World Game-Changer Stories
This World Has Lost It’s Glory, Let’s Start A Brand-New Story…
The Tale Of Three Forests
We started out on our journey on the basis of three very powerful Forest-related tales. The first one relating to the birth of a young child in Chicago; the second to the planting of a food forest in Ghana, and thirdly, Nottingham Forest Football Club providing a sporting chance in life, to the young people from the villages of Ghana…
The Miraculous Forest Of Love And Hope
When I was invited to contribute a chapter to this book, my wife Shona and I were in the midst of the most challenging chapter of our lives. At five months pregnant, we were given less than a one percent chance our baby would survive. In our traumatic pregnancy, we were given little to hope for and our hearts were sure to be devastatingly broken. We were lost, angry, broken, and scared.
In this pivotal moment of our lives, all we could do is love each other and hope our baby would lead the way for us. We did not have the strength to lead, we needed our baby to help us. We were given the heartbreaking option of terminating the pregnancy and we were advised to do. Babies in these predicaments just do not survive, we were told.
The decision to choose to let our baby go did not intuitively feel like our story or what our baby wanted. In a cosmic spiritual way we just knew this. Our lack of courage to make such a decision along with our intuition created the possibility for a miracle to be birthed. So, we waited for our miracle, as our baby taught us hope and even deeper levels of love.
My chapter on this journey shares this intimate story of how our traumatic pregnancy taught us, the world really, that with love and hope anything is possible. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, our story, our fight for love, and for our baby gained worldwide attention. I feel that the world was needing something to cling on to and something to hope for. Hands around the world came together to hope and pray for our son Forest.
Forest is healthy and whole, and Shona is an incredibly strong and loving mother to him. Forest beat all the odds, defied the medical training of our physician team, and taught me more about love and hope than I could have every imagined. As you read our story consider your own…
Where is there room for love and hope?
Bob Conlin
Our Sustainable Forests Of Love And Hope
As the Chairman of the Growing Trees Network Foundation, I know first-hand the vital importance of our work, when planting ‘People Forests’ in Bolivia, Denmark, and Ghana. The outcome means clean drinking water, food, carbon capture, places for animals to inhabit, as well as providing recreational areas for us humans that can support our physical and mental wellbeing.
The catastrophic climate challenge we all face globally calls for big actions right now, and it is commonly agreed among the world’s leading scientists that planting trees is the most effective way to capture and reduce CO2. Furthermore, we see the deserts expanding, forcing local communities to flee from their homes due to drought and lack of food.
The planting of “food forests,” which take about three years to flourish. can help provide food for the financially poor community, as well as vital commodities to be traded for other crucial sustenance necessities like water, meat, and vegetables. By establishing this new 1,000+ trees food forest in Jilo, Ghana, we are helping the locals, from heart-to-heart, as well as targeting several of the 17 World Goals.
With this latest project, we are honoured to be able to offer our trees to the villagers of Jilo, because we know that the fruit, herbal and nut trees currently being planted will send out a priceless message of love and hope to the local people. This message is significantly reinforced by baby Forest’s arrival, his wellbeing and inspirational story – thankfully helping to highlight further:
Donated ‘food forests’ improve the everyday lives of village children and their families in Ghana, and other challenged countries.
Also, I am happy to share this love-healing tool with you because I know how it helped my own personal forest of love and hope to grow…
Lars Heiselberg Vang Jensen
“Oh Forest We Love You!”
Whilst four of the co-authors from this book – Gary Clarke, Paul Kelly, Steve Corry, and Paul Lowe – will be very familiar with these five words that are passionately chanted from the terraces of the world-famous City Ground (home to Nottingham Forest Football Club, based in Nottingham, England), there is a far more collective consideration that brings ALL our co-authors together.
Due to Nottingham Forest’s heartfelt generosity, many young children from the village of Jilo in Ghana will benefit from wearing Forest kits, donated by the twice former European Cup Winners – contributing even further to the uplifting and well-being of the local community.
Paul Lowe offers some insight into the significance of this magnanimous donation from his beloved Nottingham Forest:
“I know first-hand the immense positive knock-on effect this will have to these young people in Ghana, when they wear the famous Garibaldi Red of Forest; it becomes so much more than just a football kit. For the youngsters, it emerges as a symbol of love and hope – knowing that ‘strangers’ from thousands of miles away, have compassionately taken them into their hearts.”
Nottingham Forest Football Club director Jonny Owen (top, left) symbolically hands over a Forest shirt to World Game-Changers director Gary Clarke, before the assortment of Forest kit is shipped to Ghana…
