Art for Gorillas

Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: Oct 01 2009 | By: Julie

Peter, thank you very much for your September 28th donation of $110! One of the brilliant things about Wildlife Direct is that the blogs allow us to get our messages out there and raise funds while we continue to work at the grassroots level. Thanks so much for tuning in to the blog, Peter. We greatly appreciate your much needed support. Soon, Rwanda’s schoolchildren will be let out of school for the year. They take their national exams in October and then return in January 2010 for a new academic year. As we follow the government run public school calendar, Art of Conservation’s 2009 classes are quickly coming to a close as well. For this week’s class, AoC students take their final exam which covers the year’s conservation lessons, and then look and listen to the sights and sounds of birds, frogs, and butterflies.

Kids gasp when they see the abundance of bird species shown in bird field guides. We look for Rwandan birds like ibis, turaco, bee-eater, robin-chat, and sunbirds.

“Bird Songs From Around The World” by Les Beletsky, an audio book that delighted students, features songs of 200 birds from around the world.

Our classroom is filling with the beautiful songs of birds and frogs. Here, the boys are using a thing called an “Identiflyer Guide” with a “Frogs SongCard.”

We discuss bird and nature watching etiquette and try out binoculars.

More oohs and aahs while looking at “Butterflies Of The World.”

Again, thank you Peter.

Tags: animals, birds, conservation education, rwanda, Volcanoes National Park