With Covid 19 children are facing a very different environment at school and at home, so how do we connect conservation in a positive way to education and provide some support in this challenging season with its new normal?

People are suffering and the integrity of our parks is at risk so we have considered how we can simultaneously lend support, educate and make a lasting difference to conservation. We believe that through involvement with children in these communities we would be able to link education and conservation meaningfully at this difficult time.

One Land Love It, in collaboration with Addo Elephant National Park prepared 2600 Care Packs for children in the Nomathamsanqa community bordering on the park. Each pack contained items of nutritional, functional and educational value.

Items included a basic meal for a family of 4, an entertaining educational insert with a lesson related to conservation, a water, oranges, a cooldrink, packet of chips, a beanie and re-usable sanitary pads for the High and Primary School girls

Each pack also contained a recyclable mask with animal print to further reinforce our message of taking care of our environment.

Our goal is to positively connect conservation to education and provide some support to children in these challenging times by leading through example.  It has been wonderful to see people getting involved in various ways, using their talents and skills to make a difference and move from caring to doing!
 
An area of concern that was identified was the shortage of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for the children. It would be easy to procure cheap masks but it did not make sense to give the children a mask that would not have long term value.  We need recyclable, washable, safe masks and better still ones made with animal print to further enforce the message of conservation.
 
None of the OLLI Team are Sewers and the idea of finding people prepared to sew 2550 by mid August was quite daunting. Hearing about a local doctor, Dr Lizette Owen, who was sewing masks and just handing them out to people, gave us some hope and we made a call hoping she would be keen to assist.  Her enthusiastic investment to what then became the OLLI Mask Making Project was just the beginning of a demonstration of many individuals showing real concern and commitment to helping us to reach this goal.
 
Many people are now working or making masks as their income and yet they have selflessly given their time, talent and generally covered the costs of the material themselves.
 
Shout out to...
Lizette Owen, Zelna, Wendy, Glen, Sandy Maynier, Pamela Paton, Sandra Cronje, Nicky Greener, Mari Venables, Roselle Naidoo, Lisa, Devi, Sam, Margaret, Marlene, Tracey, Sue and all the new Cutters that have just come on board to get the masks prepped for sewing.
 
A big thank you to the Mask project leader Cindy Naidoo, who has willingly given her time to not only make masks but to very competently coordinate the progress. 
 

Thank you to the ladies who heard about the OLLI Care Packs knitted beanies for the children. 

We are most grateful to all those who have or are or plan to join us in this project.
 
Relating to what Baba Dioum said, we want to create a love for nature and an understanding of its value and this comes through education. These are challenging times and we ascribe to the idea that we should all consider what we have in our hands today that can change our world.
 
Collaboration is key #JointCustody and we are looking for like-minded support as we get people to move from caring to doing!
 
Together we can nourish tummies and nourish minds!
 
#OLLI