Help 125 SA kids to care for their environment

Who would push a Toyota Hilux 11 km up hills in the blistering sun? We would, of course, for charity that is! On May 30^th , the Daktari Delivery Derby finally took place - And it turned out to be a great success with lots of fun along the way. Dressed in outrageous and silly gear, we began our odyssey at 6:45 a.m. and made it to Daktari by 11 am. Quite a feat! The staff and volunteers at Daktari took bets as when we would arrive, and none were even close to the mark! One person even thought we’d have to cheat and start the car! Obviously, they don’t know GVI.

To be fair, the whole ordeal was not a walk in the park. The numerous steep steep hills, the heat and the long distance made our efforts quite heroic. We were encouraged all along the way with our speaker system rigged to the car and a dedicated number of friends helping and cheering us on. Needless to say, “Eye of the Tiger” was played multiple times that day.

For our last 2 km, the team at Daktari joined us, making our final push seamless. We stopped just 100m shy of Daktari itself so that the local school kids currently at Daktari could help us cross the finish line. Afterwards, the kids gave us a beautiful performance of a few songs they put together and we presented them with our educational items that had been donated by local shops in Hoedspruit. The kids were overjoyed with their new ID books, coloring pencils and pens, ID posters, coloring paper, scrap paper and even a small pair of binoculars.

This DDD was only the beginning of our fundraising for Daktari. Our ultimate goal is £6000, all which will go to the Daktari Outreach program. The program intends to engage with students in local schools, particularly those that have previously attended Daktari Bush School, to assist and facilitate establishing Eco-clubs and provide guidance for running environmental activities and educational programs. Activities such as litter clean-ups, educational bush-walks, day trips to learn about Eco-Tourism and wildlife sanctuaries will be organized along with assistance in achieving eco-school status, and much more. We think it’s £6000 well spent.

The Ramatau Eco Club has about 30 members, and the Maahlamele Eco Club has around 50 members. We meet weekly after school to discuss different subjects; we already talked about all of the big 5 animals.

The children wrote about the most magical moment in their lives, here is a magical moment that I personally really liked by Khomotso: ‘One day I was walking in the street and I saw a very sick dog. I took the dog to the hospital and later the dog was fine. The owner of the dog thanked me and I felt really good because I helped an animal’.

They also wrote down the goals and objectives for their eco-club in groups of four. One of the groups came up with the following: ‘We want to be famous about what we are doing, to be seen on TV; to go to the USA to represent our country and club’.

Last week it was extremely exciting, we held elections for the positions of the club president, chairperson and treasurer. The candidates had to give a speech, and they were very serious about it, convincing the others to vote for them. They are learning so much more than they even imagine.

We also planted trees at the school with the children. They now know why trees are so important to us, they provide us with oxygen. After planting the trees in the hard and dry soil, they had to get some water, because they know that trees need water to grow. The club is responsible for the trees, they are taking care of them, and they feel so important because of it.

Because of this project these kids don't only get more education, guidance and learn more about life skills, they gain so much more self confidence and feel valued. They have the feeling that someone cares, and that is the most important thing.