“We” are Marie and Rosie. Brought together in 2016 as part of a group of ten women who would trek around 110km in the Moroccan Sahara. We trained together for nearly 9 months before finally sharing a two man tent on the Saharan sands. And so a friendship began. We were barely back a week when Rosie tells me she wants to go back to Africa, a different Africa, and to give something back.
And so began the task of finding that “something”. Rosie has an interesting family tie to Africa (more about that later). I have travelled to Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa for holidays and to photograph wildlife.
We finally settled on a volunteering experience at Daktari Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage in South Africa, booked through The Great Projects.
DAKTARI works to educate and inspire children to value their environment and stimulate community projects. A small group of children come to the centre for a period of five days where they will complete an educational programme.
And our job as volunteers is to help teach the children about the environment and conservation – anti-poaching, pollution, and more regular schooling plus social talks about respect, substance abuse, safe sex. And we work with them to help them develop respect for wildlife through interaction with the orphaned animals who are either temporary or permanent residents at Daktari.
If you want to read more about the project and our typical week then you can have a look here http://www.daktaribushschool.org/what-is-daktari.
Bush Hearts and Minds 