Self sustainability plays a big role in every community and Kurland Edu Center is no different. They were in need of a vegetable patch so the children can have a home-grown, wholesome meal during the day. So on Saturday the 16th of March, this is exactly what we did. From the start, we wanted this project to be owned by the school and the parents, so we met with the community and told them the nutritional benefits of eating freshly picked vegetables as well as the importance of taking ownership of the vegetable patch.

The original veggie patch was sadly neglected.  A few scraggling mealie plants whose yields were plundered by youths jumping over the wall whenever there was something worthy of picking.  The soil was poor and the few vegetables struggling to grow were weed throttled.

We we not sure how many parents would pitch on the day, but armed with spades, some bags of compost donated by Tenikwa, we arrived.  And to our joy, were met and joined by enthusiastic parents, the local fire fighters, and volunteers from WWISA and Narysec.  First off, we had to clear the yard.

Just look at how many people turned out for the morning!   And next, all hands on deck to prepare the soil and form the beds.

Finally it was time to plant the seeds, and give everyone a “High Five” for a job well done.

We want the thank the all the parents, Ronel, the Principal, Dada and her fire fighting team, Colene Jonkers and her team from Narysec (National rural youth service corps) as well as Ben with his American volunteers. Thank you all for your time, efforts and your sense of humor. All of you made this into a truly memorable day.

In a world full of inequality and poverty, more and more children are born in Africa into a world that lives under the poverty line. They not only suffer malnutrition but also end up lacking the basic right to education. This impacts on their future as it mirrors their parent’s failures as they would not make it in life financially in a fast growing civilised world where education is a necessity. Government across the world struggle with balancing this socio-economic problem, where basic necessities are not met for everyone because of such setbacks.

Born In Africa

Born in Africa is one of those dedicated Non Profit Organisations fighting the imbalances in the societies of the world.  They are very active in socio-economically disadvantaged areas around Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. Focusing on educating children and giving them that chance to learn as much as possible about the world around them, by creating a platform that they would not have been possible in their socio-level status. Education is a fundamental right for all kids in the world. The present day children are our future and need to learn the basic principles of life to better manage it in future. A well set education foundation provides solutions for these children, equipping them to get out of hopeless circumstances. They live in an environment which is often dominated by poverty, abuse, and unemployment.

Born In Africa’s mission is to develop well rounded, independent, and successful young adults acting as role models in their communities by providing educational and social support to school going children and young adults from disadvantaged areas in Bitou, South Africa.

EcoKidz

This week on the 25^th of June 2018,  Tenikwa welcomed Born in Africa back with children from different places in the area. We hosted more than 50 children in our facility. They were educated about our South African wild cats and our conservation efforts. They had a great time seeing and learning about these majestic cats, many of which had never been seen before. They left with warm hearts after a fun filled educative day and as pledged Eco-Kidz who respect nature. It all begins with these young ones, if we are to change our destructive actions towards nature which have threatened many species livelihood across the world, big and small.  This group of lucky little ones are few of many that Born in Africa has helped and facilitated tours for with us and we look forward to the next visit on the 29^th of June 2018.

Born in Africa EcoKidz learning about the fastest land animal in the world, the Cheetah.

Born in Africa EcoKidz learning about the Serval from our experienced guide Mthobisi as they observe Walker the Serval ambassador at Tenikwa.

The children of Born In Africa were given this experience, The EcoKidz Family Challenge programme as this particular activity is focused towards the kids. It is an interactive family program geared towards the younger generation and designed to keep the kids engaged as they explore various conservation challenges. At the end of the whole program they pledge to; respect all creature great and small, take good care of animals, to protect their spaces and habitats, to look after the environment, to reduce, re-use and recycle, share their knowledge, and lastly to help others understand to become Eco-Wise.

Born in Africa EcoKidz graced by his royalty Mkulu the Lion ambassador at Tenikwa.

The traditional approach to creating awareness and making people partake in conservation is a direct plea for people to change their ways and to start caring for nature.

Tenikwa Awareness and Rehabilitation Centre creates awareness by informing people of the threats that is affecting Southern Africa’s Wild Cats and some other species, in hope that in time people will renew their perspectives and start to do something for conservation. The main purpose of Awareness is the changing of people’s behaviour over the long term.

Traditionally conservation Awareness methods used consequence to tell people why they had to change e.g. the threat of global warming; the extinction of species etc.

Although important and with proven success, with the times that are changing the direct approach to creating awareness is becoming less effective. Awareness’s true aim does not reach people of all backgrounds. For people living in impoverished communities it is hard to grasp and think about the plight of nature, when they are struggling to get even the most basic needs like food and clean water for themselves. So directly telling them to change their ways to save some specie they may not even have been aware of and does not impact their day to day priorities, are not the most effective way to make them make an inconvenient change.

Another big factor that is affecting the traditional methods of awareness of conservation, is that people do not want to wait for their efforts to be rewarded, they want to see an immediate recompense and effect of their actions.

We live in an era of instant gratification promoted by the rapid development in technology and increase in the use of social media. The youth want to see things happening now or sooner… otherwise they move on to get results elsewhere.

The traditional approach to getting buy-in from the younger generation has to be adapted and new strategies used to make a change and to inspire people of all generations and backgrounds to partake in conservation. Pitching conservation change at the lower and middle income community has always been difficult and yet these are the children and young adults who will drive our future in South Africa.