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Born Free/Shamwari Education Blog – 1 June 2010

This has been a very fun and busy month for me. It started with a bang and is ending with one too. The first weekend of May I was invited to assist the Reach for a Dream Foundation (see May 2010 blog) with a camp they did with their teenage club (a group of teenagers with life threatening illnesses). They have 3 camps a year and the aim of these Camp Sunshines as they are called, is to give children a weekend away to have fun and escape a bit from reality. We went to camp on a guest farm next to a nature reserve.

I was in charge of all outdoor activities so you can imagine how I was in my element. We did horse riding, stargazing, milked cows, went for nature trails and played fun games outside. It was quite an eye opener for me to see these children struggle with day to day activities that I took for granted as a child. Imagine not being able to run too much or get too excited because you have a weak heart? Or not being able to play sports because you are haemophiliac (a genetic disease only found in men) because if you fall too hard you might die of internal bleeding!!!

It was a life changing experience for me that I will never forget.  They have taught me that no matter what your body shape is or what flaws you might hate about your physical appearance, at least be grateful that it works properly. And that no matter what troubles life brings you, there is always a reason to smile and to find something to be happy about. They also showed how important it is to have dreams as dreams give you hope. I am really grateful that I got to spend a weekend with these remarkable children and got a chance to expose them to the wonders of nature and animals.

Eco-schools

We had our monthly Eco-Schools meeting just before the schools set off with exams to catch up and see what progress is happening at the schools. The projects are going along well and teachers have big projects planned for this year, clean up days, organic vegetable gardens, indigenous gardens…I can’t wait!

FGASA Workshops

For those of you who haven’t read my previous blogs and don’t know what FGASA is about here is the break down:

It stands for the Field Guide Association of South Africa and basically what they do is set out guidelines and principles for field guides who are members of their organisation. They also have training manuals and do assessments as part of field qualifications that they offer. Their qualifications have the highest standing in the field guide industry in South Africa. I myself am trained as a guide through a qualification I did through them and I decided to do Level 1 training with people from the local township that would like to become rangers. Once they have this qualification they will be much more employable than they are now and if they are employed by local game reserves their standard of living will increase dramatically. I have been doing this training for almost two years now and I am quite relieved to be near the end of it. My students will write their exam on 5 June 2010 so everyone please hold thumbs for them. So we have spent the last couple of weeks doing non-stop revision, even over weekends! We will be happy once it has been over and I am very confident they will all do well.