Last year, I was lucky enough to start working with a youth group from a nearby village. I say lucky because interacting with them has been an amazing experience because they have taught me so much. They made my work easy because they are such a hardworking and passionate group. I was driven by their passion for helping their community and I worked with them on my tree planting activity. The activity was a success and there was no problem working with them. 

This group decided to start making monthly contributions per member to help their community by reaching out to needy students at a local school. They told me about how some students from their village and other villages couldn’t manage to pay for school developmental funds and school uniforms. Through the school head teacher, they identified students in need of financial assistance and they would pay. One member of the youth group, a young talented tailor, offered his free services to those who needed to get their uniforms sewn. I was very impressed by this group. 

When I was allowed to plant trees on my site, using the innovator’s compass, a tool that can be used to identify and solve problems; the group and I established that there was a need for an income-generating activity for the youth and we decided to plant bananas. The bananas after harvesting would be sold and some of the money used to help their community and some of it would circulate in the group. I was very happy to have worked with this group and I look forward to seeing them succeed in whatever they have planned next.