First, some excellent news.

Our Cameroon partner, Gaston Bityo Delor, was invited by the government Deputy of the town of Bengbis to attend a ceremony where one his Inga farmers, Mrs. Mendo Antoinette,was one of the people being given a medal.  Mrs. Mendo Antoinette comes from a small village, Allen, close to Bengbis. The medals were for people who work hard to fight against poverty while preserving the environment and people who work hard for the development of the Bengbis region. Mrs. Mendo Antoinette was given the medal because she started the Inga project in her community and her Inga farm looks very good.
I can vouch for that. It was one of the farms Harry Ram and I visited last July and it was very impressive, and is now ready for pruning in preparation for planting the crops. It is moreover a very good show farm as it is next the road.


Mrs. Mend Antoinette receiving her medal in recognition of her excellent Inga farm. Photo by Gaston Bityo 2012.


Gaston in front of Mrs. Mendo Antoinette’s Inga alleys. Photo by Tiiu Miller 2011.


Gaston of course took the opportunity to explain to the Deputy and  other people what the Cameroon Inga Project is and how it works. He says that it was a very great ceremony and Mrs Mendo Antoinette ( the lovely lady in the white clothes and white hat in the photos)  did honour to the Cameroon Inga Project.  The goverment Deputy who gave the medals will be visiting Gaston’s own Inga nursery at his home village of Bizang soon too. All this is very encouraging news for everybody.

And now, how you can make a difference.
We all want to make a difference, to make things better. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this newsletter. So here are some suggestions that are quick and easy to do.

To support Rainforest Saver:

1. If you haven’t done so already, go to our facebook page www.facebook.com/rainforestsaver and click on ‘Like’.  Then, leave a comment, and join in in any of the conversations.
2. Have you anything you no longer need and could sell on EBay? You can support RFS by going to  http://donations.ebay.co.uk/charity/charity.jsp?NP_ID=46830 and donating anything from 10% to 100% of the selling price to RFS.
3. If you live in the UK and shop online, you can support us by finding the shop’s website by going to http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/rainforestsaver. I haven’t yet looked fora shop and not found it there. It costs you nothing extra, but they give RFS a donation. But remember, we only get the donation if you access your shop’s website from the easyfundraising website, not directly by the shop’s URL.  
4. If you live in the UK and are over 18 years of age, you can buy raffle tickets for our spring wine tasting, raffle, or sell them for us. Please contact Patrick Miller at patrick@runrev.comfor further information.
5. If you are not already a member of RFS consider becoming one. You can sign up on the website at http://www.rainforestsaver.org/support-our-projects/join-us-membership-form/ But if you are a member, can you encourage your friends to join us too? We are a very small group so that each person counts.

And finally please add your voice to the following protests or petitions.

1. This is to ask the Brazilian president not to allow Brazil’s forest protection laws to be weakened. Brazil has actually been doing well with reducing Amazon deforestation. This would be a sad setback. https://secure3.convio.net/gpeace/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAct...
2. Tar sand exploitation for oil is destroying the boreal forest in Canada, the lives of local people, and the climate for us all if allowed to progress. You can add your voice to encourage Europe to at least label it as highly polluting, which it undoubtedly is, at http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/sendsm.aspx?id=tarsands_highly_polluting

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Tiiu