Why I became a desert-buster.

One of my happiest childhood memories was about 18 years ago, when dad demonstrated his “super-safe-fire-fighting-foam”. I was around 10 years old, living in my old neighbourhood of Oegstgeest, the Netherlands.

As the suburban streets lit up with gasoline-fueled flames, the thirty-or so children who had gathered around looked awe-struck. Their amazement turned to cheers when my dad, in a single flourish, doused the fires with his new invention.

I felt like the coolest kid on the block.

It was around that time that dad told us about his new invention. It would let plants grow anywhere in the world, really quickly. And he was going to use it to reverse the effects of desert-forming, and make the world green again. I was already convinced my dad could do anything, so I believed him with all my heart.

As the first prototypes for SolidWater were developed, my father filled up my mother’s yard with it to the brim. The ground became so soft and watery, that we would leave ankle-deep holes whenever we got off the stoney pathways. Still, our yard was the greenest in the neighbourhood.

Our single plum tree still produces enough fruit for our whole family to binge on for a month.

Nevertheless, as I got older, I was forced to realize that my dad had his faults, just like everyone else. Where technologically his concept was sound, I got used to my dad failing at bringing his concepts to scale.

That's why me and my friend Sebastiaan decided to start our own company in June 2016. We named our company LegacyRoot. At this point, my dad's health was already deteriorating. So we made it our mission to fulfill his dream of green deserts, if one day he wouldn't be able to anymore.

- Adnan Al-Alim, LegacyRoot Co-founder

On the 29th of November 2017, Ibrahim Al-Alim passed away in the hospital of Riyadh, Saudi-Arabia.