In 1966, Sister Dorothy Stang went to Brazil as a missionary and
in 1982 she moved to a small town in the Amazon to work with an
organization to protect poor farmers and their land from loggers
and land-developers that stop at nothing — including murder — in
pursuit of profits. After testifying at a government panel
investigating illegal Incursions into protected areas, Sister
Dorothy was denounced as a “terrorist” by powerful companies and
began receiving death threats. Refusing to be intimidated, she
continued her work — until two gunmen shot her six times on a rural
Amazon road.
The Greatest Gift is the first biography of this extraordinary
woman and her mission; written by a mainstream journalist who has
spent many years in Brazil. The book exposes the entrenched
collusion between government officials and commercial interests and
celebrates the profound courage of Sister Dorothy and others
fighting to protect the Amazon jungles and the people eking out a
life there.
In 1989, Binka Le Breton and her husband Robin moved to an
isolated corner of southeastern Brazil to set up a farm on the
fringes of the rainforest. In 2000, they opened a rainforest
conservation and research center (www.iracambi.com) that is
visited annually by scores of foreign researchers as well as
hundreds of Brazilian school children.
Sponsored by the Office of the Provost, Campus Ministry and the
Division of Student Affairs
RSVP
for this event.
Date
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Time
12:15 p.m.
Location
Kelleher Center, Lower Level, Staten Island campus