Serengeti — YOUTHS living in villages surrounding Singita Grumeti Reserve are benefiting through acquiring more knowledge on conservation and consequences of poaching through short courses provided by investors.
An institute, established in the area comprising two dormitories and a classroom, receives a total of 12 students and two teachers from different secondary schools in Mara Region, at a time, who are taught the importance of conservation, bee keeping, use of solar as alternative energy and anti poaching.
The weekly short courses are targeted at involving local communities in conservation of natural resources and to assist the fight against poaching. The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki, who was in the region to inspect community development projects being implemented by Singita Grumeti Reserve, was so impressed by the move taken by the organisation, noting that he will impress upon other investors in the sector to emulate the good example.
"This is a fantastic idea, this way you will be moulding them from a tender age, to grow up understanding the importance of conservation and shun poaching," he explained. He suggested that a similar programme should be arranged for politicians and local leaders so they can also understand the importance of conservation and community programmes being implemented by the investor which will enlarge the scope of understanding.
"I think you could also have local leaders and politicians spend a day or two at the institute and be educated. It is costly but it will definitely have an impact and it will be good for the government as well," he explained.
The Singita Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Luke Bailes, said the move to educate the youngsters on the importance of conservation and anti poaching will make people to think differently about conservation.
The Singita Grumeti Reserves' Community Outreach Coordinator, Mr Richard Ndaskoi, said they plan to bring in local leaders for similar training in the second phase of the programme. The minister had the opportunity to tour the two dormitories; each houses six students complete with furniture and bedding.
Comments Post a comment
OMG founders Carter and Olivia from the USA started their Rhino Letter Writing Campaign where they set out to collect 1,000 letters from people all over the world who are asking South African President Jacob Zuma to get serious about stopping poaching in his country.
So far these two kids have collected over 1,800 letters and more are coming in each day. They are now trying to get the South African government to help them set up a meeting with President Zuma in the coming months so they can travel back to South Africa to hand deliver all the letters to President Zuma to show him that the whole world is begging him to help save Rhinos before it is too late.
You can learn more from their website here:
http://onemoregeneration.org/2012/07/20/dear-president-zuma/
Check out the Community Rhino Presentation these kids created along with help from the folks at SPOTS in SA:
http://onemoregeneration.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/rhino-presentation- w-o-placeholder-7-24-12.pdf
This can easily be downloaded and used to present to audiences of all ages and sizes around the world.