I have seen date palms all my life. In the winter, during early morning car rides from our home in Dhaka to my ancestral village Mohishkhola, I would see men with lungis tucked around their waist climbing lithely up the tall, slender trunks to collect the date syrup. They shave the bark from one side of the tree, cut a slanted groove across the exposed bark, and hang a clay pot overnight to collect the sweet sap in the morning.

In 2021, when I was 12 and became more health conscious and interested in natural substitutes for refined sugar, it was my grandmother who suggested I switch to organic date syrup, a traditional sweetener famous in the region of Mohishkhola. I found it to be a healthier substitute, and started thinking of ways to revive the centuries-old tradition into our modern lives.

Soon after, in 2022, I began a project to plant date trees in Mohishkhola. I reached out to a local NGO called Toru Pallab, which helped me to plant 1000 date trees along the public roadsides of the village. We placed protective bamboo cages around the saplings to keep any small animals or critters from harming the plants, or people from trampling on them. In my excitement to start the project, I used royalties from two books I had previously published to help cover the necessary costs, including buying saplings and hiring labor to help plant them.

Over the next year however, some serious flaws in my project started to emerge. Every time I went to my village, I realised that more and more of my trees had not survived. I was confused as to why, since I thought we had taken all necessary precautions to ensure their survival. However, over time and after multiple visits, I realised that because the trees were planted on public roadsides of the village, no one owned them. The plants were simply dying due to lack of care. Although I felt dismayed and disappointed by this failure, I didn't want to abandon the project, and knew that I had to instead take a different approach. For my project to survive, it needed to become personal, not just for me but for the village community itself. So I started all over, this time incorporating what I had initially missed out: engaging the local community. As the year stretched into 2024, I held discussions with the village elders, local school teachers and students. After brainstorming ideas about how to establish a clean and sustainable environment, my new plan was to plant a variety of medicinal and fruit plants (including dates) inside each household of the village. Before starting, I engaged 30 local high school girls as volunteers. Since I live in Dhaka, and can't visit every weekend, the student volunteers would help me to ensure that everything was running smoothly. They would regularly check up on the plants, and make sure that they were being properly maintained by their owners.

I conducted an initial survey with all the village residents to understand what the overall situation was. In the survey, we included questions to determine whether the villagers would like to have the plants in their houses in first place, as I didn't want to force anything on anyone, and if so, what plants were wanted; how many households there were in total; whether there was space in their houses to grow plants, etc.

Before planting the trees, I decided to conduct a trial run or pilot, where I would plant the medicinal trees in the homes of twelve of the volunteers who did not have much greenery in their households. This was done so that any problems or errors that could arise during the planting process or immediate aftermath could be caught and addressed early on. After a successful trial run, we planted 2,144 trees across 405 households in the village during the summer of 2025. This time there were eight different trees: Neem (used for skin, hair, and dental care, as well as blood sugar management), Arjun (lowering blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and supports heart health), Amloki (supports immune function, improves digestion, and purifies the blood), Date (organic sugar substitute, and supports digestive health), Guava (provides vitamin C needs and controls blood sugar), Lemon (provides high amounts of vitamin C and immune support), Horitoki/Chebulic Myrobalan (improves digestion, boosts immunity, and regulates blood sugar), Mahogany (the seeds and bark are used in traditional medicine to lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and inflammation).

As we planted the trees, I handed out matching ID cards to the girls in order to highlight the work that we were doing together. Over the next year, as the trees grew bigger, I had another realization. My volunteers had found a new identity outside of their regular school and house work. Each time I visited, they would take my hand as they proudly showed off the growth of the trees they were looking after. Sometimes we would stay far longer in a single home than anticipated, as our conversation stretched beyond issues related to the project. As we laughed and talked on our walks from household to household, our badges sitting on our chests with pride, I noted the ease and confidence with which they recalled stories of their work and experience in looking after the trees.

During this journey, I had the opportunity to partner with Unilever Bangladesh, who have partially funded my initiative. In the process of providing them periodical reports on the status of my project, my own monitoring skill improved. Their Corporate Social Responsibility team's visit to Mohishkhola also generates professional feedback, further contributing to my monitoring. Separately, after applying for support from my school's 'Innovation Fund', the school authorities, led by the head of school, secondary principal, and counsellor visited the Mohishkhola project and authorized additional financial support to continue my initiative. More than the money, their support validates the impact my project generates.

Working with my community in Mohishkhola and developing a relationship with the volunteer students, was a most rewarding experience. There is so much that I have learned from this project. First, for development at a grassroots level, it's the community that must have a stake: they must own and treat it as their project. Second, more schools should encourage students, especially those in their senior years, to get involved with community level development work. The American International School Dhaka, which I attend, has been most supportive in promoting student-led community activities across the student body. By getting better exposed and acquainted with their communities, students can initiate social and economic development, in the areas of environment, health and cleanliness, education, or others.

The writer is a student at the American International School Dhaka and is expected to graduate in June 2027.