Restoring Green: A Journey Of Courage into Life Sustainability
In a land once stripped bare by erosion, a quiet transformation is taking root. This is the story of a hill brought back to life, for healing both land and spirit.
The look on my face after biking 20 kilometers and climbing a hill with a 50% incline across 13 hectares — let’s just say yoga didn’t prepare me for trekking. Oof.
For the first time in my life, I tasted fresh cacao fruit — not the boxed chocolate we’re used to. But let me be clear: I still love chocolate. Firmly stated.
There’s a place where people brought in 180 ten-ton trucks to enrich a hill stripped bare by erosion. There, they combine reforestation with cacao cultivation to build a sustainable economy — one that doesn’t require replanting forests after harvesting. Banana trees protect young cacao plants, then become organic fertilizer for the soil. Cacao husks feed the goats, and goat manure nourishes the land. Waste from one stage becomes input for the next. It’s a cycle — much like the traditional Vietnamese VACR model (Garden–Pond–Livestock–Field).
Listening to their story, I was moved by the dedication of the professor and the young team working there every day — in a place where standing still during daylight means catching a basketful of mosquitoes.
Give the green back — to me, to us, to the birds and the wild creatures.
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