2014
Moreomaoto and
Gweta villages
Project
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SERVICES PROVIDED BY SAVE WILDLIFE
CONSERVATION BOTSWANA AT MOREOMAOTO
AND GWETA
• Free wildlife conservation education to
primary school kids
• Free psychosocial Support Aspect
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Save Wildlife Conservation Botswana is a project basically based in Maun however has its branches in two villages
near the Ngamiland area. It has been a wonderful year for the kids and the SAVE volunteers in the two villages in the
Boteti Sub district. A lot of activities have been going on during the year. Kids seemed to be loving and enjoying the
program since their numbers seem to be outstanding every time a professional comes to share with them anything
about wildlife. Kids in this two areas have that enthusiasm to learn more about wildlife around them since they live near
the Makgadikgadi Nxai National Park area. A place of Tourist attraction. Since charity begins at home, SAVE has
literally made it their responsibility to come forward to this two villages to groom future wildlife conservationists and
leaders within this two communities with the help and collaboration of other stakeholders who are up and about
preaching the conservation message.
Most of our activities are child friendly, engaging and fun for the love and cherish of the child’s education welfare.
These are done at the main libraries in the communities because these are the places that provide safe and
comfortable environment for most of the kids in the surrounding apart from the school. Our volunteers are working so
hard to produce best results for kids as they work so much with the pre schools and primary school level kids from the
communities. This kids do not get to learn only about Wildlife Conservation they also get to learn about Social and
health issues that are a concern in their everyday life today and in future. This issues include children right and
responsibilities, trust and caring issues. Thus resulting in getting life skills at an earlier age for kids to grow as wise or
responsible choice makers in the future.
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ON GOING ACTIVITIES
Our kids loved and enjoyed it that this year . Our Months were divided into Wild animals topics each kid knew their monthly
animal theme. They also got a chance to interact with different people from different organisations .
MARCH:
The theme for this month was Giraffe and it was on that month that Daniel from Meno A Kwena came for the presentation and a
giraffe height activity with the kids of Moreomaoto. Each kid had a chance to go up the ladder and experience the height of a
giraffe .The kids had a good time learning about even the facts of giraffes one of their fascinations was that a giraffes tongue is
purple blue. Other activities that were of interest to kids was a folk tale to the minor age titled “how a giraffe got its long neck.”
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Cont…..
As proven and shared in the above pictures the kids enjoyed and loved their Giraffe month and its activies. Everyone is willing to
be part of the wildlife specifically wild animals at an early age in the Moreomaoto and Gweta villages
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APRIL:
During the month of April the theme of the month was Birds. The birds that were discussed a lot in this Month were the vultures since they are escalating at large numbers
due to poisoning by farmers in communities. It has been realised that some of the farmers poison carcasses not on ignorant measures but out of luck of the outcomes of
poisoning to the environment at large. Most of them do the poisoning with the intension of poisoning the predators who eat their livestock and then vultures become the
victims. However kids were taught the importance of vultures and how they can be conserved . An expert Mr Pete Hankock was even invited during the month for further
clarification and to let kids know that indeed the vultures are perishing in Botswana and they need to be conserved. However it is also in this month again that our partners
from Denver Zoo came and did a game drive with the kids for the Moreomaoto village. The kids were very much excited as most of them it was their first time to go for a
game drive. All of the kids who went enjoyed themselves and most of them wanted to go again if by any chance there could be more game drives organised the kids were 20
in total number. They managed to see a lot of animals like the hippo, different kids of birds, elephants, stingbok, zebras, kudu and gemsbok.
During the month kids had a chance to watch a video on birds and portray their art skills through drawings and doing masks of vultures.
Above pictures show Mr Pete during his presentation to kids about the importance of birds especially vultures during his presentations. One of the facts that the kids loved
about the vultures is that they clean the environment by eating carcasses. One of the pictures above where the kids are beside Mr Pete show the full length of the vulture
wings. The other picture shows him showing kids the different types of vultures with Kgomotso translating for him.
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Cont…..
Kids had a chance to do activities such as watching a video on birds, drawings colorings mask making and they were also given
vulture conservation buttons
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GAME DRIVE PICTURES
Experience is the best teacher! Kids had a chance to explore crossing over the river through a ferry of which some of them it was
their first time to experience that. The pictures here show our guides the kids kgomotso and our partners from Denver Zoo Molly
and Erin who also experienced the wonderful world in the Makgadikgadi national park.
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MAY:
A month of Botswana’s National wild animal. The Zebra. Kids gathered during this month to discuss the importance of the Zebra as part of
the wildlife. In the end an expert on expert on Zebras came Dr James Bradley who did a research on Zebras did the presentation on the
Zebras he taught the kids a lot about the Zebras in their area. One of the parts of interest for this presentation is that he was talking about
the Zebras in the Makgadikgadi Park which is near their village and some of the kids had been there before. He pointed out that during the
rainy season most Zebras are found at the pans of Makgadikgadi because there would be lots of nutritious pastures that side. And then
during the dry season they come to the park side because of the Boteti river for water.
The above pictures show the kids watching a video about Zebras in the Makgadikgadi. And in the next page Dr Bradley during his Zebra
presentation and kids listening attentively like he was singing the best music to their ears. Again kids had a chance to play survival of the
fittest as they pretended to be Dominant male Zebras who can pick the most number into their groups.
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Conti……
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JUNE:
A leopard was the topic of the month for June. Kids were given some light on how to conserve and why they should conserve the leopard.
One of the reasons is that it is special because it is one of the Big five of Botswana. It is not found in most parts of the country and the world.
In this month the kid’s expert visitor was Mr Mapitse from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Maun. It is also in this month
that the kids did some magnifying glass and Binoculars activity. The kids used their magnifying glasses to zoom in and out a few natural
recourses around them that include soil and leaves from trees. As for the binoculars they had to adjust and spot certain hidden pictures
around them.
Above are kids testing their magnifying glass skill.
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The above pictures show the binocular activities and one of the kids presenting to others what they have seen during the activity.
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Conti……
These illustrate the presentation that was done by Mr Mapitse with the kids in the Moreomaoto village kids loved it a lot and
were very much in love with leopards after the presentation. The kids also had a chance to watch a video on the lifestyle of
leopards just to show emphasis on what they have learnt theoratically.
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JULY:
As scheduled it was termed the month of Elephants . Kids were educated on the way of life of elephants . They even had a chance to reflect
on their general knowledge they had about elephants and how they relate to it since it is part of their community as they get to see it at their
cattle posts and their fields. Kids loved the topic very much as they felt they are being taught about one of their family members as they see
it from time to time in their environment. As usual our month is not complete without getting to meet an expert to clear any clouds or myths
we have our wild animals. This time around our expert for the elephant month was Mphoeng who is a researcher at Elephant for Africa
visited the kids for further clarification and to make them see the significance of Elephants in their environment.
It is again in this month when Elephants for Africa invited us as SAVE staff to attend the Train the trainers workshop where we got to meet
with other Wildlife conservation stakeholders. Most of the people who attended this workshop were staff from the Department of Wildlife
and National parks in Maun however we had Lecturers from the University of Botswana, Some of the Preschool teachers from Moreomaoto
village one of the primary school environmental club coordinators from Maun. Our trainer was Veronica who is an education program
coordinator at Chicago Zoo. In this workshop we all got a chance to learn about putting wildlife and conservation education to practice when
working with kids. Everyone took part and we were all edged to practice what we have learnt at our fields of work.
Again in this month we had the world giraffe day that we shared with our kids. The day was occupied with activities such as drawings,
colorings and a giraffe play based on the African folk tale “How a giraffe got its long neck was performed by the kids during the day. Kids who
took part in the drawing competitions were awarded some gifts and all of them were given some snacks for the fay. I was a lovely day for
everyone.
It is also this month when SAVE sponsors Bea and Quantius came and visited Moreomaoto site to see how the project was doing it was very
unfortunate that at this time they found the preschool kids knocked off already and the primary school ones were still at school. However
they managed to meet us and our volunteer and some other preschool teachers and the librarian.
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Elephants theme…..
These pictures show the pictures that kids colored and wrote anything they know or have learnt about elephants. The other
pictures show the kids listening attentively to the Elephant presentation that was done by Mphoeng. The pictures also have some
of the teachers from the schools in the community to show that they appreciate the extra knowledge or education the kids get
outside the classroom.
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Elephant For Africa workshop…..
As mentioned everyone was taking part during the workshop. And we did a few practicals. The two containers below show an
experiment where we had to find if there will be more ants in a honey container or a tuna fish container. In the end everyone of
us got a certificate of participation.
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EFA Conti…..
Above pictures show Seikgotlho who is one of SAVE’s volunteers from Moreomaoto village in one of her group discussions, an
experiment we did and our trainer with two of EFA’s employees that is Mphoeng who is holding a certificate and Korlize in a blue
neck scaff.
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Giraffe day!
The kids did some presentations on the fun facts that they got from Kgomotso who is our partner from Denver Zoo , Loago who
came with Mr Mapitse from DWNP in Maun did the judging of the pictures, one of the kids recited a poem about a giraffe and the
other pictures show the kids during “The how a giraffe got its long neck ” play.
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Conti…..
Who would love to take part in the next activities? Hands up! Everyone enjoyed their Giraffe day and showed up by raising their
hands when asked if they would like to take part in the future activities. Mr Mapitse and Boago awarded the kids with presents
for the drawing and colouring competitions. They also gave everyone who came some snacks after everything was done for the
day.
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Bea and Bernd Quantious visit Moreomaoto
library and takes a picture with SAVE staff and
some preschool teachers.
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AUGUST: Hyena was out theme of the month. Our kids got to learn about the two types of hyenas that are found in Botswana.
That is the spotted hyena and the brown hyena. The kids showed a lot of interest in knowing a lot about hyenas and they came
up with stories and myths that they know that are hyena related. One of the myths was that hyenas are used by Africans for
witchcraft. No one had an appropriate answer of whether it is true or not. Anyway our expert came and addressed a lot of issues
on hyenas and their significance to the environment. The kids were taking part during the presentation as they asked a lot of
questions and were happy with answers they got from the expert Dr Rutina who is a research scholar at Okavango Research
Institute in Maun. He was impressed by the kid’s response towards the presentation as he revealed that he was amazed that such
small kids could be as active and willing to acquire knowledge about wildlife at such a small age.
Above pictures show kids listening and interacting with Dr Rutina during the presentation.
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Conti….
Nothing is as beautiful as seeing a child’s concentration level very high. The kids watched with a close eye certain clips from the
hyena video that was played for them. And also grasped very the message and knowledge that our hyena expert shared with
them.
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SEPTEMBER:
September was termed the vulture month as this is the month at which the Vulture Awareness day is commemorated. The kids were very
much enthusiastic because most of them had vulture background since Mr Pete Hangcork shared some vulture knowledge with them. The
kids loved the topic of the month so dearly. During the Vulture awareness day Botilo who is one of KRC Researchers was our main expert
visitor who went to share the vulture day with kids. He pinpointed the importances of the vultures to the kids and that they need to be
conserved as they are almost perishing due to poisoning. Kids did some drawings and colorings of vultures, played the beak game and were
given snacks for the day.
Botilo sharing with the kids what he knows about vultures and Kennie rewarding the stars of the day for showing their boldness and
understanding about vultures.
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• Conti….
What do vultures use to eat? BEAKS! The beak game was the game of the day kids had to feed themselves like vultures through a
raised no touch pear. However other pictures apart from the pear game kids did poems on vultures some kids shared what they
know about vultures with others.
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Conti…..
Kids took apart in drawing competitions also to test their art skills some of them won some presents as shown below and
everyone got a snack after all was set and done. Some of the kids loved the human vulture wings as you can see in the masked
winged human vulture picture.
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OCTOBER:
Was set aside for Wild dogs as its topic of the month. As usual the kids discussed it among themselves and the volunteers. The
kids loved the topic very much. In the end the kids had a chance to meet with an expert on wild dogs. This time around Botilo the
wild dog researcher from KRC got a second round he was with Mr Mapitse who from the DWNP in Maun. They did a presentation
about wild dogs for the kids. They emphasised how wild dogs move around in packs and how they really love to work as a team.
Kids even saw some videos that Botilo shot during his research to prove that that really is happening in real life for wild dogs.
Above pictures show how attentive the student and their teacher was during the theory presentation about wild dogs that was
given by Mr Mapitse.
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Conti…..
Above pictures shows Botilo explaining what is going on within the videos that he was playing for the kids. The most interesting
part that the kids loved most was when the male wild dog came from looking for food and gave it to the female one which just
gave birth. And below shows kids playing the pack identification game by kids.
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NOVEMBER:
This was the wrap up of the month. Kids and the volunteers looked back to what they
have learnt about the wildlife around them . However in this month SAVE volunteers from Moreomaoto and Gweta had a chance
to meet with the other SAVE volunteers in the Shakawe area for a three days workshop to learn about early childhood
development and how it can be applied in the in field of work since our volunteers work mostly with preschool kids.
The above pictures show some of the activities that were done during the school activities at the school hours of the two villages
preschools. Eatin lunch, singing educational songs, drawing practicing colour separation skills and using the playing dough.
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Conti……..
These pictures show everyone during workshop discussions and at the end of the day we did some closure with group photos for
everyone who took part during the whole period of the workshop.
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DECEMBER:
Festive season is the vibe for the month in Botswana. But who said wildlife conservations has no style when it comes to the season? We
celebrated our Christmas in in the “Big Five “style. Our kids had a Christmas party with its theme being “The Big Five” of Botswana. They got
to learn that the Big Five include the leopard, elephant, lion, rhino and a buffalo. Some of the special characteristics of the big five of
Botswana is that they are not only the big five of Botswana but the big five of Africa. These big five are also special because all of them can be
found in Botswana and yet they are the big five of Africa some of them cannot be found in other African areas. I that sense that is one of the
reasons Botswana is a preferable destination when it comes to tourist attraction.
Kids drew pictures on the Big five and loved the posters that were there that we telling them messages about the Big five especially its
significance and how they can be conserved.
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Conti……
Kids some time to learn get to know about the big five through a short presentation by Kennie. The kids were attentive and
asking questions where they needed clarification. The below pictures show some kids and their facilitator during their
competition and Seikgotlho and Kennie doing face paintings for the kids.
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