Shamwari Education Blog
27 July 2009
It’s been two months since my last blog and that has been due to the fact that our education department has been so busy!!! Not to mention the arrival of three leopards from Limassol Zoo in Cyprus! I have been so lucky, in the short year I have been working here I have witnessed the release of 7 big cats (Marina and Sarnia the lion cubs from Romania, Brutus the handsome male lion from France and the leopards). My job is rewarding in so many ways and I couldn’t have asked for better, I get to work with people and animals - my two favourite things!!! No need to choose one, I get both! Anyway back to the education update…
With the release of the leopards came Lauren St. John, famous author of children’s books and founder of The Last Leopard Fund who helped to fund this release. Lauren along with her friend Ruth presented a workshop for children from the local schools on how to write stories and some tips on acting. It was loads of fun. The children had to research animals and act them out everyone had a good laugh.
Our Global Friends Schools are all working hard at their Eco-Schools projects as they have to submit their portfolios at the end of September. The primary school in Paterson (small rural town near to our sanctuary) called Môreson Primary (which translated means Morning Sun) planted fifty indigenous trees at the school for their project. They are focusing on carbon emissions and how to reduce their carbon footprint. We had a proper tree planting ceremony and all the Grade 3’s helped to dig the holes and plant the trees. I told them why we need trees and how they help reduce carbon emissions. We also had a colouring competition and the prize was a basketball. Everyone did their best and it was very hard to choose a winner. Luckily I had Martheanne Finnemore the regional co-oridnator of the organization that runs Eco-Schools (WESSA) to help me. Children in this school are 5 to 9 years old.
- The Grade 3’s of Môreson Primary planting indigenous trees on the school grounds.
Môreson also got a special visit from the OKI group who won the Shamwari/Born Free holiday. The group spent some time with the children and OKI donated a printer for their computer room!
- The OKI group handing over a printer to the principal of Môreson Primary School
To celebrate World Environment Day (5 June) the Eco-club of Sandisulwazi High School (mentioned in my previous blog) and I joined an effort to clear snares and collect data on tortoises in a small protected area in Port Elizabeth (our nearest city). We all had such a good time! I really like spending one on one time with small groups of children as you get to know them personally. We went to the botanical gardens and I told them about some of the interesting plants we get in South Africa. These teenagers never even knew that botanical gardens exist! They truly are a group of inspired and passionate youngsters that are making such a big difference at their school.
- Sandisulwazi’s Eco-Club and myself in PE on World Environment Day
Kinkelbos Farm School is also one of the schools we work with and they are by far the worst off. They have no running water at their school and are lacking two classrooms. The pre-school class and the Grade 9 class (15 year olds) are sharing the principal’s tiny office for a classroom! So to raise funds we are selling tickets for a raffle. The prize (kindly donated by Shamwari) is a weekend for two all expenses included at Shamwari Game Reserve (and of course a tour of the amazing Born Free Sanctuaries). The draw is end of August so more about that on my next blog.
Until recently they had no sports equipment except for two tattered footballs and a volley ball set which was donated by friend of mine last year. That has all changed thanks to Liz McLaren from Sainsbury Active Schools in the UK who donated a massive box of sports equipment. The box contained cricket sets, training markers, balls of every possible shape and size. In all the years I have worked with less privileged communities I have honestly never seen such happy children. I can’t begin to tell you how a donation like that impacts their lives. These children come from the poorest of communities and areas. Most of their parents are unemployed. They hardly have enough to eat, let alone toys! Now they can be active, play sports and fun at their school!
On behalf of the Kinkelbos Farm School thank you a million times over Liz!!!
- Kinkelbos Farm School showing off their new sports equipment
As part of a community upliftment project we are running workshops to train people as rangers to help them find better jobs. We have workshops once a month and follow a series of modules. We have been doing the training for quite some time now and we have almost completed all the modules. For an outing and a change of ‘scenery’ we took a trip to Addo Elephant National Park. Workshops are usually held at our Julie Ward Centre.
One of our Eco-Schools a school in Alicedale (near our Jean Byrd Sanctuary) called Hendrik Kanise has also been working very hard at their projects. This is a combined school with children ranging from 5 to 18 years old. Their project for Eco-Schools is growing organic vegetables at their school to supplement the meals provided by the schools. They have unfortunately had some major setbacks this last month. Just before the school holidays, pigs from the township broke into their garden and demolished it! So to help motivate them I took them lots of packets of seed and showed them how to make their own liquid manure using an old drum. Then during the school holidays the school was burgled and 6 computers and their drum was stolen! This is a major setback for the school as they are in a very poor area and they had won those computers a few years back. They are one of our Global Friends schools but we have used most of the money to purchase them textbooks. I will have to look for someone to sponsor the school burglar bars, so hold thumbs for us everyone.
So there is an update of what we have been up to the last two months, I hope you enjoyed reading about it.
Sunny, yet cold greetings from South Africa,
Christine
Report Animal Suffering | Contact Us | eNews | WildcreW | CEO's Blog | Sitemap | About Site | Copyright
