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Dear supporters of the project,
Thank you so much! Your support gives energy to the community forest and to the possibility that a group of people who do not know each other can join forces to give nature back its space to express itself and the fields their wildlife.
We are moved to see among you the names of people who are close by, and those of people who are geographically distant, some of whom we have never met, who live many kilometres away from here, in other lands with other climates, and who, despite never having crossed these fields, love them as if they could see them from their windows.
We are grateful that this journey connects us to you through invisible, deep connections.
This is the first lesson that the forest is teaching us: to be a network.
Recently, it also received its name: «ARBAROJ - dancing forest».
A word in Esperanto («arbaroj» = «forest»), a language created to connect the peoples of the world, just as an ecosystem connects all the beings that inhabit and constitute it within the same harmonious balance of subsistence.
Yesterday we received an invitation from Salenti Asd, a very interesting and active association in the area that deals with environmental and social issues, and which began its activities here in Nardò in June. The wonderful people who make up the association have offered to support us through an event whose proceeds will be donated entirely to the forest! An immense gift that has moved us deeply.
So this Sunday, 30 November, at 10.30 a.m. in Santa Maria al Bagno (Nardò), on a beautiful wooden platform overlooking the sea, we will have breakfast together and talk about reforestation. Alberto and I will tell stories and sing songs for the little ones about protecting forests. It will be a precious moment to be together and unite our hearts, just as trees do.
Of course, you are welcome and free to invite whoever you wish! It will be a joy to embrace everyone who is there.
See you soon! Ilaria and Alberto
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Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your support. You have no idea how happy it makes us to read your names, one by one, joining us on this journey. To you, the very first generous hearts to have ignited our dream, we want to tell you a little story starting with this photo.
A very wise person whom we never met planted 150 trees around Casa Pepe 25 years ago: eucalyptus, pink pepper and rosary trees. We were looking for a house in the countryside with a bit of greenery, but we never expected to find one surrounded by a real grove to look after, where we could watch our daughter run and explore every day.
Going through the seasons together with these trees, which live them to the full, is a gift that makes us feel grateful every day.
And one gift leads to another… Today, these trees planted by that kind person look out over the field as it is covered with marigolds. The earth of the field trembles with the desire to receive and to give. We have felt its desire since we arrived. Spring on this field brings flowers of a thousand colours.
And this year, thanks to you and those who will come, it could become home to 1,300 different plants.
We take you with us, step by step, on this path that leads to the forest that will be.
See you soon!
Good night
Ilaria and Alberto