In 2019, during the long process for the Ashoka fellowship, at the end of a very long morning of interviews, I met the founder of Treedom who told us about his project. As Federico spoke, I began to imagine a space dedicated to the Little Princes and Little Princesses of CiaoLapo, virtual and physical at the same time, cared for by our association and hundreds of arms around the world.
After two hours, the forest of Little Princes had already taken shape as I returned home by train. A couple of cocoa trees, two lemon trees, three or four coffees, a mangrove, two pomegranates, and the hope that other parents would help us grow our forest.
Today the Little Princes and Little Princesses forest has 504 trees: 199 trees have the parents of one of our boys and girls as janitors.
Each year we support Treedom’s project by purchasing at least 100 trees for our forest, which we will assign to our parents-guardians.
Each year we encourage our community to put some of the love that our children left in our arms into circulation.
Why a forest?
As many of you know, perinatal bereavement is still a taboo subject. It is such a taboo that, for many people, a miscarriage or a severely premature birth isn’t considered a loss because it happens “too soon.” And even when death occurs later, it is considered, at best, a private matter for the parents. In short, our society tends to trivialize pregnancy loss or the death of a newborn and struggles greatly to acknowledge the impact these losses have on women, couples, and families. We’re expected to turn the page. We’re expected to tear out the page. We’re expected to forget—even though we know full well that tearing out the page or forgetting doesn’t help and isn’t possible. We’re expected that, over time, our children will disappear again—forever. At CiaoLapo, we know that it is possible to work through grief; we know that it is possible to come to terms with loss without causing too much turmoil; and we know that it is possible to smile and laugh again. But we also know that to do all this work, the page cannot be torn out—it must be read in its entirety, carefully, and then turned, gently, knowing that we can read it again whenever necessary.
I believe that the very fast passage on our planet of our Little Princes and Princesses, can and should be narrated and remembered, because it is part of our lives. A worthy part.
The forest is a practical and symbolic way to celebrate the love that remains after their passing with some tenderness and beauty. We like to remember, put back into our hearts, and spread this love as much as possible, embracing, with our trees and janitors, the whole planet.
How can you support this project?
Green Partner
Throughout 2023, as many as 114 people decided to support the Forest of Little Princes and Little Princesses project, by joining CiaoLapo as a “Green Member”—a type of supporting membership that eliminates shipping costs and allows our members to receive a tree from our forest as a gift.
We hope everyone will decide to renew their green membership and many more will join.
As always, on the first of January, we will write in detail how to join or renew membership dues
Green Christmas gift
Also for this Christmas we have specially purchased a new kit from Treedom and are providing you with 40 new trees that you can choose to give to as many janitors.
How does CiaoLapo’s green Christmas gift work? You will be able to go to our donation portal (direct link here) and select the option“Christmas 2023 – give a tree” (remember that for the sake of fiscal transparency we register all donors, so if you are not yet registered on the donation portal, you will have to do so the first time). At this point you can make the €30 donation by choosing the paypal or wire transfer option and the system will send you a receipt.
As soon as possible we will register your tree on Treedom and send you a pdf postcard to download and send to your gift recipient (or even print and hand-deliver if you prefer). There is an alphanumeric code on the card that you enter on the Treedom website will allow you to get custody of the tree and customize it to your liking.
Of course, you can also give it to yourself (I am an ardent believer in self-gifts, especially when they are for good).
To conclude, I leave you with a poem I wrote in October 2006, before I had the courage to plant new trees. Thank you for your support and see you next time.
I am a tree
I am a tree
that has tasted the bitterness of lightning
and a boat,
that has weathered the hurricane
and I am the leaf
that the caterpillar has maimed
and a ransacked nest…
I am so much more;
I remain with the emptiness of loss,
reaching beyond the absence.
Claudia Ravaldi
