A tree was planted in the Ashgabat Botanical Garden - the European olive. This was done by a guest of our country, a Serb by nationality with an EU passport, Dubravka Yovanovic.

In the life of the oldest scientific center, where specialists have been conducting geobotanical and floristic research for about a hundred years, this event on a large scale is not so significant. However, I propose to look at this fact from a different perspective ...

A bit of background. We met Ms. Yovanovitch about a month ago, when a briefing was held for representatives of foreign and Turkmen media at the residence of the Ambassador of the European Union.

At the same time I took interview with the EU Ambassador. Diego Ruiz Alonso stressed that one of the priorities of the EU cooperation with Turkmenistan is to promote an active transition to a green economy, combating the negative effects of climate change, etc.

Undoubtedly, international cooperation in the field of environmental protection is the most important direction of the country's development. But in this vital area, the activity of each of us plays a significant role, according to the principle proclaimed by the “Club of Rome” and picked up by the world community: "Think globally, act locally."

After the interview and briefing, the wife of the EU Ambassador, Mrs. Dubravka Yovanovic, mentioned to me that she had planted thousands of trees and shrubs during her stay in Turkmenistan. And, as it turned out, she did this not in the course of official actions, but on her own initiative.

Then it seemed to me that I misheard, and asked again:

– How many trees have you planted?

– "To be honest, I've already lost count,” Dubravka Yovanovic said. - But according to my data six months ago (then I stopped keeping count), 4,000 shrubs and 2,000 trees were marked on my list for that period, including about 60 palms.

Then I asked again “how did this happen?”, to which Dubravka replied:

– I am not a botanist or an agronomist, my education and profession are not related to landscaping. But I love doing it. It's not even a hobby, but part of my life. My principle: "If you want to give a friend a good gift, then give him a tree".

… Mrs. Yovanovitch is a very energetic and enterprising woman, she quickly finds a common language with people. The sincerity of her thoughts and deeds is so obvious that many immediately perceive her as an old friend, easily calling her by name - Dubravka.

Remembering the details thoroughly, Dubravka said that in all the countries where she and her husband, a diplomat, visited, she carried out planting campaigns on her own initiative. In Spain and Bosnia, Israel and Serbia, Libya and Herzegovina, etc. She accompanied all her eco-stories with an endless stream of photos that she keeps in her mobile phone.

So, in the once beautiful and well-groomed Belgrade, after the well-known and dramatic events, the cleanliness of the city and its tidiness faded into the background.

– “Then I went around the neighbors,” Dubravka says. “And we all went out together to clean up our street. We not only glazed dozens of broken windows and refurbished the decrepit electrical and plumbing network in places, but also did something that no one expected at that time - beautiful flowers were planted around each tree.

“It has become somehow brighter in the soul and cleaner around us,” Dubravka continues to passionately recall the past. – Passers-by, seeing the fruits of our efforts, despite the hardships of life, smiled at us and themselves. And when TV people suddenly rushed in, at first they could not believe their eyes, and then they aired a very kind and warm report from the renovated street. This topic was picked up by all Belgrade newspapers and magazines.

...The same story happened in Montenegro. Seeing the desolation and clutter of the beach, Dubravka, despite the strained relations between Montenegro and Serbia, organized beach cleaning with the local children. A cyclist rode past them, he watched what was happening for some time, and then resolutely joined the good cause.

Soon there were more beach cleaners due to neighbors and passers-by. This unforeseen support made it possible to continue work and further improve the nearby park, sports ground, elementary and secondary schools.

Out of nowhere - newspapermen appeared, and a little later, television people. So this initially modest in appearance and spontaneously born, but supported by simple and spiritually noble people, the event received wide coverage in the press as an example of how to treat the environment even in difficult times.

The headline in an extensive newspaper article about Dubravka Yovanovic and her action read: "If I can't change the big world, I can fix my small world."

I ask Dubravka about when she planted her first tree in Turkmenistan.

– Oh, that was a few years ago! she says. – I visited Ashgabat for the first time in 2018. Here, I met a girl named Selbi, who became my best friend, my Turkmen sister. And as a sign of our friendship, I planted an oleander and a young oak near her house. Why these particular trees? The oleander has beautiful flowers, like the soul of my friend, and the oak - you yourself probably already guessed: after all, my name is Dubravka, which means "oak grove".

...Later, when her husband Diego Ruiz Alonso was sent to work in Turkmenistan, they settled in Ashgabat near the Recreation Park, which the locals call the "Second Park". The first thing Dubravka did was to go around the nearest houses and meet her neighbors.

“I have visited different countries of the world, but I have never met such benevolent and hospitable people as Turkmens,” she noted.

…Dubravka recalls with pleasure that when she asked her neighbors in Ashgabat if it was possible to plant trees and flowers in bosquets under their windows, they not only agreed, but also began to take part in this event together. Both adults and children.

Everyone was enthusiastically engaged in a common cause: some cleaned the bosquets, others loosened the soil, someone watered the greenery, and someone cut the dry branches on the trees. And they did this not only under their own windows, but also among those who, due to their advanced age or state of health, could not take part in an amateur action.

But Dubravka, with her energetic character, was not limited to her neighbors. She, having established interaction, often holds such events with children, including those with disabilities. Joint participation with peers in useful work removes the inferiority complex in children with disabilities. And they feel equal and necessary members of society.

“Communication of children with nature, instilling in them an ecological culture enriches them spiritually,” Dubravka says. – And the process of planting and caring for plants has a healing effect.

... Dubravka teaches children, constantly repeating like a mantra: "Give people a tree, and it will bear fruits of good!".

She acquires seeds, seedlings of flowers, seedlings of trees and shrubs at her own expense, just as she herself bears transportation costs. With the support of sponsors, she acquired a uniform for the main group of young friends of ecology. Therefore, their actions look like a real holiday in a working clothes.

And it is not surprising that many of the children are so fond of such activities and that growing up they want to become gardeners. Dubravka calls these events unofficial Day of Ecology Friends.

…Listening to the enthusiastic stories of Dubravka, I said that they evoke the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery from memory: “Get up in the morning, wash, put yourself in order – and immediately put your planet in order.”

– Yes Yes! Just so! - she exclaimed. – If each of us will act as the Little Prince from the fairy tale advises, then our planet will turn into a real paradise! ... After hearing the stories, I no longer perceived as an insignificant result the planting of a single tree in the Ashgabat Botanical Garden, where a huge number of plants grown from various parts of America, Europe and Asia grow.

At first, Dubravka, deftly wielding a shovel, worked alone. But soon the young men dressed in the same green and white sports uniform joined her. As it turned out, they were students of the Turkmen Agricultural University.

Teachers and students of the main agricultural university of the country were not rare guests here in the past, but since the Botanical Garden was transferred in charge of the agricultural university, they conduct classes here and practice on a permanent basis.

Some of them just at that time were in the immediate vicinity of Dubravka. And without wasting time, with the permission of the hostess, they unanimously began to help her.

The Botanical Garden, which area is 18.5 hectares, is not only a scientific center, the purpose of which is to identify endangered species of local flora and then bring them into cultural conditions in order to return them to Mother Nature after studying bioecological features.

This kingdom of plants from all over the world has long been one of the favorite vacation spots for Ashgabat residents, both adults and children. You can often see whole families walking around here.

Two girls who were walking in the garden with their parents, seeing how famously Dubravka works, asked her “what kind of tree is this?”, And then they took a picture with her.

But for children, their knowledge of the world around them was not limited to this. They asked their parents for permission to help this lovely woman. And having received the “go-ahead”, the girls offered Dubravka all possible assistance

And this made her extremely happy - after all, she is not only a passionate ecologist, but also an active educator and promoter of environmental culture among representatives of all age groups. And especially among children.

– After all, they are our future! - Dubravka does not get tired of repeating.

Little by little, the number of curious of non-regular gardeners was increasing.

– Can I do it too! - one of them asked.

– Certainly! This is very ... - how is it in Russian? - useful to you spiritually too! – said Dubravka trying to find suitable words. “Just don’t get your fancy, beautiful shoes dirty.” Imported, maybe?

– These are ours! Turkmen shoes! And they are in no way inferior to imported ones! - Poking into the ground with a shovel, a young man named Misha proudly advertised domestic producers.

Seeing how the little ones carefully touched the ground, Dubravka began to teach them that they should not be afraid to take the ground with their hands.

– Touching the earth with your hands helps the body produce endorphins! You will be happy with this! - Dubravka energetically tried to explain to the children the action of a group of chemical compounds naturally produced in the neurons of the brain.

I don't know if this is true or not. As well as whether the children understood her intricate words.

I saw for myself that the little ones began to work with the soil more actively.

Especially when Dubravki said that the soil becomes kinder when you cover the roots of trees not with a shovel, but with warm hands.

“The soil cannot stain a person! Especially when he treats it kindly.

After these words, the children were already boldly picking up fertile soil in their hands and, together with Dubravka, poured it into the hole.

As it turned out, in addition to the olive tree, Dubravka took with her her beloved oleander, which is so rich in the nature of Spain, where her home is.

There it grows luxuriantly everywhere, even along roads where no one has planted it. It grows on its own, probably because it is so much beautiful in its multicolor.

And it seems unfair to Dubravka that he does not behave this way in all regions. Therefore, she so loves to plant it everywhere, wherever she has to be.

– When the oleander blooms, it will give people unusually beautiful flowers! Dubravka says to a woman who has also joined the landscaping party.

Finally, one of the students, among those who first joined the planting, strengthening the soil around the olive tree, said:

– Now, in addition to the planned classes, I will specially come here to look after this olive tree.

... Surprisingly, I became an unwitting accomplice to how people who did not know each other supported the initiative of a fragile woman unknown to them, who, in front of everyone, energetically planted a single tree, of which there are thousands and thousands in the Botanical Garden. And they, drawn by the desire coming from her heart to give people a little joy, united for a while to make the world even kinder.

The son of Dubravka, who, like his father, is called Diego, seeing how his mother does not get tired of doing good deeds, tries to keep up with her. Despite his young age, he managed to grow 3 thousand trees in different countries, the first of which he planted at the age of five. And this is only the beginning of his conscious life.

Diego Jr., who is currently studying in Ashgabat, has two friends, an Indian and a Pakistani. I don’t want to say that when adults are irreconcilably in conflict, children easily find a common language. These three teenagers do not just communicate, but are truly friends. And the three of them proposed an idea worthy of their pure souls: to lay the Park of Peace.

– I spoke with representatives of many embassies accredited in Turkmenistan, as well as international organizations, and they all supported this wonderful idea! Dubravka says.

“When we plant trees, we nurture hope. And we do it not for ourselves, but for future generations. Trees are traces of our good deeds. The time will come and we will not be, but the beautiful traces of good deeds will remain.

– I really want to call on the staff of all embassies in the world: bring the trees of your homeland to the countries where you serve, and plant them there. Such gardens will be a pure manifestation of sincere friendship. And this is already a kind of green diplomacy,” Dubravka said.

“The olive tree will be beautiful and tall,” she continued thoughtfully. - When it grows, it will delight new generations ...

And saying goodbye to the olive as a living being, she went home.

And I, being under the impression of today, decided to take a leisurely walk. I always do this so that these subtle feelings of pleasant emotions, hidden somewhere inside, do not disappear.

I walked home and a voice sounded in my mind and in my soul:

– Give a friend a tree, and it will bear the fruits of good. Everyone!

Bekdurdy AMANSARIEV