, 2007 12:01 PM

subject
To: Satya Vayu & Tara Re: Coming to Sadhana Forest

mailed-by
gmail.com

Dear Satya, Vayu and Tara,

I am writing to you from Sadhana Forest, where we were hoping to travel together from Kerala. I am looking forward to you joining me here soon.

This is a camp in the countryside where many people have come together -- to live and work together -- and to re-establish the forest that used to grow here. It is called the tropical dry evergreen forest, and it used to be a thick, rich, mature jungle until people from outside came and started to cut down the forest about 200 years ago. Ever since the trees were cut down, the soil has suffered more and more. In this area where I am, rain water has washed away tons and tons of soil over many years, creating ravines and canyons where the forest used to soak up the strong rains.

I have stood in a place where a few of the large and very old trees stil stand, along with the smaller plants that were part of the wide wide forest that used to be here. This old place, this grove of trees is around a small outdoor temple or shrine in the place where the land of one village ends and the other begins. In this special place, one can feel the cool shelter of the forest and imagine how the trees harbored so many wonderful animals in the old days.

So when you come here we will work to help the forest to grow again, by protecting the soil from being washed away more, and by caring for the many many young trees that people have planted here since the Sadhana Forest project was started three years ago.

Several children are living here too, nonschooling -- and other children living near here come to visit and play when they don't have school. I think you will enjoy this place -- i can imagine Satya riding a bike and Vayu on a swing and Tara crawling under the play structure cave. You might also enjoy the pet animals here.

You can re-read this letter again later on.

I love you.

Papa


Reply Reply to all Forward