News from Community Help Enviro Education
Through Animals
The education team would like
to welcome our new staff member, Ntsae Sekati. She is completing her nature
conservation diploma with UNISA, and is a valuable asset to our team. Ntsae was
actually a participant in our education programme when she was in high school,
so it is wonderful to have her as an education officer at the centre.
Educational visits to our
underprivileged school, Lowe Primary, were made possible by a donation from
Jackie Navarro of Wild Wonders. Jedi was a big hit at Lowe, even though the
learners were a little hesitant in the beginning. Jedi visits schools during
one of the visits leading up to wild animals, where learners are given more
information about taking care of domestic animals.
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| Jedi at Lowe Primary |
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| Ntsae grooming Yeats the cheetah |
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| International Frog day |
Every year, all over the
world, learners and adults celebrate international frog day. This year, CHEETA
was involved in a frog day celebration in conjunction with the WOT-IF trust, as
well as JGI’s Roots and Shoots programme. The event was held in Diepsloot on 26th
April, with the main focus on the African bullfrog. Lydia, a resident of
Diepsloot inspired all the parties, as she is a passionate bullfrog enthusiast
in her community, promoting conservation of this endangered amphibian. The
event was a huge success, with learners writing and performing plays and poems,
as well as making beautiful drawings and other artwork which helped the
participants learn about frogs and their conservation while preparing for the
day. Bullie the bullfrog was at the event, and we thank Greg Strydom for
allowing us to “borrow” this fantastic froggie, who wowed and entertained
everyone. With about 250 participants entering their contributions for
competitions, there are fantastic prizes for individuals as well as classes
that participated. We hope this will be an annual event, as the learners and
educators were exposed to a whole new side of frogs!
Visits were also made to a
few different schools at Kloofwaters camp, Woodhill College, Jakaranda Voortrekkers,
as well as a local Christian camp for learners from Ga-Rankuwa, Lighthouse
Ministries.
Big thanks to Wild Wonders
for their donation. If you would like to contribute to “CHEETA” (the education
division of the centre) you can donate on the GivenGain website
http://www.givengain.com/ from anywhere in the world. No contribution is too
small, and makes a big difference for our team to conserve through education.
South Africans can sign up for a MyPlanet
card (http://www.myschool.co.za) , and
add CHEETA (www.cheeta.org.za) as their beneficiary, earning money for CHEETA
every time you shop at the participating stores – earn money for us at no cost
to you!
If you would like to get
involved, and do fundraising as a class, company or individual for our
education programme, please let me know and I can help you with ideas.
For more information, or to
invite us to your school, scout group or corporate event, please email me on education@dewildt.co.za
Warm regards,
Rita Groenewald
