Event Summary:
The Rihan planting trip was a big surprise for us given that we had feared a low volunteer turnout given the holidays (Eid al Adha and Independence Day weekend). However, we were pleasantly surprised to see over 20 volunteers on the bus and ready for another beautiful day of planting.
Rihan is a new village addition to the POP Program and a very important one, both in terms of ecology and cultural heritage. The village is located at the foothills of Jabal er Rihan in the district of Jezzine and contains a high level of biodiversity, both flora and fauna, found in its surrounding hills and valleys ranging in elevations of 750 to almost 1500 m.a.s.l. The village was named after the medicinal and aromatic basil plant (Ocimum basilicum) that grows wild in native landscape. Though not very well known, there are also two major caves discovered about 50 years ago that are still being explored by spelunkers.
We arrived to the village via Nabatiyeh that took just under 2 hours to get to and met with the mayor, Mr. Zein, and his daughter, Dalia, who is in fact an LDEM student at AUB doing her final year project (FYP) in her own village. She plans on designing the public garden that we had a glimpse of while being welcomed by her father and his colleagues from the municipality. The mayor introduced himself gave us a short talk on his beloved village, describing how connected they are to their land. They seemed to pride their natural and cultural heritage, beginning with their traditional uses of wild edible and medicinal plants (e.g. Crataegus spp. such as whitethorn and Mediterranean medlar). They also described how the atrocities of war from numerous Israeli invasions had disrupted their land and livelihoods, especially from forest fires of which the burnt remnants from the 2006 war were still apparent. Nevertheless, they seemed to be thankful and persistent in maintaining their traditions despite this struggle to desire to live in peace and tranquility.
After the orientation we made our way to the planting site located along the main street coming into the village. Municipal workers were already busy preparing the holes for us, which meant we could plant more trees in less time. I gave my usual demonstration on assembling tools (spades and pickaxes to their appropriate handles), safety guidelines, and proper postures when using the pickaxe to prevent back injuries. As redundant as it seems to show the proper way in using these tools, one would be amazed at how difficult it is for people to grasp how to dig holes efficiently. The techniques that we constantly emphasize on are aimed at preventing injuries while being as efficient as possible. Hence, it is all part of our training for our volunteers to gain experience that they can then share to their peers. It is interesting to witness how the dissemination of information works when observing more experienced volunteers helping the newcomers with these tips and techniques.
We had a mixed bag of volunteers on this trip that included a faculty member, his wife and kids along with some AUB and non-AUB students. Following my demo, the volunteers paired up and began to prepare the holes as many of them needed to be enlarged. The soil was not as difficult as was expected so the seedlings were planted with relative ease. I did notice much like other public areas near roadsides that rubbish, mainly construction materials, was littered in the planting site. In fact, we used some of the old tiles for mulching the seedlings. The seedlings were watered immediately after being planted, and my trusted colleague Dima and I went around making sure they were properly mulched. Given the site was slightly sloped, it was crucial to make sure there was a proper basin in order to retain the water when being irrigated.
The municipality received 600 seedlings, of which our volunteers planted nearly 200. They received 150 each of Judas trees (Cercis siliquastrum), Strawberry trees (Arbutus andrachne), Syrian pear (Pyrus syriacus), and Stone pines (Pinus pinea).