David Agnew: Due to a highly erodible soil and steep terrain, erosion was severe in many places, causing deep gullies called dongas, a little like the badlands in South Dakota.
Plenty Bulletin, August 1979: The Kingdom of Lesotho is mountainous grassland country with almost no natural tree growth. Fast flowing waters wash away a lot of the topsoil. This and other situations leave the Basotho people with serious agricultural and self-sufficiency problems. Establishing tree growth appears to be a major priority in reversing this erosion process. Plenty has started a reforestation project in Lesotho.
Amazing Tales of Real Life, April 30, 1979: Don and Marianne gave out 600 trees on March 1st (Tree Planting Day in Lesotho). Over 200 folks showed up to get trees from them. Don and Marianne demonstrated how to plant them and now, as they walk around the countryside, people ask them to come and check out how their trees are doing.
Don Edkins: People in Maseru laughed at us when we told of our plan to distribute trees to the people, yet from all accounts the trees planted in Sebapala have been planted better with more chance of success than other plantings in the country. We were happy our project was accepted. We will be growing pines and firs for next year’s planting, and are preparing an orchard to bring more fruit into the village.
Mwana Bermudes: Two Canadian families, the Kotzes and the Levitons, joined the project, bringing with them the will to plant trees all over the barren hills of Lesotho. We submitted a proposal to the Canadian International Development Agency, based on a five-year water and reforestation plan and Plenty Canada happily received the grant. This added a new dimension to Plenty Canada’s output and a new chapter was added to the Lesotho’s rural development program. I returned to Motsemocha ten years after the first tree planting operation, and could not believe my eyes when I saw these same trees now over six meters high, a real small forest in the middle of all those barren hills!
