Marc Bekoff , leader of a Roots&Shoots group and personal friend of Jane, has written in collaboration with the University of Colorado Dever's Children Youth and Environments project a new book about children and animals.

There are drawings and pictures of R&S groups from all over the world...

It also speaks of a variety of R&S projects....Here is R&S Spain with Professor Roots!

And the book includes the Movilízate por la selva campaign! Look at our friends from R&S group Lwiro in the Democratic Republic of Congo where part of the money raised in the campaign goes...

The best thing about the book is that everyone can download it and read it for free HERE.

If you would also like to read more work by Marc Bekoff, he also wrote a book with Jane Goodall: The Ten Trusts.

A Warm Welcome to R&S Heri Kwetu

From Bukavu, located in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, comes news from the R&S group of Heri Kwetu.

Heri Kwetu is a center that takes in and offers education to handicap children and youth. It was created by Teresa Sáez more than 30 years ago in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital Kivu Sur. Teresa, from Spain and part of the religious order Compañía de María, started this center to offer an opportunity to those who are the most in need and marginalizaed. Today Heri Kwetu is still open and continues to grow.

In July 2010 after learning about the work of the R&S group Lwiro (created by Laia Dotras of the Jane Goodall Institute Spain) Teresa proposed the idea of starting a R&S group to the boys and girls of Heri Kwetu. Over the summer the group met a number of times to see what were the environmental needs and problems in their area. 

They decided that something had to be done about the extensive erosion on the hillsides of their neighborhood. Trees had been cut to make room for houses made of mud and metal. The group started out by informing neighbors and involving neighborhood representatives by letting them know the activities they planned to develop. The R&S group Heri Kwetu got to work on the poorly eroded area, cleaning it up and preparing it for a nursery for trees. Moreover, instead of using plastic bags to contain the seedlings, they used bags made of dried banana leaves. Today the group is taking care of the small trees and, when they’re large enough, the trees will be transplanted and their roots will help retain the soil.

At the moment the Roots&Shoots group at Heri Kwetu has 25 girls and 34 boys as members. They get together on Sundays and review their projects and other proposals that they can do to improve their surroundings. Worried by the large amount of plastic bags that are thrown into the streets, the group has started a campaign asking neighbors to give their bags to the R&S group instead of throwing them away into the streets. R&S Heri Kwetu then cuts up the plastic bags into strips to crochet them into beautiful bags which are longer lasting y more useful than the ones that invade the streets of Kadutu. This way they keep the neighborhood clean and give a new use to a once polluting object.

R&S Heri Kwetu hopes to meet with R&S Lwiro to exchange ideas and experiences and bring together their energy to make their communities a better place to live. Both have received material and support from Roots&Shoots groups in Spain and the Jane Goodall Institute. These groups are a great example of effort, commitment and passion, working in their area with few resources but an enormous desire to make the world a better place.

Welcome!

Congratulations R&S Madrid!

Jane Goodall distinguishes Spain’s most active R&S Group of the year.

Jane, in her last visit to Spain in November, saved a special moment during her speech at the National Library (Madrid, Spain) to present an award for extraordinary work in a number of activities to the group Roots&Shoots Madrid.

The volunteer group of R&S Madrid, led and coordinated by Marisa Mariñán and Diego Rivera, has more than 20 members from an array of different backgrounds including environmental sciences, biology and psychology.

Three years ago they formed their group to promote Dr. Goodall’s philosophy through workshops and presentations in different institutions such as schools, hospitals and universities. Along with the many other activities this group organizes to support the Jane Goodall Institute Spain, R&S Madrid has become our most active group in Spain.

The energy of all the group’s members and the unbeatable motivation of Marisa and Diego are a fine example to many of the other volunteers at the IJGE. At the moment this group is working with the program BioDiverCiudad and the cell phone recycling program Movilízate por la selva in addition to holding monthly activities for hospitalized students.

The entire team of R&S Spain and all the R&S Groups in Spain join Jane in this special recognition…

Congratulations!

Want to learn more about the R&S Madrid group?

Visit their blog:

rootsandshootsmadrid.blogspot.com