Latest news from the education team:
We had some wonderful visits. Some of the
highlights include having Jedi, our Anatolian dog ambassador, and Sagira, our
beautiful rare Egyptian Vulture ambassador, at Wits’ Yebo Gogga this year.
These ambassadors and the education team were conveying the message about the
plight of the African Wild dog and vultures. Sagira was a big hit with the
children, and it is wonderful to see how people’s perception of vultures can be
changed once they have met this young ambassador. Sagira also visited the
children of the Eco-Pilots group in Pretoria. Jedi has also been busy, with
visits to children in Mamelodi, working with Veterinary Students from
Onderstepoort, educating the youngsters about how to look after their domestic
animals. Yeats has matured very well as a school going ambassador cheetah, and
he has visited schools all over, including Laerskool Menlopark, Cornwall
College, as well as some adult educational visits in Dalpark and Centurion.
During the July holidays, an outreach programme was
held with vulnerable children at the Rearabilwe Place of Safety in Ga-Rakuwa.
We had numerous visits to their centre, and also had an amazing day with the
youngsters at the farm, learning about our wonderful wildlife and our natural
heritage. Any donations are welcome for these learners, including stationery,
clothes, toys, blankets etc.
The team has also been working in Alexandra, Johannesburg, throughout
August at the Afrika Tikkun community centre. This is a series of visits, based
on a holistic environmental theme. From learning about domestic animals,
recycling and up-cycling, to where we all fit into the environment, ending off
with an ambassador cheetah visit, the learners in the community are getting
exposed to a whole new world. Yeats was unbelievably sweet, and the children
were so well behaved. Clare Vale and Nokuthula
Radebe gave motivational talks after Yeats visited the learners, and this
was an amazing ending to an awesome experience with these learners. Clare Vale
is a well know Racing driver and drifter, as
well as chairperson of Women in Road Safety She is also Yeat’s adoptive mommy. Nokuthula recently climbed Kilimanjaro through Trek4Mandela in support of Caring4Girls, and is
well known as an adventure motorcyclist and sports enthusiast.
Thank you Loreal Kiehl's for making this happen! We believe
this has been very memorable for the 150 odd vulnerable children that have
benefitted from these visits. It was an amazing collaboration, and the
education team can’t wait to be involved with more of
these in the future…
We will be holding holiday programmes at the centre both
during the upcoming September/October school holidays, as well as in December.
This is loads of fun for the young explorer. A great deal of time will be spent
learning about the creatures, great and small, at our centre, as well as the
importance of protecting our environment.
Thank you all our South African citizens who have already
added CHEETA, North West Province, as a beneficiary on their MyPlanet cards. If
you would like to help us raise funds for our education programme at no cost to
you, please visit www.myschool.co.za to
sign up for a rewards card, or email us for an application form.
To invite us to your school, scout group of corporate event,
or for more information about our holiday programmes, please email me on education@dewildt.co.za Like Community Help Enviro Education Through
Animals on facebook, or follow @yeatscheetah on twitter to stay in touch with
the latest education developments.
Warm regards,
Rita Groenewald
