My name is Garry Brooks, a Canadian, and I was born in the final year of the Second World War, 1945. I was raised in a loving family with five brothers. We always lived close to nature where I learned to co-exist with the other species of this earth. Not religious but very spiritual, acknowledging the maker of all that exists. My father, a Fisheries Officer with the Government of Canada was a very good teacher, explaining the ways of nature and life. I married late and have two grown sons living close at hand with three granddaughters. One is a lawyer and is a Public Defender and the other is a Safety Officer for a shipbuilding Corporation.
I chose the occupation of working in the forest sector of British Columbia, owning my own logging company, sawmills and heavy construction company for almost 40 years until I retired in 2002. When I retired I decided to give back for my prosperities; as I never went to bed hungry, wore only the clothes I wanted too and was never out of work for one day. After doing some volunteering with indigenous communities in Canada, I arrived in Lusaka on October 8th to work as a community Developer with Volunteer Services Overseas. I worked for some time in Petauke, Eastern Province for an American organization the Cooperative League of the United States, CLUSA. We parted ways because I was there to raise funds from donors and the commodity we dealt in was the Zambian People. At this point, I became the founder of African Community Project ACP and am still working with communities for their betterment. Practicing Social Forestry; which is delivering safe, clean drinking water to the community, providing basic education and health, and creating community wellness. With women and children taking the forefront.
I have lived in villages for months on end, listened to the people, and understood their plight. Enjoying life as a villager was an experience I will always cherish. Ate and their food and drank their refreshments. I have owned trucks, motorbikes, rented cars, had drivers, bummed rides, rode in the back of buses, endured minibus rides and walked many miles. Rode my 125 Honda from Petauke to Lusaka many times….. Slept in tents in villages……listening to the night stalkers. Chased by all sorts of snakes.
Some things Things:
An active member of the Canadian Institute of Forestry
I have met most of your Presidents
Even summoned to Statehouse to meet President Banda
Shared many conversations with President Sata before he was President
I have a Zambian NCR card
Been too many funerals in Zambia
Watched a good Zambian Forester die because of no medical help
Paid and paying for schooling for many students
Dug and repaired many wells
Taught the carvers how to dry their carvings in solar kilns
Built a lumber dry kiln in Zambia that is still in use today
Repaired Tongo peoples cattle dips
Repaired bridges
Built dams
Handed out hundreds of mosquito nets
Made hundreds of new blackboards for schools
Gave many schools and sport supplies
Planted thousands of trees
Handed out millions of tree seeds free to community forests across Zambia
Built hundreds of tree nurseries at schools and communities
Introduced Moringa to be used in school feeding programs
Ran a breakfast feeding program in Kasama
Set up many small enterprises like selling eggs and pigs as money raisers at schools
Taught reforestation and environmental education to inmates at prisons in Zambia
Talked about the environment to more communities, schools, and groups that I can count (the biggest attendance was a Primary school in Zimba with the football field full of students and others)
The late Chief Mwanachingwala was my younger brother
SUSTAINABLE FUELWOOD IN ZAMBIA 