By Shirley Ward | Administrator of Youth in Conservation
The last pupil excursion in 2024 was in September and in her report, the convenor, Mrs Dee D, reminded us of how much 'behind the scenes' work is done by so many people to make the Ifa Lethu camps possible. Well done to everyone who has been involved!
Here are some of the pupil reactions:
"You have no idea how much this has changed my mind set when it comes to conservation. There are so many different career paths now that I'm so excited to look into concerning helping the environment … this experience has planted so many seeds. Thank you to the JLMT for the amazing work you're doing for the youth." Unakho G.
"This camp has been an amazing experience. The topics that we have spoken about over these four days have been a must in bringing awareness to us. Thank you for this opportunity and I thank you for creating this trust, allowing us young people to broaden our mindset about our planet". Joel M.
"All the knowledge I gained was really informative and eye opening. Just staying at the camp really put me at peace." Matthew M.
"The camp has re-opened my desire to travel Africa, study different courses and educate more of the youth as I grow older. It is always something that I wanted to do but never knew how and, this camp has showed me how simple it can be to go out and do these things. I want to thank you for this invaluable experience." Megan S.
"The Ifa Lethu camp has been an entirely new exciting experie nce, having never before camped or been out in the 'wild'. It was just amazing being surrounded by the beautiful yet unpredictable nature, you just lose track of time and let go of tensions and stresses; this is truly refreshing." Sthabile B.
Many thanks to the accompanying teacher on this excursion; she is the Life Science teacher and in charge of the 40-strong Enviro Club which is a huge asset. When the 12 pupils returned from the camp, they were very motivated to share their experiences with the rest of the club. A dynamic teacher who is also a great champion for the environment and conservation is an invaluable asset on an excursion!
Teacher Environment Excursions
The last two excursions in 2024 were at the end of November and in early December and hosted teachers!
Thanks to Bridget Jonssen and her motivation for most of the funding from the Champagne Valley Trust, two trips for primary school teachers were held. Bridget also came up from Cape Town to be a most helpful assistant, observer, contributor and constructive critic on the first trip. On behalf of the teachers, JLMT Trustees and me, thank you, Bridget. Many thanks also to Siphwe Mbonambi for organising and communicating with the participants.
The teachers’ assessments of the trips were as follows:
TRIP 29/11/2024 – 02/12/2024
Balance of theory, practical, game drives, farm visit 72%
Balance of subject matter of presentations 78%
Our Environmental Dilemma presentation 80%
Mearns Farm visit 88%
Role of Hunting in Conservation presentation 89%
Introduction by Frik Lemmer, Game drives (Frik and Phineas Ngobezi)
and bush walk 92%
Activity using environmental songs for education (Bridget) 82%
TRIP 09/12/2024 – 12/12 2024
Balance of theory, practical, game drives, farm visit 70%
Balance of subject matter of presentations 74%
Our Environmental Dilemma presentation 72%
Mearns Farm visit 81%
Role of Hunting in Conservation presentation 79%
Introduction by Frik Lemmer, Game drives (Frik and Phineas Ngobezi)
and bush walk 82%
Activity using environmental songs for education (Siphiwe Mbonambi) 80%
These trips with primary school teachers were more challenging than those with high school teachers. The high school teachers on previous trips were from schools selected by the Michaelhouse Community Partnership and Partners for Possibility and this made them a more receptive audience. The 2024 experiences, however, were invaluable in assessing the impact of the environmental excursions on different groups of teachers, and their interest in conservation. Moving forward, the weekend experience may need to be tweaked towards the teachers and what they can do with the pupils.
One of the teachers made very favourable comments, which is enough to assess the experience as an indubitable success if even one teacher is positively affected by it! Lunga D:
“I was generally very impressed by the whole weekend. I thought it drove home the urgency of environmental stewardship, the importance of soil covers, and climate change. The different aspects of the weekend had great impact on me; from the farm tour, the morning drives and walk, and the lessons.
The Peter Ardington lecture at farm impacted me the most. I had never seen the developmental history from that perspective. It helped solidify my understanding of the extractive nature of human development and the roots of western influence brought to Africa and it impacted the environment. The lecture helped me understand the root causes of human destruction propelled by vain endeavours and that we need to start with personal motivation to change the trajectory of human civilisation.
I have already made changes to my career endeavours in line with making change to the environment and soil health. But the weekend helped me realise the importance of more personal day-to-day choices I need to make. The next change I would like to make is with housing choices going forward.”
At whatever level,
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Links:
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 receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
