Education South Africa Project #8007

Providing Outreach to Local Communities

by DAKTARI Bush School & Wildlife Orphanage

Project Report | Feb 12, 2012
Learning about the Environment and Planting Trees

By Risette de Haas | Outreach Manager

Some of the Eco Club boys - having fun.

First of all, thank you to all who sponsor this great project!

Thanks to your sponsorship I can go every week to the schools were I teach 2 Eco Clubs about the environment. 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 their most magical moment in their lives, here is a magical moment that I personally really liked:

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.

Khomotso, 16 years

They also wrote the goals and objectives for their ecoclub 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 USA to represent our country and club".

Dream big right?

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 learn so much more than what they think.

We also planted trees at the school with the children. They now know why trees are so important to us, they provide us 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 special. They have the feeling that someone cares and that is the most important thing!

Eco Club kids planting and watering the new trees.

Marothi, one of the boys, with his tree!

Election day.... voting.

Links:

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Nov 25, 2011
Moving Forward!

By Risette de Haas | Outreach Manager

Maahlamele Eco Club members studying.

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far, we have been able to make some progress with the development of our Eco Clubs and our work with the children of the local village! We were able to start our second Eco Club at Maahlamele Secondary School, in The Oaks Village. They meet twice a week after school and our Outreach Manager attends the meeting every Thursday to support them with their goals. Already there are around thirty-five members of the club who are so excited to learn more about the environment, animals, and ways to help their community!

We also organized a meeting with the Ramatau Eco Club and Childline. Childline is a non-profit organization in South Africa that provides guidance and information for children. They also have a crisis hotline children can call for free twenty-four hours a day if they need advice or assistance with any problems in their lives. Three representatives from Childline attended the meeting, and took turns speaking to the group about HIV/AIDS, peer pressure, and the different forms of abuse. The children were enthusiastic, and said afterwards that they learned a lot!

One of the Ramatau Eco Club’s ideas was to visit other schools around their village and tell them about the importance of taking care of the environment. One of the children in the Eco Club, Grace, has a younger brother attending primary school, and she took the initiative to contact the school and arrange a day when they could go and speak to every grade. Four girls from Ramatau went with the Outreach Manager to the primary school, where they started in Grade 7 and worked their way down to the littlest kids. They talked about how important it is to throw all your trash in a trashcan, why they shouldn't cut down trees or kill animals, and about how pollution is bad for the Earth. They even talked about noise pollution! It was a great opportunity for the kids to share what they have learned, and as a reminder for the younger children to be aware of the environment and their community.

We are happy to be making progress with our goals, but have so much more we would like to accomplish! We have three more schools to start Eco Clubs in, and a lot more ideas for things we can do with the kids! We are still especially looking for funds for a vehicle so that we no longer have to rent a car for our Outreach Manager to travel to the villages and work with the clubs.

Maahlamele Eco Club watching DVD about rhino's.

Childline visiting Ramatau Eco Club.

Primary School children listening to Grace.

What is the environment?

Listening and learning about the environment.

Links:

Tebalelo tells us why the Eco Clubs are so important.

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Oct 14, 2011
Metz Village Clean up with Daktari Kids & Voluntee

By Risette de Haas | DAKTARI Outreach Manager

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