By Leah Brown | Program Manager
Dear Supporters,
The last quarter in Limpopo has been an exciting and colourful one. On Saturday 1st September, Global Vision International volunteers and staff joined Diputhi Primary School members and Oaks residents to take part in GVI’s Annual Spring Colour Walk. The walk spanned 10km – a round trip commencing and finishing at the focus of our work – the primary school. Congrats must be given to our star Community Officer Faith who co-ordinated the event and managed to raise over R12,000!
Colour Walk
150 people took part in the colour walk and although there were many exhausted bodies, crossing the finish line was achieved with smiles from ear to ear as we remembered the purpose behind our pain. Most completed the walk in two hours, but in the spirit of team encouragement, some ran extra km’s to drive the last few over the line. Upon returning to the school, a sports tournament took place as well as any African’s favourite pastime – dancing! It was incredible to see coloured chalk flying across the playground as we danced the afternoon away.
The aim of the spring walk was to raise money to assist Diphuti Primary School as well as, raise funds for GVI’s community outreach projects. Each fortnight, GVI provides lessons on environmental education, undertakes youth development initiatives, as well as engages in sports practice programs with learnerd from the primary school. Funds are generally utilised to purchase sports equipment, books for the learners and prizes for outstanding achievevers. Just last week, two dictionaries were purchased to award to two students from 2018’s year seven graduating class.
Going forward we plan to expand our impact through the co-ordination of an eco-school weekend. Ten exceptional students from Diputhi’s 2018 class have been selected to attend a three day practical weekend in a local game reserve during November. GVI will be transporting the children, with a teacher, to the Timbavati Game Reserve where they will take part in hands-on conservation education. Studies have shown the overwhelming benefits of short or long term exposure to nature, and the resulting positive attitudes towards it. Children are more likely to want to protect and conserve something that they have been able to physically and emotionally connect with. We are incredibly excited to be able to offer this experience and if successful, we hope to send more groups through next year.
Cricket
Our work with Coach Gavaan continues as we support him through the attendance at cricket practices. We have seen an increase in attendance to practice as a result of our presence. There are many talent children across South Africa but they remain undiscovered without a platform to reach their full potential. Cricket clubs like The Oaks draw children from rural communities away from harmful behaviour that they may be exposed to outside of the clubs safe space. The team camaraderie also encourages basic soft skills like team work, fitness and leadership.
Quantifying our impact
GVI commits hundreds of hours each year towards environmental education and awareness. It is important for us to be able to quantify whether our time spent at Diputhi is gaining the repose and attitude change we hope for. Unlike writing a maths test and seeing a rise in score over time, it is difficult to be able to quantify an attitude or opinion. We have instead put together a qualitative study which was given to our class of 110 learners at the start of 2018. We will be running the second test with the kids in the coming weeks and will have the results for you in our next report. Stay tuned!
What an eventful quarter it has been. Our Spring Colour Walk, although only in it’s second year, was incredbily successful and an important tool to further connect with community members. Slowly but surely we are recruiting more and more people to join our conservation army.
Thank you for your ongoing support whether financially or through spreading the good word about our work on the ground.
Love, as always, the Limpopo team x
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