A few decades ago the Joistapura Hills in Chittagong's Boalkhali upazila were deforested and bald; today they support a rich green canopy. The change has been driven by the simple dream of a single young man: 16-year-old Mozammel Hoque Bakul wanted to have his own garden.

“A few months before I was due to appear in the Dakhil exam,” says Mozammel, recalling the late 1990s, “I was crossing the hills with some of my friends and we took a short cut through a small orchard. The orchardist scolded us for trespassing, and told us not to enter his orchard again. It was right then and there, that I decided to have a garden of my own.”

For a teenager, establishing a garden is no easy task. There was a shortage of capital. Locals discouraged him, with many dishing out remarks of ridicule. In general, his fellow villagers thought he was wasting his time. But Mozammel had decided.

Born in Joistapura village in Boalkhali's Sripur Kharandwip union, Mozammel was well-familiar with the area. Since childhood he had roamed the vast swathes of hilly terrain to the east, adjacent to Rangunia upazila; topography that he loved.

When he decided to start his garden he knew there was very little plain land available; so he asked his maternal grandfather who had extensive landholdings in the hills if he would mind giving a small plot for a garden. His grandfather agreed and handed over about 2 acres to his grandson for the purpose.

But Mozammel had no capital to buy seedlings. He started working as a tutor to young children, saving his modest income. His mother let him sell a pair of her gold earrings.

“When I had Tk 3,000, I bought 500 seedlings of teak and mahogany, and employed some gardeners to plant them. The trees grew well but they weren't ready to sell the following year; so over the next few years I took loans from relatives and gradually increased the size of my garden.”

“A few years after that,” he continues, “I started to grow ginger, lemon, mango, litchi, papaya and other fruits, which generated a regular income within a short time. With that cash flow I was able to increase the size of the garden further still, buying and renting more land year after year. My garden now covers 80 acres.”

What started out as only 500 seedlings, meanwhile, has burgeoned into around 1 lakh trees. From his initial investment of Tk 3,000 in 1996 he now generates over Tk 10 lakhs per year; and the timber plantation of around 50,000 trees, which will be ready for harvest after a few more years, promises to generate at least Tk 10 crore.

“I got my dream,” says Mozammel. “I have a garden; but I don't want to stop. I'm thinking of making a fish project in the waterholes in the Joisthapura hills; and I'm working on a cattle farm.”

Many have taken inspiration from his achievements. Locals, who once ridiculed Mozammel's efforts, especially when he told them his garden would be in the hills which they found inconceivable, nowadays praise him. Village youths have followed his lead, which has resulted in the reforested picturesque hills seen today.

In 2013 and 2014, Mozammel received national awards recognising him as a pioneer in his plantation endeavours.

Yet he remains humble. “It's strange,” he reflects, “that childhood love for the hills and for trees can become a dream; and a dream can change the fortunes of one's whole life.”