AfriOceans Conservation Alliance blog

5000 HANDS UP FOR SHARKS!

Tue, 1 May 2012 18:55:00 +0200

Join us as we embark on this new exciting 'Deep Freedive for Sharks' Shark awareness campaign where champion Free diver Trevor Hutton, inspired by our own Shark Warrior Lesley Rochat strives to break his own freediving record which has stood since 1999. In order to support Lesley and Trevor's efforts to gain better protection for our sharks, we are asking 5000 learners along the coast, many of them young AfriOceans Warriors, to leave their handprint on a cloth scroll which will be cut to the same length as the deepest depth Trevor Hutton will dive to. This cloth will be delivered by our AfriOceans Warriors to the Minister of Environmental Affairs, along with all the signatures collected in our supporting petition. Put your hands up for sharks. We need them alive!

So follow our journey to Durban, reduce your ecological footprint and increase your ecological handprint vwhich is symbolic of ACTION.Join us as we dive into the depths of the shark waters of the Aliwal Shoal to bring you this incredible stopry of persistence, courage and passion. One breath at a time! Read more here....

ECO CAR FOR AFRIOCEANS WARRIORS

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:4:00 +0200

AfriOceans Conservation Alliance and Thorp Motor Group announced the establishment of a dynamic new partnership in Marine Education. At a ceremony at the Fish Hoek offices of Thorp Motor Group on Thursday 12 April 2012. Branch Manager Rene Cronje said: “Thorp Motor Group Fish Hoek Branch is proud to sponsor a new Chevrolet Spark Lite to AfriOceans Conservation Alliance to assist in their AfriOceans Warriors Programme. This programme works with schools in educating the learners in conservation matters particularly regarding our Oceans. To the AfriOceans Warriors and all the school tribes, “Go,Go,Go” and have fun while learning!”.

The AfriOceans Warriors Programme is a unique environmental education programme, the largest of its kind in South Africa, sponsored by the National Lotteries Board Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF). It is already working with 12 local Primary schools in the South Peninsula, reaching 420 learners every week. Over the next three years the Programme aims to reach many communities and learners along our coastline.

“The support of companies like Thorpe Motor Group in Fish Hoek, who align with our mission to conserve and protect our natural resources, is what makes the important work we do possible. We are very excited about our new partnership with Thorp Motor Group and General Motors – together we are going the extra mile and making a difference!” said Executive Director of AfriOceans, Lesley Rochat.

AfriOceans Head of Education Terry Corr, “Thorp Motor Group’s fantastic contribution to the AfriOceans Education team will greatly assist us as we travel to many schools in the Cape Town area to teach hundreds of young learners about the importance of our Oceans and how they can take Action.”

The Chevrolet Spark Lite that has been sponsored is one of the most environmentally friendly vehicles on the road, with the lowest CO 2 emissions measured of any similar type of vehicle.

“We must become the example to those we teach, and reducing our ecological footprint is key to a sustainable future.” said Corr.

For further information on AfriOceans Conservation Alliance

Contact: Executive Director Lesley Rochat 021 7827590

Head of Education Terry Corr 021 7821348

E mail: terry@aoca.org.za

For information on Thorp Motors Fish Hoek

Contact: Branch Manager Rene Cronje 021 7841220

AFRIOCEANS WARRIORS REPORT BACK

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:15:00 +0200

What an AWESOME few weeks! I was joined by newly appointed AfriOceans environmental educators Naomi Mdayi and Monica Sokudela, and together with Ishmael Sabodien, we have forged a strong, tough and powerful team. We have set up 12 Blue school AWEsome tribes in Cape Town’s South Peninsula, reaching over 400 Primary school learners every week in the AfriOceans Warriors AWEsome programme, sponsored by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).

Registered Blue Schools taking part include:

1.Zerilda Park Primary School, Lavender Hill 2.Hillwood Primary School, Lavender Hill 3. Levana Primary School, Lavender Hill 4. Prince George Primary School, Lavender Hill 5. Kirstenhof Primary School, Kirstenhof.6. Westlake Primary School, Westlake 7. St. James Primary School, Kalk Bay 8. Ukhanyo Primary School, Masiphumelele 9.Kleinberg Primary School, Ocean View 10. Imhoff Waldorf Primary School, Imhoff’s Gift 11. LSEN School for Special Needs, Ocean View 12. Kommetjie Primary School, Kommetjie.

Our programme this term focussed on the individual child, the AfriOceans Warrior and their right of passage, which included getting a kelp vuvuzela, decorating it and learning to blow it. If they could do this they would become an official AfriOceans Warriors member, receive a personalised membership card and a button badge. What an awesome experience, assisted by Michael Carnegie of KELP, to get all the pieces of kelp to the schools and painted and dried in the allotted time.

I have become the dedicated taxi driver, as well as being head of education and teacher as we drive daily between schools in our new Quantum 14 seater vehicle and trailer, kindly sponsored by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund. (NLDTF). We have held mini warrior challenges to prepare our warriors for a full scale Warrior challenge next term and these activities have brought out the fighting spirit and out of the box thinking required to be a warrior. Our AfriOceans Warriors were also required to come up with names for their Tribes and practice a chant that they are required to sing at the beginning of each meeting.

Next term we will be focussing on building the knowledge base of the learners around the oceans and they will get to learn more about the rocky shores, beaches, rivers and key ocean creatures such as sharks, dolphins, whales, seals and fish and how everything is connected. We look forward to continuing and building on our exciting friendships that have grown out of our unique environmental education programme and welcome interested schools to contact us to learn how they can take part.

Last but not least, we have set up and run a very sucessful Slangkop Community tribe in Ocean View , bringing together the young and old. It is really exciting to see the older residents coming out to the regular cleanups every Saturday on the Bokramspruit. We are very proud of your efforts and shows how the AfriOceans Warriors appeals to all ages and all communities, across cultural and economic divides. AWEsome!

Thanks to all the principals and teachers from the participating schools, to the community volunteers in Ocean View and especially to our AWEsome team, led by Shark Warrior and Programme Director Lesley Rochat; Charmaine Rochat, Programme Administration, Educators Monica Sokudela, Naomi Mdayi and Ishmael Sabodien and to Michael Carnegie of KELP. Thanks also go to NGO partners Earthchild and 'I am Somebody'.

We all look forward to the programme growing and expanding in the weeks and months ahead. We are the Voice of our Oceans.

Terry Corr, Head of Education, AfriOceans.

AFRIOCEANS WARRIORS CELEBRATE WORLD WETLANDS DAY!

Sun, 5 Feb 2012 16:8:00 +0200

AfriOceans Warriors are off to a FLYING Start. Not only have we established 3 Community Tribes, we have nearly all of our projected 20 schools onboard and have already helped organise and take part in 3 large riverine cleanups. As all rivers flow into the Oceans, everything is connected. We have also established some great partnerships with other Ngo's, have our new AWEsome bus and 4 new staff members - but more about that another time. On Saturday 4 February, over 50 AfriOceans Warriors from Red Hill, Glencairn and Ocean View tribes joined hands with the GEESE environmental group and Creating Change. The result was an awesome Source to Ocean educational hike and cleanup.

The kids got stuck in quickly and very soon they were calling for more bags. Over 100 bags, mostly of plastic was collected and removed from the river. It was great to see children from different tribes working together and taking action. Passing a particularly clean and beautiful stretch of river, a group of girls pointed excitedly as they spotted fish and frogs. They remarked that had never seen a clean river in their lives and now they knew what we meant. Their discovery went further as we noticed that those little fish were the last remaining population of the highly trhreatened galaxis zebratus, that according to scientists confirm the Gondwanaland theory. The kids realised that their cleanup efforts were meaningful, not only for the project but especially for those fish and they asked to return to clean some more soon. Music to the ears of an environmental educator.

We walked through stands of alien gums, areas of riverine restoration, coastal fynbos, typha tunnels and finally wetland reeds as we reached the Glencairn Wetlands, Do you see why wetlands are important I asked. “Yes, because the filter out pollution, they hold back water in floods and they are a home to many different animals and plants” came the reply.

When we reached the sea we all cheered in unison. AfriOceans Warriors are awesome! We walked to the last stop, our Glencairn rainbow mural where each one of us placed their painted hand, in the 7 colours of the rainbow, on the wall to demonstrate that we are making Handprints for Ocean Action. The whole mini expedition was filmed by film and editing team of Lesley and Nina and we look forward to seeing it featured on 50/50 shortly.

To see the seniors of Glencairn endorsing the AfriOceans Warriors efforts by placing their handprints side by side with our next generation conservationists was a great milestone in our new programme and indeed, for this country SA. A big thanks to all our AfriOceans Warriors from the 4 different tribes; to GEESE, to Liesel and Mortimer from Creating Change, to our film crew for the day AfriOceans Executive Director Lesley and Film Editor Nina, to our staff Charmaine, Ishmael, Naomi and Matthew and especially to Donald Barnett who has been the inspiration in this art installation. Finally, thank you to the National Lottery Board (NLDTF) for their generous support for the 3 year AfriOceans Warriors programme and also to Highlander Hardware and the Glen Lodge for assisting with the Glencairn Community wall project. Come and see it. It is AWESOME! For more photographs on the Wetlands Day

Be an Awesome Warrior today!
Terry

AWESOME HOLIDAY PROGRAMME

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:23:00 +0200

AfriOceans Warriors are Awesome! That’s the overwhelming response from kids taking part in our AWESOME Holiday programme continuing from our base at Glencairn and at Muizenberg Blue Flag beach. We have played games, we have held shark building competitions, we have painted over graffiti covered walls, we have taught kids the shark spotting flags, learnt about rivers & wetlands, made craft from waste. Our new AfriOceans Warriors are loving every minute of it, taking ACTION for the Oceans.

Kicking off on Saturday 12 December, the Glencairn Community project, a partnership between Artist Donald Barnett, AfriOceans and GEESE, Donald provided a workshop for local kids on how they were going to paint a giant rainbow mural on a graffiti covered wall near the Glencairn station and then draw local ocean and land animals on to it with the aim of beautifying it and uplifting the local Glencairn station area.

At Muizenberg, Terry Corr and Ishmael Sabodien have reached hundreds of youngsters, especially surfers enjoying themselves on the beach for the December holidays. We have fielded many questions about the AfriOceans Warriors, the importance of sharks, shark behaviour, food chains, and tips on being sharkwise. The aspirant AfriOceans Warriors were shocked to hear that 100 million sharks were killed every year worldwide and only 5 of us! And they were fascinated to know that there are globally over 500 different species with South Africa having over 100, only a few considered dangerous. Thanks to Ingrid Carmichael and Andrea Stoltenberg for kindly volunteering their time to help. On Tuesday, we built a huge 8m long White Shark as a sand sculpture and what a huge success it was, becoming an instant tourist attraction and was even posted on Facebook with heading ‘Huge White Shark spotted in Muizenberg’.

Back at Glencairn, Michael Carnegie & Charmaine Rochat, assisted by Matthew Tjale ran a 5 day education programme that took the kids into the Glencairn Wetlands to explore the water creatures that live there. They learnt more about Maxine the shark and her friends, met the shark spotter and learnt the flags. They explored the rock pools at low tide, where they found some fantastic starfish, sea urchins and feather worms. They made ‘craft from waste’ pots from tumbled glass collected on the beach and painted their own kelp vuvuzelas. What an awesome week and another two to follow.

On Friday, we put up our new AWESOME Gazebo and feather banners at Muizenberg and it was like a magnet for kids drawing them in to find out more. We held a fantastic shark lesson, taught the meaning of the shark flags, how to be shark wise and showed them different photographs of sharks. Then we held an awesome shark building competition and the new AfriOceans Warriors were each given an AfriOceans Warriors Certificate of participation, with the winners receiving return trips up the Cape Point funicular, courtesy of the Cape Point partnership.

Back at Glencairn on Saturday 17 December, we were part of the Glencairn Family Day and we had 21 AfriOceans Warriors artist activists to draw their creatures on their Rainbow wall. What an awesome day. The results speak for themselves and as we walked back to the fair along the rocks, I shouted Save the Sharks through the megaphone. And the reply in unison can back. We turned heads and everyone loves the effect that the AfriOceans Warriors has had on the wall. Back inside our centre, founder of AfriOceans, Lesley Rochat welcomed the new kids to the Tribe and presented the membership badges with the words ‘You are now an AfriOceans Warrior’. AWESOME! Thanks to Grete from Glen Lodge, Frankie from Highlander Hardware, Harry & Celeste from Cape Point Partnership, Marlene from Top Movies and Alex and Elizabeth Frasco for prizes and donations. We greatly appreciate all your assistance.

BLUE FLAG DISCOVERY RACE

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 8:24:00 +0200

'Teams, are you ready?' As i say that, the rain pours down by the bucketful but nothing is going to stop this Discovery race, organised for the City of Cape Town Blue flag staff by AfriOceans. 6 teams of Blue Flag staff from 7 beaches around the Cape Peninsula give a thumbs up and the race is on. Scrambling to a square on the sand at Bikini beach in Gordon's Bay, the contestants have to unearth pieces of a puzzle. Neck and neck, they move to testing the sea water before receiving a clue and jumping into their waiting vehicle. A beach that sounds like Thandi? Mnandi shouts an eager competitor and they are off. Each team proudly display their Sunflower fund bandannas and on the mirror of their vehicle, so we can monitor them as we travel between beaches.

At Mnandi beach, the teams are within a hairbreadth apart and rush towards presenter Paul Arends to learn more about the intertidal activity where they must construct a food chain. Lots of laughs as someone says 'So what do sharks eat? Seals comes the reply'. Then its on to Strandfontein to dig up plastic litter in order to find the next clue.At Muizenberg, participants are required to take part in a Shark Smart quiz followed by identifying the 4 shark spotting flags. Each activity has been designed to highlight one of the 6 criteria used to award international Blue flag status to a beach.

Then it was over to new Blue flag beach Llandudno to find hidden mascots followed by Camps Bay to interview visitors about responsible tourism. The rain is bucketing down and there are no visitors on the beach so we head to the famous Clifton 4th beach for survivor games and life saving activities. Two kilometres away, its baking hot on the famous beach and the now exhausted, but elated teams square up for the final challenges.

Winning team Muizenberg claims victory for the second consecutive year and a trip up Table Mountain and the coveted Blue Flag Discovery Race Floating Trophy. Each participant receives a Certificate of Participation and Head of Environmental Capacity Building, Training and Education of the City of Cape Town Lindie Buirski congratulates all the teams for taking part and thanks AfriOceans Head of Education Terry Corr and his team for the organisation of the event, together with her staff, led by Abdul Kazi. We were also assisted by Lifesaving SA, Scientific Services and Cape Town Tourism. Thank you to all and congratulations to each and every participant that completed the race. Blue Flag beaches rule!

SWIM LIKE A SHARK

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 8:27:00 +0200

AfriOceans Warriors believes that is critically important to give children authentic outdoor experiences in order to encourage and nuture a love for the Oceans with the aim of helping to save them. So with this in mind, we launched our first Swim like a Shark snorkeling lesson with local kids, including 6 from the Red Hill informal settlement, during the recent Simonstown festival. With the help and support of Pisces divers instructors, the aspiring divers were fitted out with wetsuits, masks and snorkels and given a short lesson on how to breathe underwater.

For most of the participants, it was the very first time that they had donned a mask and looked into the world beneath the waves. Shark Warrior Lesley Rochat, our executive director and an accomplished dive master, donned her red SW wetsuit and armed with her underwater camera, showed the kids how to breathe naturally underwater. Our aspiring warriors were excited to be diving with a legend in the diving fraternity.

Starting out in the tidal pool is just a first step but what came out of this event was that children who had never been exposed to an experience like snorkeling could pick it up very quickly. Equipped with the proper equipment and armed with the correct knowledge, they could become the diving stars in the future and hopefully contribute to the research and protection of sharks and our oceans.

A big thank you to Mike Nortjie and the team at Pisces Divers and Dave Chudleigh of the SurfShack in Muizenberg for the use of their wetsuits. Thanks also to Charmaine from AfriOceans for the steaming hot chocolate at the end of the dive and Matthew for accompaning the children. As our new AfriOceans Warriors Environmental Education (AWE) Programme kicks off in earnest shortly, teaching kids from across cultural and social barriers to dive and be safe in the Ocean will be the type of skills that we wish to impart. And the consensus from the AfriOceans Warriors: Swim like a Shark is AWESOME!

DRAINS TO OCEANS

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:45:00 +0200

Drains to Oceans was the theme of the 2011 YES International Coastal Cleanup Week, sponsored by the City of Cape Town and facillitated by myself, Terry Corr of AfriOceans and Patrick Dowling of WESSA. This intervention brought 10 Primary schools together within the Kuils River catchment area to talk about waste in their communities, both visible and invisible waste. From 10 schools we each had to work with 5 schools and select one school each to join a coastal cleanup on the last day. One can only imagine what the Kuils river looked like 50 yrs ago as it meandered down from the Tygerberg foothills and made its way into the ocean. Now it is canalised, its once tree lined banks covered by kikuyu lawn and a strong sulphur smell emanates from the flowing water.

My fellow educator, Verona Smith and I visited five schools: Irista Primary, Tuscany Glen Primary, Forest Heights Primary, De Kuilen Primary and Mikro Primary and received a great welcome from the eager learners. Using our concept of 'Trash travels', WESSA and AfriOceans showed over 600 learners how when you add water to waste, it floats and moves...off the road, down the gutter, into the drain, down the canal and in to the ocean. And that's our concern because plastic pollution is killing hundreds of thousands of marine mammals in the oceans every year. When we visited the canal and showed the kids how to look for bugs in the water, they got really excited when they realised they could identify the bugs they were finding. The more different species of bugs, the healthier the river. What bugs they did find - rat tail maggots, sludge worms and blood worms - indicated high pollution levels, according to the bug slides that they learnt to use.

The fact that they found any life at all was a revelation for the learners and when we we asked what they could do to improve things for the river, they always said 'Lets clean it up'. So we conducted a waste audit as part of the cleanup as well and we will be submitting these results to the International Coastal Cleanup campaign. Once armed with the knowledge from a 40 minute interactive lesson using magnetic icons, the learners were always keen to get hands on and take action. As they got to terms with the water slides and found life in their 'river' they became so excited they spontaneously started cleaning up all the chip packets and plastic bags choking their river. And then an amazing thing happened. It started to flow. The children were cheering excitedly and the more they cleaned out the faster the river flowed. Oh what a moment!

De Kuilen really surprised us because their school was spotless and it emerged that a strict anti littering policy was in place and it worked! The kids were so enthusiastic and interested and subsequently were adjudged our top school as a result of their submissions for adjudication, which included two You Tube videos and 4 power points. The very next day! Mikro was great too and we were suddenly faced with 120 kids to educate and inspire, in Afrikaans too, which provided its fair share of laughs. The learners enjoyed the activities where they felt they were 'making a difference'.

As the final day dawned on Friday, it was one of those windless sunny days that makes you love your job.120 young environmentalists descended on a 2km stretch of coastline to conduct an audited cleanup of Strandfontein beach and it was great to see how they all worked, picking up the same type of items that they had found in their neighbourhood 50 km upstream - chip packets, lolly sticks, cooldrink caps, bits of plastic, cigarette stompies.You could see them 'making the connections'. What they did find out that the harder you worked in cleaning up, the heavier your bag is that you must carry!

A big thank you to Patrick Dowling and his team from WESSA, Andrea and Phindile; to Lesley Rochat, Executive Director, AfriOceans and Verona Smith, my fellow educator; to Lindie Buirski and her team from the City of Cape Town, Esmay Swarts and Harry Ramblass; to the Department of Environmental Affairs for the Green lunch and lastly, but most importantly to each of the 660 learners that took part and their teachers. What an awesome week was had by all and what a great day to end off. Remember what goes down the drain, could end up in the Ocean!
For more photos...

WATER IS LIFE!

Tue, 6 Sep 2011 14:23:00 +0200

Recently AfriOceans hosted 31 Grade 4 Oakhurst Primary school girls on a hands-on study of the Silvermine river catchment area called ‘Investigating our Rivers and Catchments’. This 3 hr excursion focuses on understanding the importance of healthy rivers and clean water by becoming a water detective and searching for bugs and insects in the ‘coca cola’ coloured river.When asked whether the river was polluted, based on the colour, they all said yes.

Using simple but effective scientific tools like nets, sampling trays and bug slides, the eager girls were introduced to scientific research techniques by collecting and identifying as many different bugs they could find on different stretches of the river and wetland areas.In the upper reaches of the rivers, the presence of key species like mayfly nymphs and stonefly nymphs indicate clean drinkable water. And the girls found lots of them, which was very exciting for them and quickly changed their minds about the state of the river.

As we moved down the river and the sampling became routine, they found a host of bugs and creatures living there in their different niches.Tallying up their results using the mini SASS method developed by Umgeni Water in KZN, they could make informed statements based on the knowledge gained through the activity and with the creativity flowing, came up with a list of water saving actions that they could take. And when they reached the ocean at Clovelly, they excitement spilt over as they waded in the shallows, happy to be free and having fun whilst learning.

To end off, each group made sand creatures of their choice and the results were spectacular! Giant sharks, mermaids and even mayfly nymphs! Whilst children are now required to spend more and more time in the classroom, we at AfriOceans believe that Outdoor educational excursions like this are critical in shaping children’s interests in learning and exposing them to interactive, learning experiences that we once took for granted. For more on AfriOceans excursions and camps visit www.aoca.org.za/excursions-and-camps.

IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME!

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:33:00 +0200

The AfriOceans Warriors has emerged as a unique African tribe, which aims to assist the youth of South Africa to take ownership of their natural heritage and become leaders of awareness campaigns for Africa’s oceans. While the parents of many of these young citizens fought against apartheid and for freedom and equality, the AfriOceans Warriors are fighting for their constitutional right to inherit healthy oceans. It is the youth of South Africa who, with the right guidance, hold immense power collectively to raise awareness about critical environmental issues facing our oceans, and thus influence positive change where it is desperately needed for the sake of their own future well-being. It is our responsibility as the generation partly responsible for the current environmental crisis facing the world and its oceans, as their parents, teachers, and leaders to give them the means to achieve this.

On 2 December 2009, 430 learners from 13 high schools and junior schools from the South Peninsula, including 30 learners from COSAT in Khayelitsha, mixed across cultural and sociabarriers, walked 8km in howling South Easter winds along a stretch of the coast from Muizenberg to Glencairn to give a ‘Voice to the Oceans’. This exciting AfriOceans initiative brought together a number of governmental and non governmental organizations. During the hike the learners carried hand painted placards and formed a large symbolic S. O. S. on Clovelly beach, which was filmed from a helicopter. The powerful message it sent out to the world is a call for help from the youth to South Africa’s leaders, including world leaders, imploring them to make the plight of the oceans a priority and proactively motivate solutions.

Finally, the weary, but elated hikers reached their end point and handed a scroll listing their concerns regarding the state of South Africa’s oceans to invited dignitaries http://www.aoca.org.za/pages/3221/afrioceans-warriors-scroll

As a result of the overwhelming success of the event and the positive feedback from the dignitaries, educators, participating NGOs, the general public, local community business’s and the youth themselves, the management team recognized the potential of the event being developed into the AfriOceans Warriors Environmental Education (EE) Programme. This programme has now been funded for the next 3 years, thanks to generous funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF)

The AfriOceans Warriors (AWE) Programme offers an extensive hands-on educational opportunity for junior and senior high school learners to become involved in marine conservation through an integrated environmental education programme, directly linked to the South African schools curriculum. As such the programme specifically aims to reach the following objectives:

To create an ‘army of Eco Warriors’ that will tackle difficult environmental challenges with the will to succeed.
To encourage the youth to take environmental action for the oceans through the programmes Blue Schools Network and other education components.
To encourage leadership, ‘out of the box’ thinking and assist green skills development and promote community upliftment.
To provide the youth with an alternative lifestyle that inspires positive, sustainable lifestyles through the AfriOceans Warriors, a unique African tribe.
To empower the learners to become actively engaged, competent, citizens that are positive role models for their peers and help build sustainability locally.
To encourage excellence, tolerance, caring and understanding of different cultures across socioeconomic divides.
To develop supporting curriculum linked environmental educational learning and teaching support materials.
To identify partners such as corporates and local small businesses who support the programme’s vision and want to support local economies.
To collaborate with other NGOs focused on marine conservation and help them to promote their cause through the programme.
To encourage the link between government departments such as the Department of Education and the Departments of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Agriculture, Forestry’s and Fisheries.
To develop global citizenship through an interactive internet component, linked to the existing Global Classrooms, promoted by the National Education Department, as well as the SA Principals Association.
To create a sustainable programme in order to expand it into the broader World Oceans Warrior (WOW!) Programme, which networks schools internationally.
It will inspire a whole new generation of young South African’s that will love, know about and care for their oceans and ocean life.
As learners plan, design and take hands-on environmental action, they will help the marine environment and in turn, help their own communities.
It will increase the self-esteem of the learners and encourage learning.
Provide the learners a better understanding of their purpose and role in society.
Give the learners a sense of belonging and self worth as they stand for a cause bigger and more significant than themselves.
Expose the learners to a life beyond their own existence through mixing with other learners and schools, as well as working side by side with scientific, conservation and educational government and non governmental organizations that they might never have heard of before.
Encourages cross cultural outreach by encouraging the learners to serve their own communities.
An array of experiential opportunities to gain experience in a wide range of marine and ocean related fields is expected to flow as the programme rolls out.

I encourage all those wishing to support the AWE programme to make contact with us and see how you can play a roll in this vitally important programme.

AfriOceans Warriors .........its going to be Awesome!