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.
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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’.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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