Children in Zimbabwe have suffered greatly in many ways during recent times. Not least has been their education and for those living in remote rural areas their options have been few. They are the future and if Zimbabwe is to come out of the darkness they will need to understand how to lead it and have the knowledge to do so.
Sindisa Foundation is assisting the Leadwood Institute Trust in developing an environmental education programme for the children living in rural areas adjacent to protected wildlife areas. In this instance, the Mahenye Community on the border of the Gonarezhou National Park are participating in a pilot programme that is a wide ranging community economic development plan based on the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife and local natural resources. The environmental education programme, known as Children on Safari, is aimed at providing the children of the area with an opportunity to understand the value of their environment and how it can be the basis for their economic properity.
The programme takes groups of children into two safari lodges, Chilo Gorge and Mahenye Island, and use their guides to mentor the children and their vehicles to transport them into the wild areas of the Park and among the wildlife. The children stay in the lodges and are given an understanding of tourism in addition to the lessons about their natural environment.
Once they return to their schools they are given the means and mentorship to establish Conservation Clubs and continue the learning process begun "On Safari". Club activities could include everything from growing vegetables organically to wildlife art.
We need your help to provide these children and all those other to whom we would like to extend this programme, with the opportunity to learn and the means to apply their knowledge.
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N.B. Some of the photographs are those of other programmes provided by colleagues with similar objectives
