EDGE of AFRICA: Recycling

Showing posts with label Recycling. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

EDGE of AFRICA Best of 2010

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Living & experiencing locally is not only a cheap way to travel but a far more beneficial one…

Living & experiencing locally is not only a cheap way to travel but a far more beneficial one…

When one thinks of traveling, usually the first thing that comes to mind is hotels, resorts and maybe a bit of camping or backpacking. Throw in some beaches, culture, sports and local food in and that is, for the majority of us, what a holiday entails.

How about…

…living, eating and working with locals? Does that sound at all interesting? The concept was born several years ago in the form of volunteer projects for the youth and gap year travelers and has now exploding into a great way to travel for all ages. In short it means your holiday expenses go towards local initiatives and you get to learn and live with ‘real’ people whilst on holiday. For some this could be 2 weeks and for other 2 months and even more.

Well, that’s the short of it, but now let us looks at what’s happening in the small town of Knysna, South Africa and how local movements are benefiting to community and the tourists:

Wildlife & conservation projects run and supported by locals but still aimed at tourists. These projects raise awareness while still being beneficial to local conservation and tourist admirers. http://www.edgeofafrica.com/volunteer/project/everything-elephant/
Community development projects supporting local initiatives and creating sustainable solutions and not just short term rewards. http://www.edgeofafrica.com/volunteer/project/inspiring-edge-/

Two local success stories:

Knysna’s Recycling Swop Shop – donate unwanted items and they will go towards a project aimed at teaching life skills and creating conservation awareness. http://edgeofafrica.com/news/events/
Big 5 Wildlife project – a course designed for locals and tourists to not only experience Africa’s famous big 5 but learn survival techniques, animal handling, reserve management and so much more. http://edgeofafrica.com/volunteer/project/big-5-wildlife-project/

To find out more about how to get involved while traveling in the beautiful part of the Garden Route, South Africa visit www.EDGEofAFRICA.com

Thursday, September 2, 2010

EDGE of AFRICA Newsletter - August 2010

Recycling Swop shop

In association with the Biomimicry campaign being run by Sue Swain on behalf of Knysna and Eden Distict Municipalities.

One of EDGE of AFRICA’s latest ventures is initiating Knysna’s first ever ‘Recycling Swop Shop’. This exciting project serves two purposes – to clean up Knysna and to provide for the basic needs of local children.

The idea of the Swop Shop is that children collect plastic bottles, tins, and other recyclable materials and bring them to the Swop Shop. The items are then weighed and the children earn a certain amount of ‘EDGE Bucks’ (tokens) depending on how much they bring. These EDGE Bucks can then be exchanged for items in the shop (all of which have been donated). The more valuable items will require more EDGE Bucks, so the children have the option to save up their EDGE Bucks to buy the more expensive treats!

Similar Swop Shops are already running in Hermanus where the concept has proved very successful and we have every confidence that Knysna’s Swop Shop will also be a big success!!

There will also be another element to our Swop Shop whereby children can chose to complete a variety of learning modules, such as literacy, numeracy and conservation. They will then earn EDGE Bucks based on the complexity of the module.

Finally, as a reward for the children who collect the most recyclables monthly, we are looking at conducting outings and excursions into various natural areas along the Garden Route.

Siyafunda Re-build

As part of EDGE of AFRICA’s ‘build our schools’ project, EOA volunteers (and project coordinators!) have been assisting with the re-build of Siyafunda pre-school.

The previous building was in bad shape with leaking ceilings and damp carpeted floors, and was far too small to accommodate the 80 children that attend the school. Now through the Knysna Education Trust Siyafunda has secured the funding needed in order to build a brand new building in its place! The new building will be large enough to incorporate multiple classrooms and will be a safe and pleasant learning environment for children and teachers alike.

Each week the EDGE of AFRICA team has been helping with the build in anyway they can, from picking up litter from the site to building fencing; and everyone’s hard work is paying off, as the building is progressing quickly and is looking fantastic!

We are honored to be involved in this extremely worthwhile project and once the new and improved Siyafunda pre-school is complete we look forward to helping the next school in need!!

SOUNS Literacy Program

EDGE of AFRICA is working in conjuction with the Knysna Education Trust to implement the SOUNS Literacy Program in pre-schools in the Knynsa area.

This program which has already been successful in the U.S.A. involves using non-toxic, shatter proof plastic letters as a learning tool to teach children to sound out letters. Children are known to absorb more information when their senses are involved, and SOUNS provides the opportunity for better articulation and pronunciation of words as the children become aware of all the sounds and letters in words.

This project is already proving to be successful as children are discovering the sounds of letters and are able to write their names and other words using the SOUNS letters.

Currently EDGE of AFRICA is responsible for helping to implement the program at Judah Edu-Centre and so far this is going extremely well.

HAART Vegetable Garden

Recently EDGE of AFRICA volunteers initiated a vegetable garden at the HAART (Highly Active Anti – Retroviral Treatment) Clinic at Knysna Provincial Hospital.

At present the garden is small but it is growing beautifully! It comprises of cabbage , spinach beetroot and spring onions .

The idea for this vegetable garden came from Dr. Laurel Giddy; she would as we would eventually like to see all the grass area surrounding the HARRT Clinic covered in veggies.

The purpose of this garden is that people attending the HAART Clinic will eventually be able to take a selection of veggies home with them as they leave the clinic. All the veggies that will be grown and are currently growing are of high nutritional value.

With any chronic illness and when taking regular medications a good, balanced diet is imperative. We hope that by establishing this vegetable garden we can assist people who may not have the financial means to buy fresh vegetables in having a balanced diet.

The next phase of the garden is going to be a mealie garden (as in Corn on the cob!)

We have had a lot of support from the people of Knysna and we would like to take this opportunity to thank these people. Thank you to Beth Wilkinson from That’s it and also to Margaret and Bronwyn at Hedges Garden Centre.

For more information on volunteering with EDGE of AFRICA, please visit http://www.EDGEofAFRICA.com/

Written by Jo Lancaster

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

EDGE of AFRICA Recycling Swop Shop

Recycling Swop shop

In association with the Biomimicry campaign being run by Sue Swain and with KEDA on behalf of Knysna and Eden District Municipalities.

The idea of the Swop Shop is that children collect plastic bottles, tins, and other recyclable materials and bring them to the Swop Shop. The items are then weighed and the children earn a certain amount of ‘EDGE Tokens’ depending on how much they bring. These EDGE Tokens can then be exchanged for items in the shop (all of which have been donated). The more valuable items will require more EDGE Tokens, so the children have the option to save up their EDGE Tokens to buy the more expensive treats!