A Natural Collaboration: Establishing a Connection to Nature with Girls from a Local Foster Home

Thanks to the support of generous donors like you, The GAAP has been working with a group of girls (ages 6-16) from a nearby foster home. These girls have been removed from their family homes for a variety of reasons, and each has her own story. Many have faced hardships that most of us couldn’t even imagine. With the idea of connecting the girls to nature and the benefits it brings, we developed a week-long camp during which we took the girls to different ecosystems around Valdivia, Chile and encouraged them to notice the birds that surrounded them. We talked about the characteristics of the birds commonly seen in this area (their sizes, shapes, colors, and calls), taught them some strategies for observing birds, and armed them with binoculars. We invited the girls to participate in science through data collection, recording our observations in a citizen science application called eBird. (What’s “citizen science”?)

Getting as close as they can to see what they can see!

The effects of this experience were incredible! The staff at the residence said the girls’ curiosity about nature exploded. They started spotting birds in their yards and working together to identify them. Impressively, they even transferred this new appreciation of birds to an increased sense of empathy for the dog they have at the foster home. Staff noted that the girls started paying more attention to the dog and taking better care of her. But the impact didn’t end there… And we are working hard to keep it going!

Read more about how we’ve continued to develop this special relationship and what additional effects we have seen on this group of girls.

The girls reviewing what birds they might find in this ecosystem (the beach!)