Mothers of the Forest; Growing Hope in the Heart of Garashi
Article Summary: This report explores how community-led reforestation and women’s empowerment in Kenya are building climate resilience and creating sustainable livelihoods for the mothers of Garashi. In the Garashi community, where access to resources and opportunities has often been limited, Word Forest has emerged as a beacon of hope. By focusing on literacy and numeracy, […]
The Four Roots: How Word Forest Grows Forests, Classrooms and Futures
Listen to this article: Although #TreesAreTheKey Awareness Week is over for this year, our work continues. It continues in every sapling that grows, in every classroom we’ve funded, in the work of the Mothers of the Forest, and in the dedication of everyone who has ever donated, shared a post, or simply engaged with our […]
The Generational Forest: What We Plant for Those We’ll Never Meet
Listen to this article: At the age of sixty-five, I have begun to look at the horizon a little differently. I realize that the most important things I have ever done aren’t the ones that bore fruit immediately, but the ones that are still just ‘shoots’: ideas, children, and trees that will only reach their […]
Planting Trees or ‘Planting Trees’: How to Navigate Green Marketing
Listen to this article: Awareness around the complex web of global issues we’re currently facing is growing: from climate change and biodiversity loss to worker exploitation, we are being confronted by a pressing need for change on many scales, across many systems. Despite narratives suggesting otherwise, the overarching response to this information is a demand […]
On Change, Seasons, and the Companionship of Trees
Listen to this article: I’m grateful to say that, as well as a rather grey car park, during the year I spent in hospital, my window looked out onto a large oak tree. When I was first admitted its branches were bare, the first week of a cold April, yet to give way to fresh […]
Mother Tongue, Mother Nature: How Identity, Language and Environmental Knowledge are interlinked
Listen to this article: ‘Kaya’: a fortified settlement whose cultural spaces are indispensable for the enactment of living traditions that underscore the identity, continuity and cohesion of the Mijikenda communities. The Mijikenda is a group of nine Bantu-speaking ethnic groups in the Kaya forests of coastal Kenya, for whom performing arts related to the sacred […]
Plant a Tree, Grow a Story: The Wood Wide Web of Literature
Listen to this article: Even before we discovered that trees communicate through underground fungal and root networks (the so-called ‘wood wide web’), authors were writing about trees not merely as an aesthetic choice, but as the centre of many canonical narratives. They offer shelter, provide comfort, and even become conduits for magic – think of […]
The Long-Term Roots of Change: Reflecting on a Year of Growth
Listen to this article: As I look back on the past twelve months, I realise how much can happen in a year. Some moments were filled with excitement and achievement, while others brought uncertainty, challenges, and deep reflection. Growth, I have learned, is rarely straightforward. It unfolds quietly through everyday experiences, small decisions, and the […]
Every Drop Counts: Water Stewardship in Our Kenyan Nursery
Listen to this article: Water has always been precious in the areas of Kenya where Word Forest works. This year, it has become critical. Across Coast Province, prolonged drought conditions are placing immense strain on communities, ecosystems and food systems. Rainfall has been erratic and insufficient, temperatures are high, and surface water sources are under […]