Living in Sweden, making my voice heard is, for me, a given. It’s something I don’t think too much about because I know I have every right to speak up. However much I would want this to be the right of every human on earth, it isn’t. Or rather, it i s every human’s right, but it’s not a right every human can exercise.

This is why this picture in my view, is one of the most impactful ones from my trip to Kenya in June. I didn’t take the picture myself, because I was busy having breakfast at Lion Rock in Tsavo West National Park when this big meeting took place at the Kiambere plantation. Luckily, Jan and Jonatan were there, and one of them captured it.

You see, a new supervisor has started work a week or so earlier, and somehow there had been a misunderstanding. The dayworkers did not fully understand how they got paid – checking in with your thumbprint in the morning, checking out with your thumbprint in the afternoon, and on Friday the week after, you get your salary as M-Pesa (Sweden got Swish in 2012. Kenya has M-Pesa since 2007!) to your cellphone – and did just that: Exercise their right to make their voices – their concerns – heard.

The misunderstanding was cleared up in no time and everything went back to business as usual; except for me… I was left impacted. Moved. Proud. You see, these workers were not afraid for their jobs. Nor for their lives, which can certainly be the case in some countries/companies! This sense of pride is an unexpected side-effect, I have to say. I didn’t expect to sense into the operations of Better Globe Forestry in quite such a way, that I did during my visit. That I do, still. It has led to a deep knowing in me, that putting my savings into trees makes a real difference. And I want to make a difference. And I want you to make a difference too. Time to buy your first tree?

Advent Calendar for 2019: sharing pictures and stories/reflections from my trip to Kenya in June. I went to visit “my trees” and get a hands-on experience of the social entrepreneurship of the Kenyan forestry company that I buy trees through.

Full disclosure: I am proud to say I am both a customer and an ambassador for the company. If you are curious to find out more, let me know and I’ll gladly get in touch with you! Here’s my sponsored link: https://betterglobe.com/27216