PROJECT GREEN HANDS - BEYOND SPORT AWARDS 2010

Welcome back, World Sports has been following the foundation called Beyond Sports this week

looking at some of the organizations that it supports.

Today the spotlight is on a project called GreenHands in India.

Deep inside India's South,

life sometimes seems to stand still.

But this cluster of villages in Tamil Nadu jumps to life

for a few hours each day to play ball.

"I never had the chance to do this as a child

because I had to work" says this 55 year old.

"Now I love it."

The games are an initiative of Isha Foundation,

a non-religious, not-for-profit organisation

based in the Velliangiri foothills in Southern India.

Its representatives go from village to village

encouraging people out of their homes to learn yoga and to play a game.

Its founder Sadhguru, who sheds his robes for a game of frisbee

says sports promotes rural development in India.

"It is such a leveller of people.

Once you're in a game, whoever is playing well,

is the hero of the place.

His caste, creed, who he is, everything is forgotten.

Today, for boys and girls from all kinds of groups

all kinds of caste denominations, to come together and play a game together,

and feel like one team is not a simple transformation in the village."

There have been other transformations too especially among the women.

"Earlier we just cooked and cleaned. The men wouldn't let us leave our homes.

Now I play games everyday" says this grandmother.

"I'm finally having a childhood."

"Playing a sport teaches us concentration" says this young man,

"so we are much more productive at work."

Sadhguru says, a community that's healthier, happier and united is open to new ideas.

So he came up with one - mobilizing people to plant trees.

After sports are done, villagers rush to plant saplings.

"Every human being is capable of planting one tree.

And that number could be arrived quite effortlessly if everybody pitches in.

So the whole problem has been just this:

All of us are consuming but not all of us are willing to do compensatory activity.

So we started a mass campaign and

six years I spent planting trees in people's heads.

That's the most difficult terrain, believe me. (Laughs)

And now in the last six years, we have been transplanting it

and that's been happening much more easily.

It's part of Project GreenHands, a massive tree planting program

to increase Tamil Nadu's green cover by 10% in the next few years.

Just 30 years ago, this area was so fertile,

villagers had to build this wall around the well to keep the water from overflowing.

Now, it's so dry, there isn't a drop of water in the well

and villagers have to fill it artificially.

This farmer planted trees just a year ago.

"I hope it'll lead to more rain" she says

" We need water badly."

The hope here, more trees will restore ecological balance, increase biodiversity,

protect the soil and

provide livelihood opportunities for thousands.

Plus they look beautiful say the villagers.

Mallika Kapur, CNN, The Velliangiri Foothills, South India.

Project GreenHands - Beyond Sport Awards 2010

On 30th Sep 2010, in the US

Project GreenHands of isha Outreach was declared the winner

of Beyond Sport Awards 2010 under

"Sports for environment" category.

Project GreenHands is a massive tree planting movement

that has been mobilizing millions of people across Tamil Nadu

to assume responsibility for conservation of

soil, water and green cover.

The project addresses factors such as climate change, mass deforestation and intensive farming

that creates awareness in the rural communities of Tamil Nadu

living unaware of the environmental catastrophe ahead.

As a tool to promote psychosocial wellbeing

through community games, since 2005 nearly 10,000 women and men

are organized among 830 teams.

To date, over 8.2 million trees have been planted by a million people

and by the end of 2010, PGH will cross the mark of 10 million saplings.