There's a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.

There's a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.

It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.

For me, one of the major reasons to move beyond just the planting of trees was that I have tendency to look at the causes of a problem. We often preoccupy ourselves with the symptoms, whereas if we went to the root cause of the problems, we would be able to overcome the problems once and for all.

When I first started, it was really an innocent response to the needs of women in rural areas. When we started planting trees to meet their needs, there was nothing beyond that. I did not see all the issues that I have to come to deal with.

African women in general need to know that it's OK for them to be the way they are - to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and from silence.