HERD - Community Development Project

We are happy to share feedback with you on our long-running community project with Jameyana Primary School in Acornhoek, close to us at HERD.

In February this year, 2025, four HERD team members, three JabuLadies as well as two founders of Wellspring Nkosi Super Bars visited the Jameyana Primary School. We have been working with the Wellspring NPO since February 2022 to provide children at Jameyana with these supplementary bars, as a way to help prevent childhood malnutrition. The Nkosi Bars contain essential macronutrients crucial for the development of children under the age of 6.

We had a fantastic day meeting all the new Grade R and 1 learners for the 2025 school year.

The children were extremely excited to see everyone, and Principle Never extended his gratitude to HERD, Jabulani and all our donors and followers who are helping to provide the children with nutritional meals.

We were informed that since the Nkosi Bar program started, the school has had a 100% pass rate for all Grade R and 1 learners and that the learners have shown improved concentration in class.

Measurements of each learner were taken on the day, to ascertain their growth while being supplemented with the bars. The children will be measured again at the end of this year. This will provide us and the Wellspring team with statistical records for monitoring the project’s social impact, and the children’s progress, and performance while they receive Nkosi Bars.

This year we plan to deliver and provide 32,500 Nkosi bars to a total of 187 learners in Grade R and 154 learners in Grade 1. This will cost approximately R299,000 ($16,400).

Many children in the previously disadvantaged rural communities around us in Hoedspruit are at risk of malnutrition and poor health, due to poverty and the consumption of foods with insufficient nutrition.

With the help from our sponsors, as well as Jabulani and our HERD followers, we are looking forward to giving more learners a chance at a healthy academic future, while sharing the opportunities of conservation with them.

In April this year, the youth-led registered NPO, Lessons in Conservation will be joining HERD to teach the Grade 7 children at Jameyana more about conservation. The learners will also have the opportunity to visit three of our elephants at HERD one morning – including Jabulani, Sebakwe and Somopane, for an educational and enriching experience.

We will share more with you in the next report.

We appreciate your ongoing support of our community school initiatives. Together we are helping to nurture the next generation of conservation custodians, building strong learners who will contribute to a brighter future.

Kind regards,

The HERD Team