Education South Africa Project #9825

Environmental Education for over 300 Children

by DAKTARI Bush School & Wildlife Orphanage

Environmental Education for over 300 Children

Project Report | Mar 13, 2014
Our educational impact in 2013

By Amy Hulme | Marketing Manager

Children in a lesson

Dear supporters, is it really March already?!

The first quarter of the New Year is almost finished and it seems to have gone by in a flash. That's not to say we haven't been super busy at DAKTARI - time flies when you're having fun!

In this report I am going to share a summary of how DAKTARI's educational programme impacted the underpriviledged children in our surrounding villages during 2013.

Highlights:

In 2013 we gave 330 children 5 days of evironmental education at DAKTARI
42 children were chosen as winners of their week and went on a day trip to Kruger National Park
We received 97 volunteers from all over the world who delivered our teaching programme

Survey results:

On Monday of every week, each child was asked the same set of questions in 5 areas of knowledge. On the Friday, after receiveing DAKTARI's educational sylabus, each child was asked the same set of questions again and the scores were recorded.

The percentages shown below are the amount of correct answers given on Mondays and the amount of correct answers given on Fridays - with the percentage increase highlighted.

1. The importance of a good education:

Monday - 81.65% | Friday - 89.30% | Increase - 07.65%

2. The importance of the eco-tourism industry:

Monday - 09.79% | Friday - 45.57% | Increase - 35.78%

3. Awareness of job opportunities:

Monday - 13.76% | Friday - 81.65% | Increase - 67.89%

4. Environmental awareness:

Monday - 26.30% | Friday - 59.02% | Increase - 32.72%

5. Life skills - HIV awareness:

Monday - 18.04% | Friday - 37.31% | Increase - 19.27%

A message from the parent of a child:

"Thank you Daktari for choosing my child on January 2013. She experienced more things and she is now respecting people and caring for people, animals and trees. I want to give the organisation word of thanks from the mother of Tiisetso Patricia Maanaso of Ramatau High School. I wish you all the best."

Thank you

We are extremely proud of what we achieved last year and we want you to be proud of the amazing contributions that you made towards our work - for which we are more than grateful.

This year we are already off to a great start and with your continued support, this year will be even better! Don't forget to stay up to date with all our news throughout the year on our website and on facebook.

Many thanks and all the best,

Amy Hulme - Marketing Manager.

Child with baby mongoose

Feeding a Duiker

End of the week, proudly holding certificates

Permalink

Dec 2, 2013
Happy Holidays from DAKTARI

By Louise James | Fundraising Manager

Amy and I, spreading Christmas cheer in Hoedspruit

Greetings from all of us here at DAKTARI. We hope that you are all well and getting excited about the approaching festive season!

As always, I want to say a huge THANK YOU for your continued support and interest in DAKTARI.

Before I get started on the latest news from camp, I want to let you know about a very special opportunity coming up on GlobalGiving on TUESDAY 3RD DECEMBER!! Two of our projects - our Christmas 'Sponsor a Child' campaign and our Outreach Programme's 'Eco Clubs' project - have been selected for YouthSpark, sponsored by Microsoft, which means that they can receive 100% MATCHED DONATIONS. Matching will begin at 12pm EST. That's 17:00 in the UK, 18:00 for most of Europe and 19:00 in South Africa. Donors in other countries can check the time here. So, if you're thinking about making a Christmas donation to DAKTARI and you want the opportunity to DOUBLE YOUR CONTRIBUTION, here's your chance.*

Since the last report at the beginning of September, you guys have donated over $850 through GlobalGiving. This is absolutely amazing, enough to cover the cost of environmental education for 5 children!! What is even more special is that almost all of these have been recurring donations, meaning that most of you are supporting DAKTARI on a monthly basis – we cannot thank you enough!!

We have been especially busy over the past couple of months, first of all with a French film crew coming to make a documentary about DAKTARI. Although not without it’s challenges, this was such a great opportunity for us to showcase the vital work that we do here. Seeing DAKTARI through the eyes of the film crew also reminded us of how truly special this project is and how proud we all are of what we are achieving. The documentary is due to be aired soon on French TV channel TF1 – keep an eye out on our Facebook page for more details.

Another exciting event has been Shiloweni’s annual check-up with wildlife vet, Peter Rogers. As well as monitoring the overall health of our leopard, this gives the children and volunteers an opportunity to get up close and personal with this magnificent animal. For the children, especially, this is a once-in-a-life-time experience, one that they couldn’t wait to tell their friends and family about. For the full report on Shiloweni’s check-up, please click here.

Another creature who has been teaching the children more about his kind is Hedwig, our baby Spotted Eagle Owl. Hedwig fell from the nest at a very young age and would have died without human intervention. Now safe at DAKTARI, this odd-looking ball of feathers is helping to change the perception of the kids, many of whom are afraid of owls due to local superstitions.

Of course, it’s not just the animals that are doing a great job of educating the children. We recently welcomed back 2 students from our Outreach Programme to help out at DAKTARI as volunteers. Having continued their environmental studies at Eco Club over the past few years, Ashandy and Tiras were able to share their knowledge and assist the international volunteers with the teaching programme. Not only was this valuable for DAKTARI, but it was also a great experience for Ashandy and Tiras, allowing them to develop their confidence and abilities as young adults and giving them some work experience to add to their CVs.

Marketing volunteer, Amy, and I will be outside PicknPay in Hoedspruit with Eco Club member, Jeremiah, over the Christmas period talking to the local community about DAKTARI and selling some lovely Christmas gifts to raise funds and spread awareness. If you are in the area on December 21^st, please come and say hello – we would love to meet you!

So, until the next report, from everyone here at DAKTARI, we wish you a very merry holiday season and a happy new year!!

*Matched funding will begin at 12pm EST on Tuesday 3^rd December. Check the time in your country here.

There is $250,000 available in matched funding and matching will continue for 24 hours or until these funds run out.

Only the following DAKTARI projects have been selected for YouthSpark: Christmas Gift – Sponsor a Child and Environmental Clubs for Kids in South Africa.

Matching will be applied up to $1000 per unique donor.

Ian and Michele with the French fim crew

Michele and the children meet Shiloweni

Tiras and Kobe feed baby owl, Hedwig

Eco Club member, Ashandy, teaches the kids

Jeremiah, from Eco Club, speaks to the community

Links:

Permalink

Sep 4, 2013
New Team, New Additions

By Louise James | Fundraising Manager

The A Team - Aby, Amy, Claire and Louise

Spring is in the air and Daktari has a spring in it’s step with a brand new team of long-term volunteers. Michele and Ian are being kept busy and entertained by Aby, Amy, Louise and Claire who are in charge of volunteers, marketing, fundraising and the outreach programme respectively.

In July, along with the help of our maintenance volunteer, Sebastien, we held a street party to raise funds for Daktari. All the local projects were invited to join us and we raised over R5000. A great time was had by all and Michele even got involved in the cooking of the sausages!

As well as human additions, we also have some exciting new animals here at Daktari.

First of all, we welcomed a group of Dassies, or Rock Rabbits as they are sometimes known. At first they were a bit unsure of their new enclosure and they climbed the trees in an effort to escape! They have since settled in nicely and can be seen basking in the sun on a warm day.

We have also made room for a beautiful Pearl-spotted Owlet who will remain with us until her wing is strong enough for release. A permanent home has been offered to a yet-to-be-named Long-crested Eagle who is blind in one eye and therefore does not have the distance vision required for hunting prey.

The final addition is our Thick-tailed Bushbaby, Banchee. This little darling was hand-raised so is unable to fend for herself in the wild. She now has a safe ‘forever’ home with us here at Daktari.

Of course, the children continue to delight and challenge us each week. They learn so much and teach us a thing or two in the process!

Take 2 minutes out of your day to watch DAKTARI NEWS and let our children share a few facts about their favourite animals:

Thabiso and the Ostrich

Natasha and the Meerkats

Once again, we cannot thank you enough for your continued support. It would not be possible for us to continue our work in environmental education without the help of people like you. Thank you for making a difference!

The dassies plot their escape!

Bella, the Pearl-spotted Owlet

Our Long-crested Eagle

Banchee, the Thick-tailed Bushbaby

Links:

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.