Andrew to the UK (briefly)
Andrew will be travelling to Kenya in March to undertake work for Compassion International. Due to the oddities of international airline travel, his best route from Buenos Aires to Nairobi is via London. Though rather long in flying hours, it does provide the opportunity to continue discussions with several people and organizations who are interested in supporting Land for Life. He will be in the UK on the following dates: 18th and 19th March, and then again from the 26th to the 29th March. He will be based in St Albans, and can be contacted via the email address at the end of this letter.
Networking
Andrew recently met the president of the Sociedad Rural de Salta, that represents the interests of the province´s land owners and farmers. This was a “get to know you” meeting, aimed at identifying some common ground that we can begin to engage on with land owners. It was positive, and left a door left open for us to have further discussions. We consider this an important step, as encouraging land owners towards adopting a more biologically friendly land ethic is one of the key aims of Land for Life.
Marcelo, in the meantime, has continued to strengthen his links with individuals and organizations engaged in conservation here in the province of Salta. This has allowed him to informally share with others what were up to, and has contributed to helping us further understand the scenario in which we will be working. It is interesting to see how Marcelo´s role as a contractor and consultant with both government and non-government organizations is enabling him to provide valuable insight into how we can be most effective in contributing to what others are already doing. We also continue to develop our links with organizations and businesses that may be able to contribute towards our work. We are still not free at this time to disclose details, but want you to be aware that we are certainly working on this strategic front!
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| Marcelo sharing the Land for Life concept with a local Christian leader in Salta |
Mapping capabilities
Over the past months, and with a GPS kindly provided by Christ Church in Oughton, we have helped Bishop Nick Drayson map the various churches in the Diocese. Visualizing the spatial distribution of congregations has been interesting for several reasons. Other than help the Bishop understand where his flock are located across the rather large Diocese, it is interesting to see where Churches (Anglican) are in relation to areas of interest to some of the conservation we aim to engage in.
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| Draft version of the map made for the Diocese |
The image above shows an early draft version of the resulting map, with communities with an Anglican Church shown in red.
One of our proposed research projects is to monitor bird lists over large regions of the Chaco, as a means of identifying some of the biological impacts that may be linked to deforestation and the expansion of agro industry. Churches, or at least some of their members, could play a key role in helping to gather that data. We feel this would be a practical means of “gently” engaging Churches and Christians in becoming more aware and document what is happening to their local environments.
We see this initiative as a tentative first step in establishing and developing our capabilities to produce top quality cartographic products though which to monitor Chaco´s environment and empower other organizations and communities with data relevant to their needs.
Family news
We enjoyed a week away in Cordoba over the summer, and combined the trip to take Tomas back to University and finding somewhere for him to live. Other than bad weather, not nice accommodation and the truck breaking down, we had a good time! Girls are now back at school and into all their extracurricular activities (this year; dancing, ballet, music and art).
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| Iguana |
The iguana shown above (Tupinambis teguixin) (approx 3 feet long) was a regular visitor where we stayed in Cordoba. It was interesting to see how this species (also native to the Chaco) has adapted so well to living among people. It serves to remind us how resilient nature can be if and when given a chance.
It is a species that can be bred in captivity and its skin can be sold commercially. Andrew can vouch for the fact that it is edible, based on some of his past eating habits.
Prayer pointers
We would welcome you prayer support for the following specific items:
• Andrew´s meetings with supporters in the UK
• Andrew’s upcoming travels and meetings
• For the various networking opportunities that we are pursuing – that they may prove fruitful.
• For further funds for the initial land purchase.
• For patience as we develop and endlessly write project proposals, web pages, leaflets, emails etc!
Contact: andrewleake@gmail.com
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