Providing Outreach to Local Communities

It's a brand new year for the Eco Clubs, and with it comes a brand new approach! Building off of UNESCO's Environmental Education activities, we have developed a hands-on curriculum that lets the students learn by doing. Each week the students will engage in an experiment, demonstration, or other activity focused on the environment. Our past experience has shown that the students respond more positively to this style of teaching, and we're anticipating that this approach will make our lessons more effective. So far, the students have built model greenhouses to observe the greenhouse effect in action, measured the rate of photosynthesis in spinach leaves, and built water wheels to harness the power of water!

Our goal for the year is to standardize a curriculum that can be improved upon each year. We have developed a measuring and evaluation system that involves direct student feedback for each lesson. We now have objective measures to evaluate how well they learn the subject each week, letting us see what works and what doesn't. This will let us improve on the curriculum, not only for this year but also in the future.

And the results? The average attendance for the first 4 lessons was 22 at Maahlamele High School, and a spectacular 51 at Rakgolokwana High School! Both of these averages are more than double last year's. 88% of students show comprehension of the subject, and 90% report having enjoyed the lesson. We're hoping that these trends continue as the year goes forward.

Take a look at the pictures for some of the fun the students are having. Without YOUR donations, we would not have the opportunity to reach as many students as we do. THANK YOU!

It's the end of the year for Eco Clubs, and while the party was fun and exciting, it also means we have to say goodbye to our graduating seniors.  Ashandy, who was unanimously voted the Eco Club president this year, is one of those graduating seniors.  She exemplifies everything we hope to see in an Eco Club member: well-spoken, very polite, always attentive, and a natural leader.  Ashandy has been devoted to the Eco Club since Grade 8, not missing a single meeting in 2014 or 2015!  The new President next year will have big shoes to fill!

We asked the students to tell us a bit more about their Eco Club experience and tell us how to make it better. Here is what Ashandy had to say:

What do you like about Eco Club?

I like the activities and the people we meet and also make friends with the volunteers.

What did you learn in Eco Club?

I learnt to be confident always.  I learnt to respect nature and also to coserve biodiversity.  I learnt to be a leader as I was the eco-club president.

How can you take care of the environment in your village?

By cleaning up the trash.  By building dustbins.  By planting more trees.

How can you take care of animals in your village?

Give them food when their hungry.  Give them a nice cool bath when their dirty.  Provide shelter for them.

After matric, Ashandy is planning to go to college to study tourism and travel, and then off to TUT University to study nature conservation.  We will miss her and wish her all the best! 

Without YOUR generous donations, we wouldn't be able to help students like Ashandy reach their full potential.  THANK YOU!

If you would like to make an impact on another DAKTARI project, we are busy fundraising for our animal care project in December. As an added bonus, donations to all of our projects will be matched at 50% on #GivingTuesday, November 29th, starting at 7am South Africa time. 

Until next time!

Links:

• DAKTARI's Animal Care Project