Young EcoLeaders of the Brazilian Rainforest

Dear friends and donors

We’re getting towards the end of another year together, and with your support we’ve succeeded in changing a lot of lives in our Young EcoLeaders program. And as you know, our teaching methods are all about helping the students have first-hand experiences with nature so they can learn to love it and then to care for it. We’ve discovered that once we have their attention, it’s easy to get them interested in the science. But if we start with the science we often lose them before they are out of the door.    

Highlights of this past quarter include forest walks and swimming in waterfall as well as the discovery of the similarities between animal life in Brazil and Australia! If this sounds like a holiday camp, let me explain how this fits into our science program. Iracambi volunteer Craig visited the local schools and told the students about the similarities and differences between the fauna of Brazil and Australia – two countries which, millions of years ago belonged to the same land mass. The students learned that in Australia there are more than one species of kangaroo, including one that climbs trees. And then Craig told them that there’s an animal in Brazil that has a pouch to carry its young, just like in Australia.

After learning this, here’s what Lais had to say.  “I’m never going to let anyone cut the forest behind my house because now I know that there are animals there that have a pouch just like a kangaroo and I’m not going to let them disappear.”

Another mini project that we did was with a group of special students. We’ve been working with them for some time helping them get in touch with nature and showing them that even though they live in a small town, they can still have access to nature and fresh air.  

So what did we do? We planted some fruit trees on the sidewalk outside the school – guava and pitanga (we call it Brazilian cherry) as well as flowers and medicinal plants. And here’s what Gabriel, aged seven, had to say. “I often walk along here and I never imagined we could actually plant trees! But now when I come along here with my mom, I’m going to tell her it was me who planted this pitanga tree and when it fruits I’m going to bring my little brother and we’re going to eat the fruit.”

So you see that everything we do in this program has a kind of magic because it inspires the kids and they go off and change the lives of others. It was the same with the kids who won the competition for the school that could collect the largest number of used batteries. First prize was a visit to the Iracambi forests.

It's hard to tell you how we felt when the winning group came to Iracambi. We had arranged a full day for them, including a little exercise in leadership. We sent them off in pairs to explore the campus and the trails, after pointing out the importance of following the rules about where they could and couldn’t go. After which they guided their teachers round the trails and the teachers were blown away to see the magic and natural curiosity of children discovering a new world. And you can imagine their happiness the first time the kids waded into the river and played in the pure clean water that the forest helps to protect.  

So this is all about getting the students in touch with nature first hand. When you feel safe and see for yourself how beautiful it is, then you learn to love it.  And when you love something, you look after it. So we’re immensely grateful to you, dear donors, for your support in opening up new worlds to our children!

So here is our report, and it comes with a big thank you to all of you who’ve been and continue to be part of this this year and we wish you a wonderful holiday season with lots of fun! Let’s see if we can reach even more students next year!

With love,

Marina and the rainforest kids

PS: We just checked out the numbers of students who’ve been part of our programs this year and it comes to over a THOUSAND! Thank you, thank you – look what we’re doing together!      

Links:

• Young EcoLeaders Project