Daktari

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Daktari – The Program
Daktari

Public Speaking – embracing the skills of African culture in story-telling and trying to use the naturalness they feel with this to overcome the nerves when public speaking. I gave the public speaking lesson 01/10. Got the kids excited about public speaking and triggered them to switch from nervous to excited to being on stage, just by relating public speaking to story-telling. The black African culture is amazing with its embracing of storytelling in communication so I experimented with triggering those skills when speaking publically. When we moved to the speak about anything for 1 minute exercise, they all got very excited and there was almost a race to get to the stage to start talking.

Cleaning the animal cages – probably not my favourite, probably because I don’t like the thought of keeping the animal’s captive, as if they were not captive, their crap would be recycled, but here it becomes waste. So, a bit conflicted. However, they were animals that had no chance at rehabilitation, so caring for them to support wildlife conservation is a big benefit.

Teaching – still trying to get over the ideas that ‘I’m too cool for teaching’ (harsh), or feel somewhat out of place or spatially over aware when in an education role. The kids seem interested in what they are doing and interacting with white westerners.

Interacting with people – the place is run by an eccentric French lady (Michelle) who started Daktari with her South African husband (Ian) some 17 years ago. They’ve adopted a local boy (Thabo) who is now a man experienced in much that the bush has to offer. Apparently he’s been in the anti-poaching unit and is trying to get his Field Guide accreditation. There are a number of other fun members of staff, including another soon to be eccentric French lady (Camille) who seems to have made her home here and is building a lodge nearby and appears to be getting involved in the overall management and ownership of the company. Then the volunteer co-ordinator Lebo is showing us how to teach and the fun and bubbly office managers Pretty. The Spanish vet, Hose, is great fun, extremely eccentric, but committed to animal welfare and does his job well.

The kids come from a local school Moholoholo secondary in the Oaks village nearby and are in Form 1 (the old standard 6) and are about 14 years old. There are 4 girls and 4 boys, all seem quite interested and excited to being here. They are selected by the school to attend the program, so they are clearly thought of quite well by the school before attending. There is a Form 2 boy, called Super who is gaining some experience for his journey to becoming a vet.

Enclosure Building – to support animal enrichment and improved mental health, I got to dig a trench in the Serval enclosure. This is a beautiful cat, almost displacing the cheetah from top rung of my favourite kitty ladder.

Write about the teaching experiences
Use the Daktari story to outline my teaching experience
Describe the teaching.
I enjoyed the teaching
Any particular stories from the teaching?
Conflict about the girls, displaying moodieness. Conversations on bullying.
Giving opportunity to local kids who do not have access to the Kruger National Park to appreciate the benefits of nature. Opportunity to meet Thabo and hear his story, from anti-poaching unit to tour guide, to preparing for FGASA training.

Met Michelle, a French-lady who moved to South Africa and met game ranger husband Ian and started Daktari. Pitched as a labour of love, to support the local community, whilst allowing travellers from over-seas to participate in the brief education experience of representatives of the local community.

My favourite experiences were teaching the kids about public speaking. And taking the Environment lectures. There were also some good experiences around teaching the kids to swim, playing soccer, and leading the bushwalk and the interpretation of the Lion King movie.

The opportunity to stay overnight in a home-owners home in the village was fascinating. Got me thinking about the aboriginal groups I work with and the definition of traditional owner. This lady (name?) is a home owner and is influential in the community. She supports the school, is trying to build a bed and breakfast business to pull in tourists, and runs the shop. She is one of the few hawkers who sets up at 5am (before dawn) to get the first busload of people travelling to the farms fed with the morning commute food. It had parallels with the city life, where we pick up a coffee and muffin before work, and something for lunch, here these people were picking up vetkoek for breakfast and some fish with mango acha for lunch. Fish wrapped in newspaper and acha in a plastic bag, ready to be eaten at lunch. The fish had been prepared at 2am when she (name?) had been awake from.

What benefit did I add by being there and working with the kids? It was a good opportunity for the kids to see a white male offering his knowledge in a mutually beneficial way. I wanted to understand/experience what it is like being a teacher, and I felt what I had to offer was of interest to the children. By prompting the kids to ask questions and be inquisitive, I felt reward, but also, they challenged me with their alternative thinking.