The seeds of change

In 2007, Shyam Sundar Paliwal and his wife, Anita, lost their 17-year-old daughter Kiran to dehydration. The couple hail from Piplantri, a village in India that suffered from extreme drought and dust in the air due to marble mining.

• The village is also a patriarchal community that has always valued sons over daughters, which became abundantly clear after the lack of response at Kiran's passing.

Grief ➡️ action... Overwhelmed with grief, Shyam and Anita wanted to do something to honor her memory – and help shift the village's culture. 

So they planted a tree. 

After planting their tree in honor of Kiran, the couple started convincing other village members to do the same.

Soon, 11 trees were planted for each baby girl born in Piplantri. Anita, who holds the title of Sarpanch (elected head of an Indian village), even started using available government funds earmarked for village development to plant and maintain the trees. 

🌱 Small steps, big change... Fast-forward 15 years, and Pilpantri now boasts a lush forest in honor of all the village's girls. 

The community has also started gifting newborn girls with 31,000 Indian rupees (~$380) to help cover education and marriage costs. 

• “It seemed as if the greenery, cleaner air and cooler temperatures created by the trees planted for our girls, made people realize they too have value," said resident Prem Bai Rajput. 

🌳 Leave your legacy... The trees have not only helped the girls in the village, but environmentally as well, creating fresh air and rich soil for the townsfolk who live there. 

• As for the Paliwal couple, they are overwhelmed with the success of their forest, all started in honor of Kiran. “The transformation of Piplantri began with her,” Shyam says now, surrounded by an abundant forest of more than 400,000 trees. “If only she were here to see it today.”
• He continued: "Girls, trees, water, biodiversity, village commons — only when they flourish together, can one dare to have hope for the future.”