This years’ CITW camp at Pafuri kicked off with the children arriving a bit earlier than expected! Although we were ready for them, our existing guests – who were just leaving – stared in amazement as a crowd of children made their way up the walkway to the deck in front of the curio shop, where the staff welcomed them with enthusiastic song and dance.
From the 3rd until the 16th December 2007 Children in the Wilderness Namibia hosted 47 orphaned and vulnerable children at two camps. Wilderness Safaris closed the doors of Desert Rhino Camp in the private Palmwag Concession to paying guests and opened them for the exclusive use of its young VIPs!
Children in the Wilderness at Mvuu Camp December 2007 – truly a fantastic experience. Overall the two camps run at Mvuu were well-organised and fun for the kids, filled with high energy and lots of participation from the mentors. Prior to the camp, a five-day orientation was conducted for 32 staff, after which 12 staff went back home and 20 participated in the two camps.
Voices sang out the welcoming words “Lufupa ne Wilderness” with drums beating in the background, as three Wilderness Safaris landcruisers drove into the reception area at Lufupa Tented Camp with 18 tired and dusty children. They dismounted hesitantly, rather bewildered by the group of adults singing and dancing around them, as they were welcomed to Wilderness Zambia’s first Children in the Wilderness Camp.
My nickname is Pipidi, I am doing standard six and I am thirteen years old. The day’s I will never forget I was very happy, the first time my teacher told me that I was going to camp I told my friends and my family and they were also happy and I wanted to fly like a bird.
This isn’t going to be a usual description of a luxury camp. It won’t wax rhapsodic about the view or lyrical about wildlife – but then, it wasn’t really a usual week that I experienced. This was a week in which I was challenged and humbled and amazed by a bunch of street children from the shelters – and streets obviously – of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban. From Ilana Steyn
The success of the Children in the Wilderness camps has exceeded our wildest expectations. A few examples:
Tsumkwe Outreach Programme - March 2005
What a day!!!
We had about 40 San(bushmen) and kavango kids, but more bushmen kids at Tsumkwe primary school, experiencing their firstever inspiring to conservation and to their own environment. These were mostly orphanage and under privilege kids, from age 10 to 16 yrs old. These kids have never gone out of their villages or school premises and explore their own area, which is magnificent environment. Working with the crane working group, which was the main focus. It was very interesting that none of these kids ever heard about wattled crane, of which the largest number in the country comes in their area during summer time(Nyae_Nyae pans).
Children in the Wilderness always gives the kids opportunity to learn, to know, to enjoy and have fun, team building, appreciates and to develops a strong sense of becoming a great ambassador of conservation and environment. We had the opportunity to witness the changes in the kids faces, we had the opportunity to educates in a form of funny games which all relates to conservation and especially in their own area. One of the highlight, Kids were asked to draw wattled crane by not looking at their paper just looking at the picture of the bird, they couldn't stop giggling as this was a new trick and funny to them. Finally, they were asked to draw the same picture by looking at their work. Great pictures, could not take one but a copies can still obtained from Ann and Mike Scot of Crane Working Group. Beads, was again the best things to watch kids doing, as every body trying to make the best bracelet and necklace.
Unfortunately, we could not have many school teachers involved, but we have the blessing of the deputy head master Mr. Nashipili with us and he could not hide his appreciations and the huge excitements he had never seen among the kids. Kids have a promise from the MET officer in the area to take them around and saw them wattled cranes before they summer disappear.
Regards
Sunday
In the year 2002-2003 Wilderness Safaris launched the Children in the Wilderness programme in Namibia . They came with a proposal to the SOS Children Village Association, a privately owned children’s orphanage that is situated in Windhoek. Children in the Wilderness invited the kids out to one of their lodges, and they also invited six older youths. I was one of the older youths who were selected as councillors/chaperones to stay with a group of kids inside one of the cabins – like replacement parents. For me to have started with Children in the Wilderness was the most fortunate opportunity ever!
We were shown pictures of the camp layout, which was Kulala Tented Camp, one of the Wilderness Safaris camps/lodges , where the first camp was going to be held. This overwhelmed me because most of us had never had such an opportunity to learn about the environment by being in the wilderness itself. The environment at the lodge and the camp was something totally new to me and it was then and there that I told myself that I was going to continue doing this. I was brought up in a very enclosed environment so that the only life I knew was that within the orphanage. When I saw the open spaces I felt like this was it - this is where I wanted to be away from the closure! Until this day it feels like I have found a new family, even bigger where there is a sanctuary and you always feel welcome.
Being part of Children in the Wilderness inspired me so much that I wanted to be part of the whole company Wilderness Safaris. Through my involvement with Children in the Wilderness and my conviction to stay part of it, I got the opportunity to join Wilderness Safaris Namibia as a guide in training. I am still a trainee guide but I am progressing each day at a time. I am also now a senior activity leader and counsellor during the four children's camps that we host every year in Namibia. This is truly a great change in my life and I still pinch myself to find out this is really true or if I am still dreaming.
What I still cannot believe is the vast amount of opportunities Wilderness Safaris and Children in the Wilderness. I am getting the change to do training within the company . The training, for example, has helped me a lot and I took full advantage of every opportunity that came to me. I was send to New York for training at a summer camp. The Association of Hole in the Wall Gang Camps is one of the partners of Children in the Wilderness that was involved in inspiring the idea for our camps. They invited someone from Children in the Wilderness Namibia on an exchange visit and I was selected!. I learned a lot at Double H. I brought some of their camp cultures home but also left some of ours with them. Recently I also attended HIV/AIDS peer-counselling training that was organised by Wilderness Safaris Namibia. That still amazes me – the training opportunities.
Namibia is overloaded with orphaned children like me. Children in the Wilderness can touch a lot of kids and make them feel mentally rich in fortune. First of all we have to build up a strong team of staff members who will be able to return year after year. This will always create a bond of willing and spirited team members, which would reflect upon the kids. What the children will experience during the Children in the Wilderness camps, they will remember and it will stick them for the rest of their lives.
Everyone has dreams, which are setoff by this experience. For me my dream was, is and still is to be a successful ambassador for my country. I can achieve this through Children in the Wilderness and Wilderness Safaris Namibia that have helped me so much.
Lonjezo Madyero is 13 and came to the CITW camp at Mvuu in 2004. Both of her parents have passed, and she lives with relatives in close proximity to Liwonde National Park. Due to poverty, there is poaching within the park from the local communities. While at CITW camp, Lonjezo learned about the importance of wildlife to the environment and to Malawi’s economy. The camps within the park employ many people from her village, and visitors to the park bring money to the area Lonjezo realized that income generating activities like the “Liwonde Ladies” arts and crafts project helps to raise funds for the community and creates harmony between the communities and the national parks. Her favourite activities became the game and boat drives, and since the camps she has joined her school wildlife club. Her friends now know that Lonjezo is the one to go to and ask questions about the environment.
It is the first time I had flown in a plane and have been a domestic tourist and these things have made me feel honoured and important?. Big words for Pitso, from Bana ba Letetse, at his final Bana ba Naga campfire. This fourteen year old was so inspired by the beauty of the Okavango Delta that he wants to stay in school until he can become a guide. Statements epitomising the success of Wilderness Safaris' Children in the Wilderness 2004 programme.
Children in the Wilderness (Bana ba Naga in Setswana) grew from the seeds of inspiration planted by actor Paul Newman and his successful Hole in the Wall camps, which cater primarily for children in need of special medical attention. Started in Botswana in 2001, Wilderness Safaris has brought the Children in the Wilderness programme into Namibia, Malawi and South Africa, each year bringing the unspoilt beauty of the wild to over 1000 deserving children between the ages of eleven and sixteen A non-profit making programme relying on charitable donations and corporate sponsorship, Children of the Wilderness teaches young Africans rural and underprivileged areas the importance of conserving their natural heritage, while encouraging the development of self esteem, confidence and personal upliftment. This year Okavango Wilderness Safaris closed two of its guest camps, Kaparotta and Jacana to the travelling public and hosted seven groups of heterogeneous children from many areas in Botswana. The Delta opened her watery arms to nervous, sometimes lonely children, to children who have seen too much in their young lives, and to potential leaders still hiding in a protective shell - embracing them in an environment of safety, learning and fun.
Children in the Wilderness promote positive, healthy living, conservation, and the importance of tourism. Wilderness Safaris understands that conservation and environmental education in the classroom can only hope to teach; CITW is an experience that overwhelms all of the senses and leaves positive impressions on the long-term memory. Secondly, doors of opportunity and employment potential are opened. In a country like Botswana, Eco-tourism is fast becoming the most sustainable industry. In the future it is the children of today who will ensure that the industry is managed correctly and continues to grow in a healthy manner.
This programme ensures that each child experiences the often inaccessible Okavango Delta to the fullest, with activities ranging from walks, game drives, mekoro rides and boating. For many just climbing into the boat was a challenge all of its own and the expressions of glee escaping as the boat zipped into the channels was a satisfied mix of personal triumph and exhilarating joy.
I was invited to join the team of Bana ba Naga councillors who were a mixed group of dedicated people, stemming from a range of different backgrounds and cultures. We all came to the programme with a diversity of skills, viewpoints and enough energy to rock the Okavango Delta. Patience, a Wilderness Safaris' manager and long term camp councillor felt that the programme was such a remarkable success because the people involved were devoted to making each child's bush experience a memorable event. “Everybody here has offered their time freely to the programme and are dedicated to making this work”.
The days were jam-packed with mainly environmental activities, but also included sports and swimming, art and crafts activities, discussions revolving around the Delta, Eco-Tourism and Conservation as well as HIV/AIDS and positive living. Kaparotta camp reverberated with the sound of song, cheers and clapping hands.
Professional guides soon had the children spotting tracks, explaining the difference between antelope species and identifying birds, trees and frogs. “The children have heard about lion, but the first time they see one, it is a mind blowing experience, everything about the lion exceeds expectations, it is bigger, fiercer, more alive than the imagination ever allows”.
For me it was amazing to watch that in such a short space of time, each child that had shyly climbed off the game drive vehicle on day one, find a voice, make friends and start believing in their own abilities. Over the six days I was amazed to see visible changes in the children's behaviour and attitudes. Plates piled high with good food, being part of the Kaparotta family and even the new toothbrush in the care packages were all special highlights for the children. Patience went on to say; “the best part of being involved in the Bana ba Naga programme is watching the children turn around and leaving the camp different people with a greater interest in life and school”.
So as the final echoes of “Kaparotta,
Kaparotta, we love Kaparotta” drift away and Bana ba Naga
2004 came a to close, I left Kaporota's swirling waters with
an unfaltering belief in the children of Botswana and in the
future of the Okavango Delta. As one camper, Lesh put it “only
at Kaparotta, are smiles perennial”.
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