Sometimes we need a leader to guide us, inspire us and direct us to the truth…A good leader prepares the way for many more to take charge.
In 2017, a group of youngsters, led by Rudresh Uttam Mhamal, a man with a mission, started the “Tree of Hope Challenge”, an initiative to plant trees along the Mandrem beach belt. With the help of his friends and NSS Volunteers, Rudresh Mhamal planted fruit and flower saplings donated by the Goa Forest Department along the beach line. His project received a huge response and within a few months, around 700 saplings were planted along the Mandrem belt.
A seaside village bustling with tourists and infested with shacks, Mandrem, over the years, faced the brunt of over-commercialisation and environment degradation. Rudresh Uttam Mhamal, a young resident of Mandrem, North Goa, was deeply affected by the rapid environment changes in his peaceful village. He plunged into action immediately and formed a group of eco-warriors to help him with his plan. He roped in NSS volunteers from Vidya Prabodhini College, Parvari, Goa, where he works as Assistant Professor in Commerce and took to social media to inspire many more volunteers. What started as a small tree-plantation initiative soon encouraged these youngsters to spread environment awareness among their peers.
With the enormous success of his ‘Tree of Hope Challenge’ in 2017, Rudresh Mhamal started an afforestation program on the barren and windswept side of a hill in Mandrem. The hill, which faces the Arabian Sea, is exposed to the ravages of the sun, making the area dry and arid. Empowered with support from the Mandrem Panchayat, Rudresh, set out on his gargantuan task on 5th June, 2017 on the World Environment Day. Several saplings were planted on the hill, in addition to a banyan sapling planted on the top of the hill and named as ‘Tree of Hope’ from which the initiative got its name. The efforts of Rudresh and his student volunteers soon motivated their friends and family to contribute their time and effort every evening and every Sunday morning. The most difficult task, though, was to carry water up the steep and rugged hill every day. But the group worked relentlessly through the dry months of the year, fertilising, fencing and watering each plant and also protecting them from cattle and miscreants. The result today is a thriving green cover, still being managed by ‘Tree of Hope’ volunteers.
Rudresh Mhamal’s determination to spread environment awareness soon adopted a creative shape. In 2019 he organised a day-long eco-festival, ‘Kalpavruksh 2019’ which included several curated activities and competitions to infuse eco-awareness. Photography, drawing and short-film competitions saw the participation of several youngsters from across Goa. The short-film competition was based on ‘Tree of Hope’ theme which was one of the highlights of the festival. The participation of the public gave a much needed impetus to the eco-campaign and since then there was no looking back.
The United Nations Organisation (UNO) identifies climate change as the most critical global issue that needs immediate attention. At a time like this, sustainable, community-led projects like the ‘Tree of Hope’ are of significant value. Rudresh dreams of starting similar drives in other parts of Goa. Vasant Narulkar, a committed student volunteer and a B.Com graduate from Vidya Prabodhini College, who has worked with Rudresh Mhamal right from the inception of the initiative says, “I started supporting the ‘Tree of Hope Challenge’ as part of college NSS activity. While working with Rudresh Sir, my friends and I have realised the enormity of environment degradation and its impact on the world today. The efforts and the hard work of Sir has motivated all of us to contribute for the ‘Tree of Hope’ initiative even during Sundays. I have graduated two years back but I will always be a part of this program.”
Three years since, the task is still as enormous, but the dream has become a movement. These eco-warriors regularly organise cleanliness drives, plant watering drives (Shivabhishek), World Environment Day drives that involve public participation, thus highlighting the fact that the eco-awareness and environment protection is the only way to save the planet for our future generations.
Unperturbed with the challenges ahead, Rudresh Mhamal conducts himself with aplomb and composure. This humble and hardworking man has proved that if there is will to do something, there is always a way to execute it. He has immense faith in the younger generation as the harbingers of a safer and greener world.
“Trees don’t need us…we need trees. It is very important to surround ourselves with lots of them,” he says, as he gets busy making a fence for a young tree.
A very positive and hopeful initiative to read about in these troubled times. Hyper local activities like these are the way forward to conserving our land and our way of life. Wishing them all the strength to keep this active.