Last weekend was a four day weekend due to the Corpus Christi holiday that is celebrated in Brazil. Dave and I took advantage of his Thursday and Friday off and visited the Serra da Concórdia wildlife sanctuary in Valença, a small town in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Run by Roberto Lamego, one of the kindest Brazilians I have met, the sanctuary occupies land that was once used for growing coffee in the 1800s when Valença was the booming hub of many of Brazil’s most successful coffee plantations.
Today Valença is a sleepy town with a beautiful cathedral, surrounded by the ruins of the old plantations (some of which have been made into museums) and bare, dry hills for as far as the eye can see. After driving along the arid – though once heavily forested – landscape, scattered with a few banana trees and sad-eyed cows, entering the Serra da Concórdia provides a much needed respite. The sanctuary exists due to Roberto’s Herculean efforts to maintain the land that has been in his family for generations, unlike his neighbors who have slashed and burned their lands into dry nothingness.
Roberto and the three brothers he employs have planted innumerable trees in an effort to reforest the area and welcome back the butterflies, birds, sloths, and monkeys that call the forest home. They have also begun planting some organic coffee and hope to start selling a small amount next year. The sanctuary is also used as a classroom for school groups and corporate retreats. Participants come for 1-3 day programs and learn from local biologists and ecologists about the dire state of the Mata Atlântica (Brazil’s Atlantic Forest). For many city-dwelling attendees, this is their first exposure to nature and the forest.
During our visit to the sanctuary, Dave and I were each given a tree to plant. In addition, we were able to see the large amount of planting that was funded by our wedding registry (every pole you see in the photo below marks the spot where a seedling has been planted). For our wedding, as many of you know, we had a charitable registry through an organization called
Global Giving. We chose two projects to which we asked our guests to donate; Roberto’s
reforestation project was one of them.
Roberto also took us to see the future site of his next endeavor. He is currently raising money to begin a community garden project that will help educate poor residents of Valença who have land but don’t know how to grow on it. Participants in the project (so far one man has been selected) are provided with the necessary seedlings and irrigation, and are taught how to plant an organic garden. They must promise to share their produce and knowledge with their neighbors. To learn more about this project you can visit the
project page on Global Giving’s website.
I have been back in NYC less than 24 hours and have already:
