A Brazilian Narnia: An Example of Christian Sustainability in Practice

Adriana Schalkwijk Ribeiro and Paulo Fernando Ribeiro

Chapter 1 - The Dream 

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis

 

“I have no special wish to make converts. I write for those, whether few or many, who, like me, care to know more of this theatre and this play than can be seen from the particular row and seat of the mid-twentieth century.” C.S. Lewis  

Introduction

Once upon a time, there was a not-so-young couple - - - 

- - - who after wandering in the world for over thirty years returned home with a dream.  

And the dream was to buy a piece of land, build a small house, plant many trees and flower gardens.  And that made a lot of sense since many people in the country were destroying much of the natural environment. The couple dreamed of creating an environmentally friendly and sustainable living space.

 The plot of land, which by coincidence was numbered 77 (the year of their marriage) was bought and looked like this. 

But in order to build things, driveways and terraces had to be constructed and the plot looked like this after the work of the machines.

 

The wife was so upset with all the exposed clay of the land that she did not want to return to the place.   But after a day of reflection, she decided to buy seeds of beans, flowers, sunflowers, sweet corn, etc. and spread them around.  The rain came and suddenly everything was green again.

She was happy again - - - 

But much needed to be done in order to transform the dream into reality.

Gate, driveway, fences, brick walls to protect against landslides, water reservoir, etc. needed to be constructed.

Little by little, Narnia was being built. 

They constructed a small gazebo for resting and protecting from the scalding tropical sun.

To Be Continued