Born Free Foundation - Keep Wildlife in the Wild

Eco-Schools

We had our first meeting of the year on 2nd February and everyone is excited about taking on the New Year!!! We also invited various stakeholders such as a Marine Rescue Centre in Port Elizabeth and Addo National Park to see how they too can provide support to the schools. We will be having our next meeting on the 2nd March 2010 and then they will tell me what projects they plan for this year.

Global Friends

I have very disappointing news to report. The High School in Paterson, Sandisulwazi High School was broken into and their computers were stolen. Some of these computers were donated by us and now the school can no longer undertake their administrative work. I am now on a desperate search to find them one and we will need to spend Global Friends money to secure the computer room which feels like such a waste to me because I do not comprehend why anybody would want to steal from a school! Stealing from a school is like stealing from a child’s future… Anyway we will survive this setback and I am hoping that someone somewhere is going to have computers for them.

Our progress on the classroom at Kinkelbos Farm School has slowed down a bit as we have run out of funds. The repairs have worked out to be far more than any of us predicted and we are so close to completion we just need a donation of a ceiling and new flooring. I am working with someone who oversees most of the building at Shamwari to see if any of his contacts can come through for us. So hold thumbs everyone. At least the children can use the classroom now. We will be painting it later this week and I will attach pics with my next blog.

Ranger Training Workshops

My ranger training workshops with the locals from Paterson is nearing an end. We have covered all the work and the students are now writing a series of tests to prepare them for their big exam. I am really confident that they will all pass with a bit of hard work!

Community Work

South Africa provides free health care to people that cannot afford medical aid and although resources are limited they are very good at making sure this service is available to people throughout the country. At the moment there is a train that is going through South Africa and stopping off at over 30 towns on the way. This train has compartments modified into an eye clinic, a dental surgery and council office. They are offering these services free. The train has been in the town Addo about 30min drive from Shamwari for the past two weeks. The problem is that it will not be stopping at our local towns so I took a kombi full of people from Paterson that did not have transport to the train. Here is a picture of everyone with their new glasses which they got that day.