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The John Ray Initiative Project assistance in Sri Lanka. Preserving biodiversity Maintaining indigenous knowledge Teaching Creation Care to children. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’. Sri Lanka’s biodiversity …about 4000 plant species , and 800 endemic to the country.
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The John Ray InitiativeProject assistance inSri Lanka • Preserving biodiversity • Maintaining indigenous knowledge • Teaching Creation Care to children
‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ Sri Lanka’s biodiversity …about 4000 plant species, and 800 endemic to the country
The Loss • Many medicinal and food species threatened • Traditional knowledge disappearing • Only the elderly know how to grow and use plants
The Call Biodiversity Life-skills Foundation Damitha Rajapakse ‘Very few people do their own initiatives, but I only trust that God has personallyentrusted this task to me, in teaching the young generation, to inculcate compassion towards nature’
The Plan • To preserve biodiversity by teaching Creation Care to Children • To propagate plants in church gardens • To pass on knowledge and plants to families
How? • Plants collected from remote areas • Traditional knowledge researched • Propagated in nursery • Teaching Children ‘creation care’ in Sunday School • Planting in church gardens (children ‘teach’ parents) • Planting out in home gardens • Propagate idea all over Sri Lanka
JRI’s help • We’ve raised £2226 with Gift Aid to pay for watering and garden infrastructure • Associates have visited and encouraged
What can we do? • Please pray for Damitha • Money would help! (£639 remains to find from 2003 budget) • Practical assistance in producing a video to teach Creation Care in parishes • Visits to Sri Lanka (near Colombo).
The Cost • God’s creation is ample and beautiful • Easily spoiled • Very costly to repair
JRI events • Bristol March 10 • Salisbury March 24