Green School returns from aiding KZN
CAPE Town’s Green School, which advocates for community-integrated entrepreneurial learning in a natural environment, has returned from KwaZulu-Natal where the school’s Durban Flood Relief Outreach Team spent two intense days assisting in the areas worst affected by the flooding.
The team comprised learners from the school’s eco-club, teachers and a number of parents who all helped to package food and clean the beaches.
Green School South Africa co-founder Alba Brandt said: “On this trip the theoretical concepts around the destruction of infrastructure, the impact of inequality, and the devastation of communities became very real and personal. We believe it is our responsibility to prepare the youth of today for the challenges of the future.
“All climate change predictions warn of increased frequency and severity of natural disasters, and being a personal witness to the devastation creates an urgency to learn about these very real challenges of our world,” she said.
Brandt said the school also promoted the idea that the youth could take action and be agents for positive change.
“Going to Durban and physically carrying food, packing food parcels, and picking out thousands of pieces of polystyrene makes this lesson real,” she said.
Many of the learners said they learnt that it was important, now more than ever, to be willing to help, particularly in such devastating circumstances.
Learner, Seth Squires, said: “Climate quite literally rips up peoples’ lives and it is worse than we think, but we can help.”
Learner, Annabelle Brandt, said people needed to prepare themselves because climate change was getting worse.
“We are building an understanding of how the world works and how we can all contribute to a more sustainable way of living.
“We hope that through this trip and the theoretical learning that happens at school, our children learn to connect the dots of how humans live on this planet and how important the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are; to really grasp how everything is connected,” Brandt said.
She said the school would share contact details of the organisations that needed more help should any other schools be interested in carrying out a similar outreach programme as there were still kilometres of beaches to be cleaned and NGO’s in need of food packaging and distribution assistance.