The History
Kechara Forest Retreat (KFR) Green Team was started by H.E Tsem Rinpoche in November 2012 with the appointment of Julia, Joy and Li Kheng to spearhead efforts to make KFR lush and beautiful. The team was set up to assist Phng Li Kim who was overseeing all green works at that time.
The Green Girls, as they were affectionately called, were far from green to begin with. Cacti had previously died under Li Kheng's care, Joy's experience of gardening was purely retail therapy where she would go buy pretty plants from the local nursery. As for Julia, she had never gone under direct sunlight before! Therefore it was a frightening thought to be responsible for greening up 35 acres of land.
However, having faith in Tsem Rinpoche, the team started their green journey with online research, nursery visits and plenty of desperate phone calls to friends with green fingers. The girls even learnt how to make compost tea!
The journey had been filled with personal growth, learning of new knowledge and skills and laughter as friendship developed between unlikely friends.
Today, the team consist of the addition of Pastor Chia, our green pastor who is specializing in healing herbs.
Kechara Forest Retreat
In adopting a tree, you are sponsoring the planting of a native tree in Kechara Forest Retreat which is a space that promotes inner and outer peace.
Kechara Forest Retreat, an oasis of peace conceptualized by H.E Tsem Rinpoche where a conscious community is nurtured and grows. It is a space for people from all denominations, religious backgrounds and races to get together and contribute to society by creating tranquility, world peace, happiness, detoxification.
The Cause
As global warming marches on, greening up is an urgent and crucial responsibilty of the world community. Going green is not about benefiting Mother Nature but about empowering us as residents of this planet to show gratitude, preserve our home for the future generations and give ourselves a sense of self-actualization to engage in a meaningful and fulfilling universal cause.
Call
for Action
I passionately and humbly call for you to transform your desire to give back to the environment into a belief that your contribution makes a difference. Take action and sponsor a tree for yourself or present it as a gift to a loved one.
I aim to raise funds to plant 108 trees to replace trees that were felled in the name of development. Felling of trees to accommodate the growing polulation of man on earth has gained a momentum that cannot be changed overnight. However, reforestation works can reduce and potentially neutralize the negative impact of development by creating "carbon credits".
Sponsorship program:
USD 170 for one tree
When you sponsor a tree, you are contributing the the effort to reforest the land with a 5 - 8 feet native tree. The sponsorship includes the tree, logistics to deliver the tree on site, manpower to plant as well as care of the tree for 5 months. Tree care after planting is crucial because 80% of tree saplings planted that has no follow up of care and maintenance fail to grow into adult trees.
The benefits of sponsoring
Re-forestation effort is one of the few efforts that effectively neutralizes the negative impacts of development. Planting a tree can:
- Protect soil erosion which in turn preserves precious nutrient rich top soil.
- Maintain water tables under the ground
- recycle carbon dioxide into oxyden in the atmosphere
- Preserve the biodiversity because trees are the back bone of the ecosystem
The Sponsor A Tree, Save Your Future campaign gives us the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy of a healthy Mother Earth by contributing to make this dream of a Green Paradise manifest.