By Grace Horne of Colby College
Today we went to an elementary school in Mababe, Botswana. My classmates and I had the opportunity to meet with the headmaster. He sat us around his table-sized desk and waxed lyrical about his students. His school is actually ranked second out of 56 schools in the region! After listening to the headmaster, we were led into a classroom of form 5 and form 6 students. Our goal here was to describe what Round River Conservation Studies contributes to the community. We want to emphasize a give-and-take relationship rather than the take-and-take relationships of traditional western conservation.
After an introduction, we acted out a little skit for the children: first we mimed jumping into the truck to start transect monitoring. When we came across an impala (played by Dominic), we started to take data. First, we counted how many animals we saw (one). Then, we used a rangefinder to measure the distance (2 meters), a compass to measure the angle (south), and a GPS to find the coordinates. The kids laughed at our silly antics.
Once the curtain had closed on the skit, we created stations where the children could practice with the data collection gear. They took turns measuring how far away various objects in the classroom were and how many degrees from north they were. Then they explored some of the field guides that we use. Find the giraffe. Find the spotted hyena. Find the sheperd’s tree. The kids had a blast flipping through the pages and finding the flora and fauna.
During a brief lull in the stations, the kids stopped to ask me questions. They warmed up by asking me what climatic zone the United States was in. Once they were a little more comfortable with me, they started to ask about pop culture. Do you know Chris Brown? Do you know Nicki Minaj? Who sings Freaky Friday? They quizzed me and I likely fell short by their musical standards. It was interesting to hear their perceptions on the U.S. through their music.
The day wrapped up with a game of freeze tag. I spiced up the rules a little by stipulating that, when frozen, the children had to pose as an animal in the region. My personal favorite were the various lion and elephant poses. The game was high energy with the kids running in packs to escape the taggers (two of the Round River students). When the game was finished, the Mababe students all came up to use and shook our hands.
