A Rocha Projects
Partners: Climate Stewards & Eco Churches
A Rocha is family of Christian organizations working in over 20 countries around the world on community-based nature conservation. Founded in 1983 in Portugal, A Rocha means 'the rock' in Portuguese.
Both A Rocha and its partner Climate Stewards have inspired Petra Crofton when she wrote the ‘Science Geek Christy’ story and the Education and Explore Creation packs. Petra has worked with A Rocha in different countries since 1998.
Eco church is another A Rocha partner and helps congregations to care for God’s creation through practical action and teaching. Petra’s congregation, St Lawrence Barnwood, has gained a Bronze Eco Church award. She has used her own Explore Creation pack to help the church become an Eco Church. The pack offers six dynamic sessions for children’s and families workers and a workshop for primary schools.
Ideas to support A Rocha
It would be great if you and your class or church (group) want to support one of the A Rocha or Climate Stewards projects.
Here are some ideas:
Contact A Rocha directly via www.arocha.org or email us.
Project 1: Tree planting in Peru
After a long journey, Christy and her friends finally arrive in Ecuador - a mysterious country full of rainforest and exciting wildlife. In neighbouring Peru, a unique A Rocha project was founded to manage and restore a rare tropical forest. Only 2% of the original dry coastal forests remains, the rest has been transformed into farmland. The loss of tropical forest has meant the loss of many unique animal and plant species, and also threatens the livelihoods of indigenous peoples.
A Rocha Peru plants trees to restore this unique dry forest.
Why not sponsor this project, so more trees can be planted enabling wildlife and indigenous communities to thrive.
See also Lessons 11-16 about Christy’s blogs from Ecuador, and Explore Creation: Life with leaves (session 3), Life on the land (session 5) and Caring for life (session 6).
Project 2: Volunteering with A Rocha UK
A Rocha UK (ARUK) works for the protection and restoration of the natural world and helps Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment. A Rocha UK’s growing Partners In Action network supports Christian land managers located in all four nations of the UK. Partners include churches, community groups, schools, farms, cathedrals, retreat, conference, and youth adventure centres across the UK.
The partners work together in practical ways to improve the biodiversity of their land, address climate change and share their learning through environmental education programmes. They participate in joint conservation work including a commitment to increasing the abundance of 25 target species.
A Rocha UK plans to have a network of 50 projects with over 25,000 acres by 2025 to ensure that everyone is within reach of a partner demonstrating good practice in managing land for nature.
A Rocha UK manages two nature reserves: Wolf Fields in Southall, West London, and Foxearth Meadows in North Essex. Both are part of the Partners In Action network. See also: arocha.org.uk/partners-in-action
Why not sign up for Eco Church, invite an A Rocha speaker to your church or school and/or support one of the many partner projects by volunteering?
See also Lessons 1-6, about Christy’s blogs written in Yorkshire (UK) and the Explore Creation resource.
Project 3: School bursaries and forest protection in Kenya
Education costs a lot of money in Kenya. Most families can’t afford to send their children to school. However: thanks to the Arabuko-Sokoke Schools and Ecotourism Scheme (ASSETS), children can go to secondary school after all. This unique scheme meets the economic and social needs of the local community and also supports the conservation of two of Africa's most important ecosystems. The children who receive an ‘eco-bursary’ engage with tree planting and environmental education. The families of the children have stopped cutting down the precious Atewa forest for firewood for cooking and to earn money, and they now even manage tree nurseries. A Rocha has worked with over 30 schools and many ASSETS beneficiaries graduate and get jobs as teachers, in the hotel industry, police force, IT etc.
Eco-tourism projects like a boardwalk and a tree platform for bird watching are generating income for the bursaries and many people have already supported this project. But more sponsorship is always needed.
Why not raise support for Kenyan children to go to school? It costs £39 per month for one child.
See also lessons 15 and 16, about poverty and hope (and Lesson 1 about climate and trees)
Top Tips sponsored activities
How do you raise funds for A Rocha?
Go litter-picking!
Why not borrow some litter-pickers and ask your family, friends and neighbours to support you? Ask them to join in or sponsor you for each kilo or bag you have collected, or for each half hour you pick (see also Lesson 10 about waste, or Explore Creation: Life in the water). You can even do this during World Clean Up Day in September.
Go plastic free in February, or another month and ask others to sponsor you (see also Lesson 10 or Explore Creation: Life in the water)
Reduce your food waste to (almost) zero at home and at school. Donate the money you save to A Rocha Kenya, and ask others to sponsor you for every week you have managed zero food waste. See also Lesson 13 and Explore Creation: Caring for life.
Organise an afternoon tea at school or church and offer home baked goodies: for recipes of a rainbow fruit tart and rainbow pizza, see also ‘Extra Resources’ for recipes. Invite as many people as possible and sell tickets in advance.
Make your school or church more eco-friendly: green the grounds by planting insect friendly flowers and trees and by creating a wildlife pond. Add some bug hotels, nest boxes and hedgehog homes. Choose Fair Trade/organic tea and coffee, and ask people and local businesses to sponsor your initiative. You can apply for grants as well. Design posters, flyers and a trail through your grounds. On these you can mention the names of the businesses that sponsor you. See also Lesson 6! And download the Nature Calendar on the ‘Extra Resources’ page.
Plenty of tips and you probably have your own brilliant ideas as well!
Go for it and let us know how you get on!
Share your stories!
Send us your stories and pictures so we can have a look and share those (with your consent) on social media. Thanks a lot! :-)