The involvement of St Josephs' school, a local infant and junior school has added a further dimension to Latin American Challenge.  The school's involvement helps us to raise the project's profile, in particular the need to support the invaluable work of Rainforest Concern as well as educating children about the rainforest and the importance of protecting it.  

We spent a morning with the pupils, giving a slide presentation about the rainforest: introducing the flowers, plants, animals and people that live there and explaining the dangers of rainforest destruction.  The sight of 150 expectant children was enough to turn my legs to jelly but the uncontainable oohs and aahs resounding round the hall as a result of the photos soon banished my nerves.  They were particularly impressed by the leaf-cutter ant, spider monkey and brightly coloured butterflies.  The children's eagerness didn't wane, as a sea of hands shot up to ask questions.  I gained great satisfaction from their enthusiasm.  

We left them with the project of  painting pictures of the rainforest, the result of which can be seen on the St Joseph's Rainforest Gallery.  The following two pictures have been chosen as the Latin American Challenge logo and printed on t-shirts.

The t-shirts, which are available to buy in support of the charities, were presented to the winning artists in front of the school.

Five year old James's painting is his interpretation of a monkey swinging from a tree in the rainforest as a fire approaches, highlighting the serious issue of the need to prevent slash and burn agriculture.

Ten year old Vincent picked out the sunlight and shadows in the rainforest.  He included a bridge in his painting to illustrate that the rainforest is home not only to animals but people too.

It wasn't easy to choose out of so many colourful pictures and we are very grateful to all the children for the effort and enthusiasm.  Thank you to the children and staff of St Joseph's School, Greenwich.