Healing Trees: a tree planted for each victim of Covid-19, also in Brazil

The covid-19 pandemic is coming to an end, but it has left a trail of deaths and consequences. Have you ever stopped to think about how all this has affected you, and how you can contribute to healing the wounds that the pandemic has left in our society?

Brazil has 2,7% of the world's population and 33% of global deaths from covid-19 happened here, according to a survey carried out by the Federal University of Pelotas (RS), and released at the Covid CPI in the Federal Senate.

Every Brazilian has a story of loss and change in the last two years. The pandemic also gave us a warning: we are not paying attention to our health and our connection with Nature. We are not paying enough attention to the environment. This is the message of Heling Trees, which in a literal translation could be “healing trees”.

The movement was born in Costa Rica and set the ambitious goal of promoting the planting of more than 5 million trees around the world in honor of the loved ones we lost to Covid-19. The objective is for each person who lost a family member, friend or acquaintance due to Covid-19 to plant a tree in memory of the person they loved.

“With Healing Trees, we seek to achieve real and responsible impacts, where we can give planted trees the necessary maintenance during their first years of development,” said Jose Zaglul, director of Healing Trees, in an interview with the Global Environment Facility.

Here in Brazil, the movement arrives through José Luiz Egydio Setúbal Foundation, in partnership with the Anchieta Grajaú Institute, which serves children and adolescents from socially vulnerable families.

The location chosen to plant the trees belongs to the Institute. In total, more than 30 different fruit seedlings native to the Atlantic Forest will be planted by around 400 Institute employees and their families. The idea is to plant and accompany that tree throughout life, as if the child or teenager who passed away was there, in life, in a tree.

The NGO's Human Development supervisor, Lucyanne Masson, says that “it will be a significant meeting, as most caregivers worked on the front line of care [to covid-19 patients] at the height of the pandemic, experiencing the consequences of the virus up close, both for patients and their families.”

According to Lucyanne, participation in the movement “engages everyone who participates and aims to foster a civic attitude among the institute’s employees and family members.”

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