Education South Africa Project #19125

A Scholarship for A Child To Go To School in Afric

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Feb 10, 2020
Ready, Set, Go 2020!

By Ellie Schwartz | Volunteer Coordinator

Dear Supporters,

With the start of a new year, comes new goals and ambitions! We are thrilled to indulge you in our environmental education goals for 2020.

Have you ever met someone who has an exceptional passion for teaching children and seems most at home in a classroom full of students? Well, GVI Limpopo would like to welcome one of those people to our GVI family! Sizo Majola is our new community officer and he’s fitting in so well with our fabulous group of staff members. He has so many new, fresh ideas for this coming year and we cannot wait to share them with our supporters throughout the coming months.

Qualitative Study

At the beginning of each year, we have our new group of seventh graders at Diphuti Primary School fill out a questionnaire about sustainability and conservation to evaluate how effective our environmental classes are for them. At the end of the year, we give them the same questionnaire to see how their answers have changed and in past years there has been a tenfold increase in their awareness of conservation issues, locally and globally. Giving the students this qualitative study further increases our excitement for the coming year because we already know we make an impact on their lives and we’re hoping we make an even greater one this year.

Timbavati – EcoQuest

As we present our lectures and assign homework over the course of our time in the schools, we carefully look for those students that go the extra mile and have committed to learning about conservation. As a reward for participation, the top students at the end of the school year get the opportunity to join The Timbavati Foundation for a three day EcoQuest. During the three days, the students participate in hands-on activities to learn about conservation, sustainability, bush knowledge and local issues. Watching the students develop knowledge for how they can help the planet in their own communities reinforces why we strive to bring them to the EcoQuest each year. We cannot thank you enough for helping us to make this possible!

Stay tuned for more community updates and as always, we thank you for your continued support. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the support of our donors.

Love,

Limpopo Team

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Nov 12, 2019
No Time for Disappointment

By Zoe Biggs | Program Manager

Dear Supporters,

After teaching our students from the local community in classrooms, we always plan to take them out on either game drives or through Kruger National Park to introduce them to the environment we teach about. This past month was an incredible trip into the Kruger National Park.

Snacks were packed, students were lined up in the seats and cameras were ready for action as we headed out at 5am to see what animals we could find in Kruger National Park. A small voice piped up, “we would love to see a lion, most of us have never seen one!” So off we went, perusing the savanna for a special large cat.

Giraffes, zebras, buffalo and many herds of elephants were all ticked off the list, but no sign of any lions - yet. Halfway through the day, tired and sweaty from the excitement of the morning, we hunkered down in a shady spot to enjoy some lunch. As we were ready to head home, another student said again, “please can we look for a lion, it would be really special for us to see one.”

Time was running out before the gates of the park closed and in a last-ditch effort, we decided to check one last gravel road and try our luck for our tan, furry friends. Already quite far along the road, we were ready to give up, but as we rounded a corner, we spotted more than 30 vultures among the trees, perched and waiting. But, waiting for what? Continuing around the corner and - lions! Yes! We had found the magnificent creature we set out to find, but they were quite a distance from the vehicle, and we started to pass around the lone pair of binoculars.

A series of events unfolded as we sat and watched. Three lions laid in the shade on a kill and we had

strategically parked between them and a watering hole. In the heat of the day, they were mostly sedentary, getting up occasionally to rub noses with one another. But to our surprise, one large male decided to mosey over towards the water and with us in his path, he was headed straight for our vehicle. Our van was silent as he soberly walked inches away from us and continued down for a drink. The students were buzzing as we drove towards home, what an amazing day we had!

Most of these students have lived in South Africa all their lives and have never even seen wildlife like this before. Seeing animals and interrelationships first-hand is so important when teaching about conservation. Allowing children these kinds of experiences couldn’t be done without the gracious help of our donors. So, thank you for helping us change the world by teaching our younger generations.

With love,

The Karongwe Team

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Aug 13, 2019
Sense-sational Game Drives

By Leah Brown | Program Manager

Dear Supporters,

Every other month, we immerse children from our local community into all the wonderful things the African bush has to offer. After many hours of learning, studying and participating we want to give students an opportunity to see the animals that are positively affected by their conservation efforts. To reward the students and reinforce everything we have taught them, they get to join GVI on a game drive!

Throughout the year, the students receive lectures on ecology, conservation, anti-poaching efforts and pollution. Taking the kids out on game drive is always an excellent way of re-incorporating everything they have learned in the classroom back into real life situations. It’s one thing to stand and teach someone about environmental awareness and another thing entirely to introduce them to the wildlife and see them interacting in their natural habitats.

Last week, drive set out early in the morning with two vehicles full of students and we were off in search of anything awesome that we could find. Giraffes, zebras, and impalas were the most abundant species we spotted and by the end of the morning we had bumped into our elephant herd, as well as a couple rhinos! The excitement spread across their faces when they saw their first elephant or rhino was truly heart-warming and encouraged us that our conservation efforts have made truly made an impact on these students.

We had multiple opportunities to show and teach about certain situations we previously talked about in lectures. For example, we spotted giraffes with red-billed ox-peckers on their backs and discussed symbiotic relationships where both species benefit from one another. We were also lucky enough to spot rhinos and explain how de-horning them can help as an anti-poaching technique to save lives. To see how intrigued each student was when encountering wildlife really proves how genuinely these students care and how eager they are to learn how to help aid in conservation.

With your continued support we can continue teaching our local community about the environment and take them out to view the spectacular animals that inhabit Southern Africa.

With Gratitude

The Karongwe Team

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