Our Trees Are Finding New Homes! It’s hard to believe that we started the 30,000 Trees Project in March 2025 and we’re already building on what we started and creating places where people can learn, share skills and get involved. A big part of that has been developing our tree nurseries at Ta Hen community into a real hub for tree germination, composting, vegetable growing and collecting seeds from Cambodia’s native trees.
One of the things we’re most excited about is seeing the nurseries becoming ‘living classrooms’, Ta Hen’s Catholic community is home to more than 70 full-time students from poor and disadvantaged families. Many of these young people now volunteer alongside our team, getting their hands dirty and learning about growing trees, germination, composting and community food production. For us, this is exactly what the project should be about. We’re not just planting trees; we’re sharing the knowledge needed to care for the environment for future generations.
And then the rains came - When the rainy season began in May, we were finally able to start distributing the trees we had grown during our first year. With the help of a group of volunteers from Spain, we planted our first micro forest of 500 native trees; seeing our trees leave the nursery and begin their lives in local communities, schools and Buddhist centres has been a genuinely special moment for all of us. The Buddhist Wats (temples) have been dedicated supporters of the project and are planting our trees at a number of different sites. There’s something particularly reassuring about planting trees in these sacred spaces: we know the monks will look after and protect them, giving them the best possible chance to grow for many years to come.
Welcome to the team, Thy! - As the project grows, so does the amount of work involved! We’re therefore really pleased to welcome ‘Thy’, a local Ta Hen resident with good agricultural knowledge, who has joined us to help with the practical day-to-day work in the nurseries and to give our wonderful volunteers some extra guidance. Having someone local taking responsibility for this work is another important step towards making the project sustainable for the long term.
And finally - thank you! None of this would be happening without the friends, family, donors and supporters who decided to get behind a slightly ambitious idea called ‘30,000 Trees’. THANK YOU. There’s still a long way to go, but seeing our first trees heading out into communities makes it feel like something very special is beginning to take root. Thank you for being part of it.
The 30,000 Trees Team – Sreyrath, Ratana, Vannak, Thy and Simon
