Written by St Lucia intern, Abby Murphy
This month in St Lucia we were able to take our ‘After School Club’ children from Helping Hands orphanage in Ezwenelisha, on an Educational Trip to Kwazulu-Natal Wildlife Crocodile Centre. The children were able to build their knowledge on anti-poaching and general conservation for the beautiful animals we share our home here with in St Lucia.
We have been working with the children at After School club every week providing them with educational lessons on a range of subjects including health and HIV, as well as life skills. We aim to organise a trip every year for each community club so this was a real treat. We took the sixteen children from primary school to the centre, and with help from our wonderful house keeper/ community co-ordinator, Mumsy, we were able to give the children a tour.
Each volunteer paired up with a child and they were able to have a discussion as they went around the centre. We took around one hour to view all of the animals, and discuss conservation aspects before stopping for snacks and of course some traditional Zulu dancing.
The volunteers and children enjoyed the afternoon trip and we are happy we were able to offer this once a year piece of fun. We will continue next week to teach them about animals and conservation in order to recap on the information they received.
We would like to say a huge thank you to St Lucia Kwazulu-Natal Wildlife Crocodile Centre for allowing us all to come and enjoy the centre, as well as our Zulu staff and volunteers for making sure the day went smoothly.
Learn more about our Educational Support Program.