Youth Month

For youth month, the Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve facilitators teamed up with partners and went out to communities and a local Franschhoek Highschool with the mobile educational unit. The versatile space has become a vehicle for implementation of exciting hands-on out of classroom learning, complementing the curriculum.

Career Opportunities and Support

A brainstorming workshop was held with Action Volunteers Africa [a non-profit organisation that empowers youth to be ready for the world of work] to implement their new initiative, the Mobile Career Café. This is a collaborative project with the CWBR. The purpose is to assist youth in how to be resourceful and identify opportunities/resources in their immediate community. This includes CV building, interview skills and preparing for the job interview, hands-on activities in the mobile education unit introducing youth to possible careers, and open discussion around different employment opportunities and careers.

The first event took place in Worcester on the 16th of June, Youth Day. Thirty-two young participants took part in the day.

The mobile unit, as the Career Café served as a space for exploring fields in conservation, agriculture, horticulture, and more through discussion with a CWBR facilitator. The participants were also encouraged to take a closer look at soil and the immediate life that calls it home through magnifying glasses. The participants were introduced to the rich life that soil can contain when cared for and how to work with it for a mutual nurturing relationship. 

Introduction to the days activities

Identifying resources that assist with employment

During an interview, a participant expressed that the Career Café Workshop helped him identify what a career is and what he would like to study one day.

Celebrating Youth Day with USIKO

The CWBR team joined USIKO Stellenbosch for the second event with the Jamestown community at the USIKO Hub for Youth Day celebrations. The CWBR facilitators discussed biodiversity, why it is important, the cycle of water, and the importance of man and nature living in harmony. The children were given the opportunity to look through a telescope and binoculars. A demonstration on how to fly a drone was also done, and a few children were lucky to operate the remote.

Franschhoek High

The CWBR in collaboration with USIKO Stellenbosch held a Workshop with psychology students from Stellenbosch University. The students were introduced to the unit and tried the activities showcased in the space including binoculars, telescopes, magnifying glasses and the mobile CWBR library. 

Teachers from schools within the Stellenbosch and Franschhoek areas also attended the Workshop, and as a result, the CWBR team was invited with the mobile unit to Franschhoek High for eight workshops spanning over two weeks, complementing the curriculum and sharing different perspectives about topics learned in class.

Students and the USIKO team trying out activities

Observing rich life that soil supports up close

The students rotated between three different stations which included:

River Health Learning to use minisass as a means to monitor the health of rivers. The students explored the biodiversity in the river next to the school, discovering it bursting with life and instilling the importance of looking after water sources and rivers. 

Learning about Minisass

Life supported by the river found by the students

Mobile Unit Understanding biodiversity, the man and biosphere programme, what does it mean, each individuals important role in looking after the environment, the role of recycling and how waste is managed and treated, as well as utilizing magnifying glasses, binoculars and telescopes. Many children and youth do not have the opportunity to see many places in the world. Through exposing the youth to different types of magnification they were reintroduced to their immediate surroundings, opening their eyes and perceptions.

The the mobile educational space

Curiosity and enthusiam for new experiences

Technology Introducing drone technology and having an open discussion about related careers available to flying drones, as well as the important role it has in monitoring and research in conservation. Discussion also included a broader outlook of technology available today from cellphone apps to space exploration. Each student was given the opportunity to operate the drone under controlled conditions.

The students giving each other support

Discovering talent for flying amongst the learners

These outings were made possible through the partnership with Athénée Action Humanitaire and contribution from the US Consulate.