Work..

First day to work. It was a slightly sobering experience. In my German mindset, I was expecting a buzzing and up-and-running full-fledged NGO. Maybe it has to do with the rather poor health of the people in charge.

As an intro, we received a tour of the Fairview area with a quick plant determination test on the go. At least, I was able to identify some of the trees (a birch, a maple, on second guess a beech) and the nesting box of some bats.

We also saw the street, Bram Stoker, author of "Dracula", was born in. Come to think, there even was a cafe called "The Bram" (Pictures will follow as soon as my back is not acting up anymore).

With the familiarization, we also received repeated warnings concerning being close to the "inner city" area of Dublin and associated crime. Glad, I live in the same hostel as a co-worker. She will have to protect me, in case we get held-up :)

The real work will be me setting up a nursery for some 3000 different broad leaf trees age 4. But that's for next week.

This week, I am to evaluate some projects that already are under way and to identify the next steps to be taken to push the cart..

Yesterday, I was pointed towards a poem by Irish poet of fame William Butler Yeats, written in 1921:

The Rose Tree

'O words are lightly spoken,'
Said Pearse to Connolly,
'Maybe a breath of politic words
Has withered our Rose Tree;
Or maybe but a wind that blows
Across the bitter sea.'

'It needs to be but watered,'
James Connolly replied,
'To make the green come out again
And spread on every side,
And shake the blossom from the bud
To be the garden's pride.'

'But where can we draw water,'
Said Pearse to Connolly,
'When all the wells are parched away?
O plain as plain can be
There's nothing but our own red blood
Can make a right Rose Tree.'

I guess, that's what voluntary work really is: subject to shifting political
winds and only kept alive by people's desire for change.
The funny thing is: the NGO, I'm working for is cooperating with Dublin's Rotary
Club. Last weekend, they planted oaks at the border with Northern Ireland as a 
peace project.
That same club helped planting a patch of woodland in the town of Cottbus, Germany.
13 years later, that same patch of woodland is under threat to be cut down and 
turned into an investment project. Only, because the political winds shifted.

Here in Dublin, I saw a sign for an open discussion about "Is revolution possible
in the 21st century?" It depends on the definition of revolution. In Germany, I 
think, we are too educated and/ or satisfied to riot-revolutionize.
It has to be done slowly and barely noticeable, thus taking time.
A friend of mine, who happens to be the CEO of the local power company, is going to
install a mini- hydro-powerplant in a creek running through the town I live in. Of
course, that plant is not nearly the size needed to generate enough energy to take 
the town off-grid. But, after considering the environmental impact on that stream,
it definitely is a step in the right direction using available means. And in a town,
where opinions are firmly entrenched, not just politicians but also ordinary people,
that powerplant is close to a revolution. Probably not to my friend, but to me.
With this project being firmly based on education, it will definitely withstand 
political shifts, I'm sure.
Well,working for this NGO definitely is something, I wanted to do since getting out 
of the Army: being part of something bigger to do good in the world. Now, we could 
discuss whether the re-introduction of certain ancient trees to Ireland is a good 
thing. If the Irish Government could be convinced to re-think their forestry 
management approach, that would be my mini-revolution. It would prove, the
possibility of change people believe in. The time it takes to achieve the
goal could be taken as an indicator of how popular and reasonable the idea is.