To celebrate World Youth Skills Day on 15 July, the Eco-Club learners and their Eco-Mentors at the Elias Amxab Combined School in Sesfontein came up with a thoughtful idea to showcase their skills and creativity by creating “fire balls” from recycled materials.
The objective was to protect the environment rather than cut down trees for firewood. By using their skills these young Namibians were able to learn to work with their hands and minds, teaching them about productivity and entrepreneurship for the future.
The Sustainable Development Goals’ objective for World Youth Skills Day 2024 is “Peace and Development”, and it was such a joy to see how the children worked together as a team, co-operating with each other and working together, learning as they went through the process.
Here’s a timeline of how they created their fireballs.
Day 1 – Step 1:
The learners gathered plastic and paper from the school dustbins and the surrounding environment.
Step 2:
The learners soaked the paper in water for 24 hours.
Day 2 – Step 3:
The learners removed the soaked paper and formed the paper into balls, allowing them to dry for approximately three days.
Four days later the fireballs were ready to be used.
The process of making the fireballs took a period of seven days, and the patient learners were very happy with the results.
Report by Veronderako Kaura – CITW and Community Co-ordinator, Wilderness Namibia
