People

Cynthia Karikala is a Community Development Practitioner, with a passion to change the systems keeping people disadvantaged.  She currently works as a Community Innovation Specialist at Auckland Council, where she has been for 7 years. She has a degree in Conservation Ecology and Biosecurity at the University of Auckland, with a BSc (Hons) looking at the ecophysiology of Kauri forest species. Cynthia has a keen interest in connecting people to place/nature. She is inspired by what indigenous wisdom can teach us about our worlds current pressing issues. Cynthia was born in Hyderabad, India, but now called West Auckland, New Zealand her home. She is an avid traveller, liking to take the road less travelled to experience how different people live, her most recent trip involving volunteering at A Rocha India. She loves to hike and visit the world’s biodiversity hotspots, as the complexities of a healthy functioning ecosystem is where she sees God the clearest.

Di lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch with her husband, Mark, and two children. She is a qualified outdoor educator and early childhood education teacher. She has worked as an outdoor instructor, forest school kaiako, community preschool teacher and written educational resources. Di is passionate about connecting tamariki and rangatahi with God’s creation and loves seeing both people and whenua increasingly restored through this relationship. She has also been involved in coordinating her church’s Eco Church journey for a number of years and has seen the connections grow and strengthen in their community through intentional action.

John is on the committee of the A Rocha local group in Auckland. A retired secondary school teacher, John Staniland has been closely involved with Forest & Bird for more than 50 years and was the first chairman of its Waitākere Branch. He is an inaugural trustee of Matuku Link. He is a founder and honorary ranger of the Society’s 120-hectare Matuku Reserve, which is adjacent to Matuku Link. He organised the purchase of several blocks of forest to bring the Forest & Bird reserve to its present size and has been looking after it ever since the first block was bought in 1979.

Kia ora! I was born and raised in Tamaki Makaurau and currently live on the North Shore with my family. I have a Bachelors of Industrial Design from Auckland University of Technology and have recently completed the Venn Residential Fellowship. I love exploring God’s creation and am excited to journey alongside church communities as they care for our beautiful creation. With a background in design I love exploring creative solutions to problems and exploring new ways to inspire individuals and communities to care for our creation! Having grown up in Auckland I spent my summers camping with my family across the upper north island. I believe that it was during these times spent encapsulated by creation that my love and care for it was nurtured. I can also often be found walking though our local bush, sewing and knitting along with gardening and restoring furniture.

Keith Young leads the A Rocha local group in the Manawatu where they have a native plant nursery at Longburn. The local group has been raising eco-sourced native plants for local planting projects here in the Manawatū since 2007, producing over 30,000 seedlings to be planted back in the environment. The plant propagation nursery at Longburn is fitted out with shade houses and an automatic watering system thanks to generous donations. As well as growing from seed, they receive seedlings of native plants from people’s gardens and sections in Palmerston North to pot on. There are usually over 4000 plants in the nursery at any one time.

Farming, environment and faith are not always linked together, but Terry is very committed to finding God’s place across all of them.

Terry has spent a number of years assisting rural landowners to make small and large steps towards tending our Lord’s creation and restoring habitats and ecological function in rural landscapes. He has his own agricultural consulting company working with farmers, industry groups, and government departments.

Terry and Irene live on a 5ha bush block near Paraparaumu and are thankful every day for being able to live amongst God’s gifts of bush garden and sea.