All of our children come from difficult backgrounds and their outlook on life is sometimes a negative one. During camp they are quickly enveloped into a family of loving and caring mentors as well as other children much like themselves, with similar backgrounds and stories they can relate to. Friendships are formed and the children quickly realize that there are sometimes others in life in worse off situations. This realization is the surest way in which to instill compassion. Throughout camp we enforce a strict ‘code of conduct’ which is that of respect to oneself, to each other, and to the environment around them. Compassion, honesty and respect are values we teach the children to recognize and to return home and live by.
By encouraging confidence and leadership skills, we believe the programme heightens the children’s self esteem and sense of hope. Our program also encourages honesty, love, compassion, respect, team work and good behavior benefiting the child, their family and ultimately the community. Our unique role models and mentors instill these important qualities and morals in these children, who at a young age are still impressionable. We continue to reiterate these values through our follow-up visits.
Throughout the years the importance of follow-up has proven to be vital. The bi-monthly follow-up visits are an integral element of Children in the Wilderness Botswana’s expanding goals: building on the learning experience of the initial camp session; providing mentoring and support through regular contact; and allowing us to evaluate the impact of the program.
Each follow-up visit has a theme, for example “Who Am I?” The culmination of the day’s activities involved focusing on the children’s vision of their own future and the attainment of their personal goals. Another being “Me and My Environment” which aids the children to better understand their immediate home environment and to be ensure its sustainable use.
Due to the personal nature of our program we are able to focus on the immediate needs of the children in their respective villages. It is these needs that define the follow up curriculum we currently follow.
In Botswana there is a real need to provide support to the schools and to help them with Environmental Education. The focus of the Outreach Program in 2007 will be hosting a series of five workshops involving teachers to develop activities for the Environmental Club.
Environmental Education is not a subject in the schooling curriculum however the government encourages a fusion of Environmental Education into other subject carriers in the school curriculum. From this, several primary schools in the Ngamiland area have developed Environmental Clubs. However due to the lack of program material and/or activity guidelines the education level that the children are receiving (in environmental education) is limited. Children in the Wilderness Botswana, aims to play a significant role in changing this, by assisting the Environmental clubs through the development of program material. Several key stakeholders have been identified such as the Association of Environmental Clubs of Botswana as well as NGO’s with similar interests in supporting the schools.
We believe that Children in the Wilderness Botswana can have an even bigger impact on more children if we work more closely with the schools and assist them in improving on the development of Environmental Education. We envision a transfer of skills through these workshops and the support we will be providing the schools where the Children in the Wilderness Botswana interactive approach is being demonstrated to the teachers and used by them in their teaching methods.
Children in the Wilderness Botswana will visit the Environmental Clubs starting 2008 and assist with the implementation and monitoring of the programme
Children in the Wilderness Botswana has been awarded with the honor of being one of the top 12 finalists for the World Challenge 2006 in association with Shell, BBC World and Newsweek. The World Challenge 2006 is an annual competition, which recognizes projects from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation on the grass roots level.
The World Challenge team came to Botswana to film our program in action. We hosted 16 children form Mathiba Memorial Primary School in Maun from the 11th to the 18th of August 2006 at Kaparota Camp in the Okavango Delta, compliments of Wilderness Safaris.
BBC have produced a six part series of advertorials on the all 12 nominees which have been screened repeatedly on BBC
Unfortunately Children in the Wilderness Botswana were not selected as one of the top 3 finalists. However it was an achievement in itself to have been chosen as one of the top 12 finalists from a selection of 800 projects from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation on a grass roots level.
In true Children in the Wilderness spirit, we enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to be amongst some of the greatest community projects worldwide. Thank you to Shell, BBC World, Newsweek and to the BBC World Challenge 2006 team for this amazing opportunity. The awareness and exposure that have been generated from this has been phenomenal
It is a great honour to have been selected by BBC to be part of this initiative. Full information can be found on www.theworldchallenge.co.uk
This year’s Children in the Wilderness programme in Botswana included 96 children from the following villages respectfully: Tubu, Maun, Seronga, Besta, Gudigwa, Gunotsoga and Ereetsha
In December 2007 the camps will host another 96 children from Tubu, Gumara, Maun, Seronga, Beetsha, Gudigwa, Gunotsoga and Ereetsha
The Children in the Botswana team consists of the following core staff:
Helena joined the team in June 2006, as a volunteer to develop our Follow-Up program. Subsequently in September 2006 she became a permanent member of the team as our Programme Coordinator. Helena is responsible for managing the programme content for both the Camp sessions and Follow-Up programme. Her background in working in rural communities and environmental education and identifying sustainable development schemes within those communities has made her a valuable member of the team.
Geoffrey has been a volunteer of Children in the Wilderness Botswana since it’s inception in 2001. Working up through the ranks from tent leader to Assistant Camp Director. Geoffrey is now a permanent member of the team and has taken on the role of Community Liaison. Managing all traditional communication (tribal meetings) with the communities as well as being the main facilitator for the follow-up programme, Geoffrey’s background in Family Welfare (specifically dealing with youth education on Sexual and Reproductive Health) has enabled us to develop a well structured module in HIV and AIDS awareness for our curriculum.