Game for posterity, not just for the pot
Children in the Wilderness is helping raise a generation of rural eco-warriors, writes Claire Keeton
THABO Boldwin Maluleke, 18, wants to save the rhino. This student leader from the Makuleke community, adjoining Kruger National Park, has a battalion of pupils behind him who want to protect endangered wildlife.
The soft-spoken, lanky student appears an unlikely eco-warrior. But when he picks up litter in the dust and shows us the food garden he has planted it is clear he is prepared to get his hands dirty.
Threats to conservation such as poaching and deforestation will not abate until young people like him — rural people who live in proximity to game parks and endangered species — care about and benefit from protecting their natural heritage.
This is why the organisation Children in the Wilderness runs “ecoclubs” involving about 2 500 children in seven African countries.
Children who show enthusiasm for conservation go on wildlife camps and those with potential, like Thabo, are chosen for its Youth Environmental Stewardship programme. Thabo dreams of being a wildlife vet and in June he got the chance to follow one for two weeks, taking part in the darting and relocation of six white rhinos.
When Thabo told 32 boisterous 10year-olds at an eco-club meeting at Boxahuku Primary School in Limpopo about his experience, they fell silent and hung on his words. All their hands shot up to give the names of endangered animals or plants to their “eco-mentor”.
Their mentor, Rhulani Ngwenyama, is a trained volunteer from Makuleke who follows an environmental curriculum with them.
“How is an animal in danger? What can you do to prevent it becoming extinct? Why should we care?” were three of the topics the kids tackled with gusto.
Ngwenyama, 25, said he was clueless before he got involved. “Now I’m aware of the danger of litter and teach others the habit of picking it up. Before, I would pass a tree and cut it, but now I know it can help me and my children. We learn to plant trees and to love animals, domestic and wild.”
Ngwenyama works with eco-clubs in four primary schools in the Makuleke community, near Kruger’s Punda Maria gate. In 1998, the Makulekes were the first to have a successful land claim inside Kruger.
Safari operators that partner with the Makuleke Concession in the Pafuri area make quarterly payments to the Community Property Association. Association chairwoman and teacher Mavis Hatlane said: “We are benefiting from about 78 jobs inside the park and the revenue has been used for electrification and the construction of classrooms.”
Thabo started a club called Super Kids to Save the Environment at his high school. “December 2011 was my first time in the bush and it was very exciting. I realised I want to be part of conserving nature and in 2012 I joined the Save the Elephant campaign,” he said.
Last year he joined the Youth Environmental Stewardship programme where he is developing life and leadership skills.
“When I stayed at the Skukuza vet camp in my school holidays it reinforced my dream of becoming a wildlife vet. I saw a pangolin and we darted and vaccinated wild dogs.
“I also joined in the darting and capture of white rhinos for relocation. We did blood, hair and tissue sampling and helped to load them into crates,” he said.
Where possible, Children in the Wilderness awards bursaries to students who do well.
Meanwhile, Thabo saves the money he makes from selling the vegetables he grows.
“My dad is from the royal family. He has another wife, and my mother works as a security guard in Rustenburg.” Thabo lives with his grandmother and his brothers. He treats his dog, Roy, as part of the family. “Our people are learning to protect animals. Before, they thought up strategies to kill wild animals. Children in the Wilderness has helped a lot in our villages. We have learnt to work together to protect our natural heritage,” he said.
Boxahuku teacher Virginia Hatlane praised the eco-clubs: “The children are learning more than the theory of taking care of plants and animals. They are hands-on and come up with solutions to problems in our villages.
“Even people who are illiterate and the grannies at home understand this. The future generation will have a better understanding of conservation.”
Our people are learning to protect animals. Before, they used to kill wild animals My first time in the bush was exciting. I realised I want to be part of conserving nature