Born Free/Shamwari Education Blog – 31 March 2010
March is the last month before the schools close for Easter break, so we have been really busy with our Education Program. This month 319 children visited us at Born Free. I have also been on the go with our projects!
Forum for Environmental Education and Sustainability in the Eastern Cape (ECEES)
For the past year I have been representing Born Free/Shamwari at the ECEES Forum. The aim of this Forum is bring organizations together that are focused at improving education, poverty and environmental development in the Eastern Cape. This way we can co-ordinate our efforts and provide effective and appropriate support to schools and communities in the province.
It has been a great experience for me to be on this forum as I have made very useful contacts, I am more aware about issues affecting the province and I have learnt a lot from people who have been working in this field for many years.
The forum was officially launched on Friday 12th March 2010 at an event held at East London. Shamwari Game Reserve is the only private game reserve and Born Free is the only animal welfare organisation represented at this forum which says a lot about our commitment to environmental education and community upliftment.
- Christine with the chairperson of the forum, Sindi Yoyo accepting our certificate of membership and participation
Eco-Schools Provincial Award Ceremony
Part of the launch was also the award ceremony for the Eco-Schools in the Eastern Cape and I took a teacher from each of our Eco-Schools with me. We joined the Port Elizabeth node, which consists of 26 schools, at a beautiful campsite set in a forest near the Nahoon Dam. It was really stunning and nice to get our teachers out in nature and networking with teachers from other areas involved in Eco-Schools. The award ceremony was great! I felt like a proud mom seeing our schools get their certificates! The launch was amazing as some of the local schools presented dramas on water conservation and all the attendees burst out in song at the end. Everybody left feeling very motivated and ready to take on the world. Our teachers have not stopped talking about it since we got back and they are full of ideas for their schools.
National Water Week
Certain parts of South Africa (the Eastern Cape especially) are in a severe water crisis so everyone is very focused on water conservation education. Forum members from Port Elizabeth are targeting over 300 schools and all of our schools are making it the main focus of their Eco-Schools Project this year.
From 15 to 19 March it was National Water Week when everyone throughout the country celebrated water and learnt about how to conserve it. I celebrated Water Week with the Primary School in Paterson, Môreson Primary. We got all the Grade 3’s (9 year olds) of the school together and I did a special program with them. They are learning about charts in mathematics at the moment so I thought I would do something to incorporate that. We made a chart with basic activities we do everyday that uses water such as brushing our teeth, washing our dishes, drinking water from the tap and washing hands. We then measured how much water we waste when we do these activities and leave the tap running. This was then mapped out on our chart and the learners had to come up with water savvy solutions. It was lots of fun and everyone was surprised to see how much water we waste and how much we can save by making a few minor adjustments. So next time you are brushing your teeth don’t leave the tap running and use a cup instead - you will save 17 litres of water!
Leadership Workshops
Professor Simon Taylor, from nearby university, Rhodes University, has been working very closely with us and he kindly offered to do leadership training with the Eco-Club members and prefects from the two high schools. He normally does this training with major corporate companies so we were very fortunate to have him visit the schools and I must say he is phenomenal! I listened in to his workshop and he gives such good tips and really knows how to communicate with the children. I thoroughly enjoyed his workshops and the children learnt a lot from it.
- Simon with talking with the children
- The Eco-club members of Sandisulwazi High School learning what it takes to become good leaders at their school
Global Friends
Great news! Neville Haller the person who oversees all the building on Shamwari turned out to be a guardian angel for the Kinkelbos Classroom. In my previous blog I mentioned us running out of funds but Neville came to our rescue! He got us sponsorship for a ceiling, floor paint and 40 litres of paint and he arranged for someone to do all electricity and wiring for free! So now we can finally finish our classroom. The World Wide Experience volunteers from Shamwari helped to paint the inside and outside of the classroom, the ceilings have been put up, the wiring is almost done and we just need to paint the ceiling, floors and give the outside another coat of paint and then our project will be complete! I can’t wait! As soon as our classroom is finished I will send through photos on the project and you can see how it evolved!
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