27 Luni

One day in early November I heard about a tree planting that was to take place near my village, next to the Lukoil facility.  The planting was sponsored by the Romanian organization of MaiMultVerde, which translates to More Green.  The non-profit focuses on green initiatives that include clean up projects, tree planting and ecological education.  One of Peace Corps Romania’s long time Volunteers and current Peace Corps Volunteer Leader works directly with the organization and asked if I would like to participate in the event.  Being that I was free that Saturday how could I turn down the opportunity?

With an announced start time of eight on Saturday morning the event was true to Romanian tradition.  Two buses loaded with children rolled up at nine and after a short coffee break the real work began at around nine thirty.  All of this delay was fine by me because my hands needed the time to thaw after my frigid ten-kilometer bicycle ride to the site earlier that morning.  MaiMultVerde did a great job of providing support for the event.  I really wasn’t sure what to expect with an event like this in Romania.  It would not have surprised me if upon arrival I were shunned for not having brought my own trees, let alone shovel.  As it turns out, the NGO not only had trees and tons of shovels, but plenty of coffee, water and even two PortaJohns.  Not to mention two army grade large tents and plenty of picnic tables.

The loud crackle of a megaphone garnered our attention and drew us into a tight group of worshipers huddled around our leader.  The simple instructions were given:  Dig a whole as wide around and as deep as the shovel head, put a tree in, cover the roots with dirt, tamp it down and repeat.  Dozens of rows, marked off with two-foot long white plastic tubes, signified where we should be planting.  This was the third such planting for this field, so our job was to fill in the gaps where the previous year’s sapling trees hadn’t survived.  The large group was divided into smaller groups of three, with the idea being that one person would dig a hole, one person would put the tree in and another would fill it.  Immediately following the dissemination of instructions the matriarch of a mother/daughter duo latched on to me as their third wheel; clearly because of my overwhelmingly strong build and obvious tree planting ability or more likely because I was one of only two Americans in attendance.

The three of us picked a seemingly endless row of alien like white tubes sticking up from the ground and quickly set into our pace for the day.  With their limited English and my limited Romanian the conversation stayed pretty basic and the day was mostly filled with a silence defined by focused hard work.  As the sun came overhead and the clouds burned off we were warmed by not only the physical labor but also the fall air around us.  The next four hours went by surprisingly fast as we methodically dug holes only to fill them again with the same dirt and new scrawny twigs.

As my water bottle sputtered only a few lingering drops our work was done and the lunch ladies were calling.  When parking my bike earlier in the morning I had spied a few outdoor burners and giant campfire style kettles.  This time, as I turned the corner of the tent, the welcoming aroma of sarmale, mamaliga, and fasole struck me.  The organization had arranged for a traditional Romanian feast in honor of our volunteer work.  The significance of this was doubled as the tree planting event took place during Post; a time where many observing Romanians do not eat meat.  Thus, we had vegetarian and carnivore varieties of everything.

Events like this are of growing interest in Romania as the population begins to understand the importance of not only volunteering but taking care of their surroundings.  Similar to the attitudes in the United States in decades past, many host country nationals here will still opt to throw liter on the ground instead of walking just a few feet to a garbage can.  The sad fact is that many still don’t have any thought process for how this is a fundamentally wrong.  The good news is that with organizations like MaiMultVerde and initiatives like “Lets do it Romania” this negative mentality is slowly starting to shift.  After the feast and some good conversation it was time to hit the road back to my village; I said my good byes, shook some hands and pedal off with a warm feeling of accomplishment battling the settling in food coma.

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As a side note, I find it interesting that as an American I was planting trees in the shadow of an oil refinery outside of Ploiești.  This region and the county of Prahova are known for their strong ability to produce oil.  In fact, at one point, Ploiești supplied upwards of thirty-percent of Germany’s oil during World War II.  It is a sad fact that the single largest loss of American Aviators ever took place over the skies above my head in the worst defeat the United States Air Force was subjected to in all of history.  If you are interested in learning more please see the Wikipedia page for Operation Tidal Wave.