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Bare Root Trees to Afghanistan article; Oct. '04Bare Root Trees to Afghanistan: An expression of Christian love
By Steve Strickler
The Layman
October 2004, Page 4
Mention Afghanistan to most people and images of Al-Quaida, war and utter turmoil come to mind. Mention Afghanistan to Ashford D. Wood, a member of First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo, Calif., and his face lights up to tell you about `The Bare Roots Project,` a cooperative way to reach out with the love of Christ.
Wood, an investment banker for more than 40 years, who does about half of his business with public agencies in farm communities throughout the state of California, began to think about sending bare root trees to Afghanistan as a tangible way to help the people of that war-torn country and to bring Christians and Muslims together in a mutually beneficial and worthwhile project.
Bare root trees are trees that can be tended to maturity in one place and easily moved to another for trans-planting. Bare root trees in their new location produce fruit the very first year.
After Wood presented this idea to his session, he was invited to become an adjunct member of his congregation`s Church and Society Committee to more fully develop the concept. The session approved it and also approved the creation of a fund known as The Bare Roots Project. They have begun to raise money and have formed a 12-member subcommittee that is working exclusively on the project. The sub-committee is ecumenical and interfaith. It includes pastors and lay leaders as well as a seminary professor and a local news-paper reporter and columnist.
Mission statement
`Bare Roots has a very simple purpose � to provide trees to people in Afghanistan,` according to the preliminary mission statement.
`We are a small group of ordinary people and we are interested in ordinary people in Afghanistan. We want to provide trees for use at people`s homes as well as for the planting of orchards for the purpose of cash crops. To ensure success, we will honor the integrity and dignity of local Afghan people, as well as use their knowledge. We do not want to create dependency. Acknowledging the need for some organization, we aim to have as direct a relationship as possible with Afghan people.
`We are influenced by a saying gleaned from a Mennonite missionary:
Tread gently, helping takes time.
We are impatient to help, to feed the children, plant the greens, end the poverty and disease.
We need to think carefully before working at solutions to the problems of others.
We wait on God who helps us understand
another people and teaches us that
the paths of their lives are Holy Ground."
It was important to Ash Wood from the
start that the project be cooperative. Now enters Afghans4Tomorrow Director of Agriculture Asma Eschen, an Afghan-American who also happens to work in the preschool at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon, a town near San Anselmo. Eschen and Wood together wrote a letter to the minister of agriculture in Afghanistan describing the idea. He approved the project and indicated the types of trees most appropriate: apples, pears, plums, quinces and almonds, to name a few.
Assuming dollars could be raised to buy the trees, the question of how they would get the trees to Afghanistan loomed large. Eschen contacted a U.S. government agency to arrange for shipment. Transport would possibly take place by U.S. Air Force cargo plane to Afghanistan. In time, however, it was discovered that the most cost-effective method of getting the trees to the people of Afghanistan would be to purchase trees already being tended there.
A nurseryman was found in Southern California who had established a nursery in Afghanistan and has many of the trees needed, plus numerous additional kinds. Wood says, `He has agreed to provide us one or two acres within his nursery to maintain the trees and would be willing to sell them to us FOB Kabul for $2 each which is considerably cheaper then shipping them from the United States.` Wood explains further that the nurseryman employs local Afghans, many of whom are women. A significant proportion of survivors in Afghanistan include widowed women with families to care for.
Eschen will represent Afghans4Tomorrow in Kabul to participate physically in the distribution of the trees in the same way that they have assisted in distributing soccer balls and other items. Wood and 7 others from his church will accompany her.
For more information and/or to make a contribution, contact Ashford D. Wood: First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo, Bare Roots Project c/o Ashford D. Wood, 72 Kensington Road, San Anselmo, CA 94960, Phone (415)456-3713.
This article may be seen at www.layman.org (October 2004, Page 4) or http://www.layman.org/layman/the-layman/2004/4-october-layman/october-2004-layman-web.pdf.
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