It’s phenomenal to see how much the trees have grown at Thread since 2015. This mango tree bore fruit this year, as have several others, including banana and papaya trees, providing the center with a nice crop of fruit, and some much-needed shade on the hottest days.
A mango tree in the Thread garden, with a papaya tree in the foreground.
Thread’s gardens have always been an integral part of the artists’ residency and cultural center, as they provide a testing ground for crops and trees, as well as an important teaching space. Habib Dieye, Moussa Sene, Augustin Diouf and Cissé Kanté work there with the local women from Sinthian and neighboring villages on improving agricultural techniques, including bio-composting, food transformation, and pruning. The team also has its tree nursery at Thread, which has provided thousands of fruit tree seedlings to families in the surrounding villages.
Many families now have a fruit-bearing mango tree outside their homes thanks to those seedlings, and mangoes can bring a nice income in the markets. Le Korsa has also branched out into planting cashew trees throughout eighteen villages, where they will provide a new source of food and income, as well as a fire break against brush fires.
We hope you will join us in planting in more trees and continuing this important work!