Planting Trees for Nowruz
On March 21st, we celebrated Nowruz, Afghanistan’s New Year and the first day of spring. Nowruz, which means “new day” in Dari, is a two-week long celebration filled with feasts, cleaning house, and planting trees. Spring is a symbol of rebirth and new opportunities all over the world, including Afghanistan. As part of a longstanding tradition, people often plant trees on this day in Afghanistan as a symbol for a new beginning. Some even picnic on tulip fields!
AAE students in Kabul schools #1 and #2 planted trees at their schools with the help of Plant a Tree Afghanistan, a local community organization that promotes environmental sustainability and health through planting trees.
Zohal, an 11th-grade student from Kabul school #2, was featured in PATA’s video about the planting event. See her in the video here:
Zohal says, “Today, we planted 18 trees with some of our teachers and classmates. Our aim is to have a green Afghanistan. Let’s plant a tree for Afghanistan!”
Afghans are expecting a prosperous year after a harsh winter with lots of snow and rain. Farmers, especially, are excited for a bountiful planting season and harvest. We hope Afghanistan has a safe, peaceful, prosperous new year ahead. At AAE, we’ve got many big things planned.
From all of us at AAE to you, have a very green 1396!