In March 2022, Reefah Chowdhury began working with us as part of the Race for Nature’s Recovery (R4NR) programme. She joined Synchronicity Earth with a background in law to hone her communication abilities and gain knowledge of the environment sector. In this blog, she describes her experience being part of the RNR programme, and her role as a communication assistant.
Memories of nature
When you live in London, it can be hard to envision nature in all its splendour. You only ever think about it when you’re complaining about the lack of open spaces and the never-ending pollution from which you cannot escape.
Victoria Park, London. Image Ⓒ Reefah Chowdhury
My earliest memory of nature and London’s natural environment was at my local ecology centre in East London, when I was 7 years old. My school and the ecology centre collaborated to teach students about the urban ecosystem and to raise tadpoles and tend frogs in a project called “Bringing the countryside to the East End.”
They had all sorts of bugs and amphibians and, during a demonstration with an ecologist, a small frog the size of a ping pong ball was placed in my hand. The frog’s sliminess made me squirm, but I overcame this, fascinated by its googly eyes.