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Blue: How can nature impact my mental health?

The fifth instalment of A Rocha’s Elements of Hope video series, titled Blue, delves into the relationship between mental health challenges and the positive effects of nature on our wellbeing. We investigate how immersing ourselves in nature can pull us out of our internal struggles and rekindle our connection to God and his call for us to be stewards of creation. In this video, A Rocha interns Michaela Stenerson and Allison Cutting share their experiences of finding relief from anxiety and depression through their proximity to the ocean. 

We’ll also hear from Murray Tessendorf, the National Director of A Rocha South Africa, as he shares how his experiences as a crisis chaplain have motivated him to practice proactive self-care in dealing with depression and anxiety. This includes activities like taking daily walks in nature and engaging in other practices to help redefine our sense of purpose and connection with our Creator. 
 
Learn more about how nature can improve our mental health with our study guide. Feel free to share the study guide and film with your church, school, bible study or youth group.

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Cross-border connections at Courmettes

In early September, 19 individuals from Friends of A Rocha Germany engaged an exchange week with French A Rocha enthusiasts at Les Courmettes, A Rocha France’s field study centre near Nice. The agenda: to learn from A Rocha’s experiences in France and share initial project ideas. The week was partly funded by the French-German Citizens’ Fund, supporting projects enhancing Franco-German fellowship.

Meeting for the first time, the two groups soon felt as one community. What brought us together?

First, the joint learning experience. Morning sessions were for discussing projects and sharing practical creation care insights. Nature outings, especially a joint hike, deepened our connection. Butterflies, birds, stags and deer, sunrise, breathtaking views – we were in awe together. Field visits to dry meadows and the vegetable garden, with a focus on water conservation, were enlightening.

 
  
We reflected together on the ecological crises and the emotions they provoke in us. We thought about appropriate reactions, within ourselves and towards others. Entertainment, such as quiz and talent nights, added a fun element. The joyful evening of folk dancing was definitely a highlight of the week. 
  
Communication, albeit initially challenging due to language barriers, turned into an amusing experience. English – with hand gestures – became our bridge. The heart of fellowship was felt during mealtimes. Sharing delicious, healthy meals, complimented by the hospitality shown through German dishes prepared by the French kitchen, was precious for personal interactions and language learning. 
  
The week concluded with a rewarding clean up activity with the local municipality, sweetened by regional violet syrup and quiche. This poignant ending left us encouraged and thankful as we embarked on our return journeys, enriched by an inspiring week of Franco-German exchange and ecological engagement. 
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Celebrating A Rocha’s 40th anniversary

Thanks to the wonders of Zoom, on 14 September over 400 of us gathered from 26 countries, spanning the globe from New Zealand to Nigeria, Singapore to Sweden, Algeria to Korea and many places in between. Some of us were new to A Rocha; over 80 had been involved for over two decades, a significant number since the very beginning. We’d encountered A Rocha through friends, books, churches and conferences, through holidays near A Rocha centres, through universities and colleges and in the case of one person, because of a bumper sticker!   

Over the hour-long event, we heard from Peter Harris about A Rocha’s beginnings, remembered those we have lost along the way and celebrated all manner of highlights, from work with the Atewa Slippery Frog to the burgeoning network of A Rocha Friends groups and a recent environmental education conference. 

When our host, Graham Wright, asked people to share a species with which they have worked at A Rocha or particularly love, answers poured in. The European Roller in the Vallée des Baux, France; Western Toad (and the toadlets) in BC, Canada; Long-eared Owl, ringed at Minet Country Park, UK; the Algarrobo tree in the dry forests of Peru; the Halavi Guitarfish in Watamu Marine National Park, Kenya; the Otter at Aammiq, Lebanon. A Rocha has always drawn people with big hearts for ‘all creatures great and small’.  

You can watch edited highlights of this special event here. 

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A fruitful forest encounter

A Rocha Kenya has been working to create a nature reserve to protect what remains of the coastal forest of Dakatcha. Home to 13 IUCN Red Listed species, this habitat has been stripped for charcoal, planted with pineapples and heavily grazed by cattle, camels, goats and sheep. The forest is recognized as a Key Biodiversity Area and yet remains one of the ten most threatened forest hotspots in the world. 

On a recent Habitat Assessment exercise, an A Rocha volunteer named Eric Kinoti, along with a reserve scout from a local community, came across a group of Somali herders who asked why grazing was not allowed in the reserve. Eric recounts what happened next:  

‘We took the initiative to show them how God has given the responsibility to humans to care for the earth, and why it’s everyone’s responsibility no matter the religion. We also showed them pictures of birds in Dakatcha. They recognized some and even taught us some of the birds’ names in the Somali language. In the end they were happy and quite satisfied and vowed to spread the word to their fellow herdsmen. It’s amazing to see the great work our scouts do. Despite the language barrier between them and the herders, they eventually sing the same tune, of conservation and hope.’  

Read more about A Rocha’s vital work in the Dakatcha Nature Reserve here. 

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Fundraising heroes

Creation care can take many forms, including raising money to support the work of organizations like A Rocha. Everyone can be a fundraiser – you don’t have to be an athlete or take on an epic adventure, though sometimes it can help! Here we meet just a few of the heroes who are helping to protect people and the planet through their fundraising efforts: 

Angaza Taa is a social enterprise founded by Allison Karabu to fund sustainable development projects through the sale of tote bags. Allison developed the concept of Angaza Taa in Grade 11, wanting to use her artistic skills and experience in development – grounded in her Christian faith and values – to support communities and showcase the organizations and initiatives making a difference. Angaza Taa donates 30% of the profits from each tote design to a selected project or organization. Now people can support A Rocha Uganda’s conservation efforts in West Bugwe Forest, by purchasing a Flutter Butterfly tote! 

The fifth Sokoke Forest MTB Challenge bike race took place in Kenya on 21 May. Its aim was to raise awareness about the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and its conservation as well as raise funds for A Rocha Kenya’s ASSETS programme. 100% of the proceeds (race sponsorship, contributions from the riders and registration fees) went to supporting the secondary school fees of children living around the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and practical conservation action through the work of ASSETS. Over 70 hero cyclists took part and helped raise over KSh 500,000, which will cover the secondary school fees of 13 children! 

When Russell and Sarah Hager got married earlier this year, they wanted their wedding gifts to make a difference to communities and nature around the world. So, as well as asking for contributions to their carbon-friendly honeymoon, they asked their guests to purchase a Gift with a Difference on their behalf. Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, they were delighted that their wedding could contribute to nature-based livelihoods for Syrian refugees, monitoring coral reefs, planting tree saplings in India, training communities in Uganda to make sack gardens and more! 

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International Annual Review 2022-2023

Our latest annual review is available for your reading pleasure! We hope you will enjoy an overview of the many places, species and people impacted by A Rocha’s work around the world between April 2022 and March 2023. And thank you for all you do to make this possible. 

 

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A Place at the Table wins prestigious international award

A Place at the Table by Miranda Harris and Jo Swinney has been honoured with a gold Nautilus award in the category of Religious/Spiritual Memoir.   

The Nautilus Book Awards were founded over 20 years ago and celebrate literary contributions in spiritual growth, social change, green values and sustainability. Previous winners include the Dalai Lama, Barbara Kingsolver, Desmond Tutu and David Suzuki, among others. T A Barron of Philomel/Penguin Young Readers Group says,  

‘The Nautilus Book Awards represent the highest achievement of the writer’s craft. Nothing less. It’s all about envisioning a better, more peaceful, more caring world – both for us and for our fellow creatures and the Earth.’ 

As many of you already know, A Place at the Table is an exploration of hospitality and biblical insights, drawing on Jo and Miranda’s experience of community in the A Rocha family. This book is a warm invitation to be embraced by the loving kindness of others. We are thrilled that the folk at Nautilus acknowledge the importance of the message – and that the book has also just been shortlisted as CRT23’s Best biography/memoir (winners to be announced on 7 September)! To find out the story of how and why the book was written, you can watch this short film.

You may not know that A Place at the Table is now available in Europe in paperback, and in North America and elsewhere in the world from 5 December. All proceeds made through purchases on the A Rocha website go to support our work caring for God’s creation around the world.  

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A celebration of bird ringing!

A celebration of bird ringing!

While celebrating 40 years of conservation work, we have another major milestone to share this year: around the world, A Rocha has ringed over 250,000 birds! 

When A Rocha was founded, bird studies were the first way that we began to understand the Algarve in Portugal. In their vulnerable position at the top of an ecosystem, birds are good indicators of an environment’s health, and are captivating to experts and novices alike. The bird ringing programme at Cruzinha began in 1987, and we now have programmes in the Czech Republic, Kenya and France, as well as ringing in Canada, the UK, Lebanon and South Africa over the years.

Ringing allows scientists to track bird migration, and after 40 years we have collected a wealth of information. Ringing involves putting a small ring (or band) on an individual bird’s leg. The ring will be numbered and will typically have the address of the ringing scheme, so that if that bird is found, its whereabouts can be reported. In Kenya and France the A Rocha science teams have also begun equipping Grey Plovers Pluvialis squatarola and European Rollers Coracias garrulus (respectively) with tiny satellite transmitters, which allows them to track the birds’ migration in real time. A Rocha France tracked a European Roller that traveled the 2,500 km between France and Libya in just 36 hours: a record for the longest non-stop flight for the species! 

Most of what we know about bird migration is thanks to ringing, which not only tells us where birds go but also when they depart and arrive, where they stop on their migration, how long they live and their fidelity to stop-over sites. Colin Jackson remembers catching the same Chiffchaff in the same net in an orange grove in Portugal two to three years in a row! 

With a bird in the hand, you gain much more information than you could learn by observing them from afar. To catch the birds, teams usually set up nearly invisible mist nets in the early hours of the morning. Flying birds get caught in the net, then are carefully extracted and taken to the ringing station. After identifying the bird and fastening the ring, the ringer determines the bird’s age and records the moult. This can show the impacts of climate change, which causes birds to moult at unusual times. Finally, they will measure and weigh the bird, which gives them a sense of the health of a population: if the average mass is reducing, for instance, they may conclude that conditions are poor for feeding. If a bird due for migration has a good amount of fat set aside, we can conclude it is almost ready to leave. Gaining the certification to become a bird ringer is a rigorous process that can take years, ensuring that the welfare of the birds always comes first.

By uniquely marking birds, we can tell how many of them there actually are in an area, and with the mist nets, we can catch birds that we didn’t even know were present. Ultimately, we gain a stronger understanding of the welfare of the species, of how humans have impacted birds and how we can better protect them. As well as its scientific importance, bird ringing can also be valuable in environmental education. With careful supervision so that the birds do not become stressed, it enables people to experience the beauty, fragility and importance of birds and, through that, to be inspired themselves to care for birds and the ecosystems they depend on. 


To watch bird ringing in action and learn about its history and impact, check out this video from A Rocha Kenya. 

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Coline’s walk for A Rocha

Coline Raillon is nearing the end of an epic walk traversing three European countries (Germany, Switzerland, and France) and some 1,300 km (about 807 mi) as an ambassador raising funds for A Rocha’s 40th Anniversary Campaign. Coline set out with no cash or credit card, 100% reliant on the ask for hospitality in the form of food and accommodation, aiming to donate the money saved to A Rocha. Along the way she has met over a dozen pastors and shared A Rocha’s message of caring for creation (often hosting butterfly walks!) with newfound friends at churches, schools, camps and kitchen tables. Coline started her journey in Heidelberg, Germany at the end of July and has traveled by foot following parts of the Huguenot Way – a hiking trail highlighting the historical exile of the Huguenots (a religious group of French Protestants from the 17th century), along with adventurous detours both planned and unplanned. 

Coline has had to reconcile her hopes and expectations for the journey with challenges and realities, from blisters and exhaustion to difficulties connecting with people amidst their busy everyday lives. ‘It’s made me think about the number of opportunities I missed while I was myself very occupied,’ Coline realized.  

On the first leg of the walk, Coline took a two week break to help at a Scout camp. Relating to the kids gave time for reflection: ‘As I journey in my understanding of the world and of who God is, I have the intuition that it is essential to create connections and that we need to recreate a culture of hospitality and community. It’s why I support A Rocha, because community is at the heart of the organization.’ 

Coline describes her walk as ‘a journey of trust’, with lessons and learnings each day. She has been amazed by the hospitality people have shown her – like asking for a toilet at a school leading to an invitation to introduce kids to butterflies in a garden and an offer of two nights’ accommodation. ‘Since the beginning, I have always found someone to open their home to me. Not just as a shelter, but a real invitation, sharing dinner, spending time in discussion and having breakfast together,’ Coline recalls. So far, Coline has slept in 42 different places, 80% of which were people she didn’t know before the walk.  

As Coline approaches the final leg of her walk for A Rocha, she is tired but encouraged. She continues to meet churches and communities, and says, ‘It feels like the Spirit is blowing the same way in different places, putting community and hospitality in the heart of lots of people, preparing the Church for the difficult times we are going towards.’ Coline is expecting to reach Saint-Jean-du-Gard, the starting point of the Huguenot Way, at the end of September to conclude her journey. 

You can read more about Coline’s reflections and follow her #WalkforARocha on social media. To support Coline’s fundraising efforts, you can donate here. Please click ‘dedicate this donation’ and type in ‘Coline‘ to direct your gift. Thank you for your prayers and support for Coline! Learn more about starting your own fundraising effort for A Rocha here, or get in touch to explore how we can help with your creative idea. 

Bounce-Back

Bounce Back

Bounce Back, the fourth installment in A Rocha’s ‘Elements of Hope’ video series, asks us to examine where we find our hope amidst environmental disaster, such as extreme wildfires or terrible floods. The film explores the idea of ‘refugium’, defined as an area in which a population of organisms can survive through a period of unfavourable conditions, especially glaciation and fire. In the example of Mount Saint Helens in the USA, after the forests were destroyed by a volcanic blast, ecologists were surprised to see regeneration happen much faster than expected. They attributed this to small pockets of refugia that were able to persist and help the rest of the ecosystem recover.  

Forests do not regenerate without fire, and, like our own personal walk with Christ, we too must face challenges and be pruned and refined to grow in our faith. Loving God’s creation comes with lament and heartbreak for the things that are lost. But there is hope. Reflecting on the devastating wildfires of 2019, A Rocha Australia National Director Stuart Blanch states, ‘The word of God points us to the importance of creation care. I want to be optimistic, not naive, and hopeful, determined. That’s the mindset we have to have. If we give up, we’ll just lose more…. Christians needs to be the forefront of caring for creation and nature. It’s not a distraction from the gospel; it’s where we demonstrate that we are committed to loving our neighbours and loving God who gave us this good world.’ 

Learn more about finding hope amidst disaster in Bounce Back and please share with your church, school, bible study or youth group. You can find the accompanying discussion guide here and download the video from our Vimeo channel here