Our visit to Daktari animal orphanage
Today we visited Daktari animal orphanage to gain an understanding of the work they are doing and a place where we may be able to tale the children to, that we are supporting. Daktari is a small animal orphanage run by a French lady, Michelle, and her husband. They educate children about their environment, health and animal conservation. The children that they work with are all from local schools and villages, many of them whom have never experienced leaving their village to visit such a place as a wildlife sanctuary. They teach the children how to respect and care for animals as well as approaching ‘taboo’ subjects in South Africa such as sex education.
It has been in operation for only fours years but they have a huge amount of knowledge that we can learn from. Having an understanding of the culture that they work within is something that we are able to learn from, and their understanding and knowledge of the methods they use to educate the children we feel will really help us in our work. Set in a beautiful and peaceful environment it is the perfect setting to take children who have experienced trauma.
We are really looking forward to taking a small group of the children there. Last year the children from Letaba school visited here and appeared to have some great experiences where they were able to have hands on contact with smaller animals such as a tortoise. This appeared to give them a very new experience and one that we wish to continue and develop further during this coming trip.
We also were able to meet the local staff who help with the running of the sanctuary (pictured right). The staff support the volunteers and Staff members at Daktari are local people who have great knowledge on wildlife that they have been brought up with. Many local people want to help to conserve local wildlife and see the importance of the message that Daktari are spreading out into the local community. They are also taught by Daktari that having these animals also brings tourism and money into the country, and also creates lots of jobs and work for the local people which is seen as a positive part of the community and how with the right education they will all be able to acheive this messgae together.
By Lindsey and John, March 19, 2010 @ 6:31 pm
It sounds like a wonderful place! Do you know why it is called Daktari? Is it named after a place? There used to be a great wildlife programme on TV called Daktari when we were children, set in a zoo or sanctuary in Africa