What Salim Mohamed, a young Yemeni refugee, misses about his old school is the trees. “We had five huge trees in my old school in Yemen,” he said, “and during break time we would gather under the tree chit chat, rest and climb. We only have one baby tree in my current school in Mogadishu.”
We might not be able to recreate those huge, beautiful trees for Salim in an instant – but we can surely plant the seeds.
So together with the Alight team in Mogadishu, we put on a tree planting day for all the students at Salim’s school!
It was a full day of planting, watering, and tending to the trees, giving them the best chance at taking root and growing tall.
It was an opportunity not just to honor Salim’s request, but to show every student that it’s possible to change things for themselves – to recreate the things they love, wherever they are.
