Planting a New Hope for Syria

March 14, 2022 - Many advocacy and community support campaigns occur these days in cyberspace and do not reach a large social group. They remain among a limited group of people and may not achieve their endeavors and goals as desired. Baytna supports the field campaigns on the ground inside Syria and offers all its capabilities to meet the needs of the organizations to support Syrian civil society and help them achieve their goals.

Through their work with young men and women in the community, the female leaders of the "Basmat Janudiyat" organization seek to implement pioneering projects in the region that have not been done before, to maintain the renewal of the civil work and not to implement projects executed by other organizations, in order to avoid wasting resources and to participate in supporting the area with what it really needs.

In a recent training series, the organization members saw that the city needed to activate the participation of more individuals in society, to support civil society organizations' work and raise awareness of their role to benefit both people and organizations.

On this premise, they decided with their trainees to conduct an afforestation campaign for the area, in the town of Al-Janudiyah which was one of the most beautiful towns, with ornamental trees that spread inside the city and vast forests that were burned down by the Syrian regime to prevent people from hiding in during bombings.

Women and men trainees were divided into teams within the city to spread awareness and encourage active participation of community members in the afforestation campaign. Male trainees went to shop owners and to mosques, while female trainees visited institutes, schools, and homes to talk with the homemakers and urge them to teach their children to respect and preserve trees, and not harm them while playing. The trainees also introduced the center's activities and urged the people to contribute to the work of the civil society organizations and support their work.

While they initially wanted to plant cypress trees, the trainers allowed participants to give their opinions about what trees to plant, a gesture they appreciated.  They suggested planting melia azedarach trees near mosques and schools, and—almond trees at the town's outskirts for the beauty of their blossoms in the spring. They also suggested planting laurel and olive trees around the cemeteries and in the streets around town, considering them to be a source of wealth and a financial return for the residents.

"The campaign exceeded our expectations; we were expecting some people to participate with us, but we were amazed by the extent of participation from all segments of society, young and old," said Ghorob Bitar, President of Basmat Janudiyat organization. She said the trainees invited some of the children to plant with them during the campaign, telling them that each would name a tree after the person who planted it. They also showed the children how to plant, water, and take care of the trees, teaching them how to take responsibility indirectly and how to contribute to taking care of the beauty of their town.

"Some shop owners contacted us and asked us to plant some plants in front of their shops, telling us that they would take care of them until they grew. They wanted to participate in the campaign and to beautify the streets around them," added Ghorob.

The campaign was clearly effective in making more people take initiative. Some participants told trainers that when they started digging in one area, they found out that the soil was not good for agriculture, so they went to a neighboring village to bring the suitable soil to plant the trees with which they were entrusted. "This was not among the tasks, and we might have suggested that they change the place, but their will and real desire to participate made them come up with creative solutions," explained Ghorob.

The town's Civil Defense Department also provided machines to dig the soil in some areas, brought water tanks, and pledged to continue this work until the plants grew. They also removed the rubble accumulated around the town due to the bombing of the regime forces.

Before the end of the campaign, in which 482 trees were planted, several old town notables and dignitaries contacted the organization and asked to learn more about the campaign. They were provided with all the information and invited to attend the awareness sessions. Indeed, they started attending and offered the organization to provide anything they could do to help their work.

For Ghorob, the entire campaign was a great success: "It was wonderful. We reached a difficult group, introduced them to our organization, our work, and our services, and got their solidarity and active participation in our work. This was the desired outcome: to involve all segments of society in the work of CSOs. We succeeded!".