GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - In honour of Nelson Mandela's birthday, SANParks organised activities to serve communities in and around the three sections of the Garden Route National Park - Wilderness, Knysna and Tsitsikamma.
SANParks staff joined insurance company Oakhurst Insurance in George and other stakeholders to pack food parcels for impoverished communities in George.
According to People & Conservation officer (P&C) for Wilderness, Phumla Nyathikazi, they also wanted to impact communities in Goudveld and Rheenedal who live close to the park. So a team from Goudveld headed to Rheenendal Primary School to work on the school's food garden, which is part of the school's feeding scheme. Teams from Beervlei (also part of the forest areas of Wilderness) put much effort into refurbishing the Sonnerbloem Crèche. Staff in Farleigh headed to Redland Primary to paint the school. Teams in the Knysna section did the same for crèches in the Bongani township and Diepwalle (Knysna forest).
P&C for Knysna, Ndumi Mgwenya, says they also partnered with Kilt (Knysna Initiative for Learning and Teaching) for a career expo in Hornlee (Knysna). "We loved the idea of helping young people choose the right careers as a way of curbing poverty in future. Education is important to secure the future."
The Scientific Services section accompanied the Knysna Animal Welfare Society (Kaws) to Hornlee to do a dip day. This entails going out to communities and setting up dip stations to wash and de-flea pets. Inspectors accompanied teams to deworm pets and record other details of animals in need of sterilisation, treatment, etc.
Teams from Beervlei in the Wilderness area gave the equipment of Sonnerbloem Crèche a lick of fresh paint.
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