Sarovaram Tree Foundation

We operate out of Arifa Cottage, which is Ali Sabrin’s place in Thiruvananthapuram. The address is 635/2. It’s more of a home than an office, which suits the Sarovaram Tree Foundation just fine. We spend most of our time thinking about trees and how to get more of them planted around here. It started out as a small idea among friends and just grew from there. We don't have a big budget or fancy trucks. Usually, it’s just us with some saplings and shovels. Kerala is already green, but we want to make sure it stays that way for the kids who are growing up now. We talk to neighbors about taking care of the local plants. Sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate and it pours rain for days, so we stay inside and plan our next planting. We aren't experts with degrees from big universities. We’re just people who like being outside and seeing things grow. Our workspace is cluttered with bags of soil and old tools. It’s not pretty to look at, but it’s where the work happens. If you’re ever near the cottage, you’ll probably see us messing around in the dirt. We just want to leave things a little better than we found them. It’s slow work, but trees don’t grow fast anyway. We just keep planting and hope for the best. The neighbors are used to seeing us with mud on our shoes.