Art of Conservation

Hi readers. Valerie here again. As Olivier spoke about in the previous post, we teach our students that eating a healthy diet goes with all of our other efforts in staying healthy. The food we eat provides our body with the energy and nutrients it needs to keep working and growing. I add to the discussion by showing the children a pop-up book entitled “Human Body” by Weldon Owen Pty Ltd. The children have fun seeing an inside look at our digestive system. And while talking about our five senses, namely ‘taste’ to go with our healthy eating focus, they are impressed to know that there are more than 8,000 taste buds on top of their tongue which enables them to discern whether the food they eat is salty, bitter, sour, or sweet.

A pop-up book called Human Body adds a lot of fun for the kids in their learning. I talk about our digestion system as well as identifying the four main tastes.

As students return from recess, we ask them if they remembered to wash their hands. “Yes!” they reply. And we are like cool! We ask them if they feel hungry after all this talk about food. Again, “Yes!” We now tell them good news, “Everybody is going to receive a snack!”

Students go crazy when they receive their healthy snack.

As our children enjoy their snack, we ask them under what food group the bread and peanut butter fall. Many realize that their snacks belong in more than one food group because the brown bread is made with wheat which belongs to the grain group and peanut butter belongs under the oil group. They really love it and it shows!

These kids enjoy eating snacks!

Hi, Valerie here with another lesson on staying healthy. Children listen as I read aloud, Wash your body, ears, and teeth every day. Our discussion covers a lot of information that our students really need. That is why we also bring a number of materials to help our students understand better. Some of the materials are what a student may find in their local health clinic! We remind them that we are teachers, not doctors, and our objective is to introduce to them some of the items found in their health clinic so they can feel comfortable in case they would get sick and have to go to a clinic. Gloves, masks, gauze, cleaning solutions for minor cuts, ointment for bugs bites and poison ivy, topical antibiotics, female sanitary products, and more. And guess what? We of course have a large tooth model for our children to see up close before we teach them how to properly brush their teeth!

After demonstrating how to properly brush my teeth, I remind our students to spit out the toothpaste after use instead of swallowing it! This is what our big red plastic basin is for today.

Looking at themselves in mirrors, our students have fun brushing their teeth!

After each student takes turn brushing his/her teeth, we ask the children if they will stop brushing their teeth in case they run out of a toothpaste and toothbrush – oyaaa! – meaning – no – and gosh! Some of them already know how to use the leaves of a plant locally known as “umuhwahura” which is an alternative to the modern tools and easy to obtain! We discuss with them about more traditional alternatives like a twig of a tree sharpened on one end and chewed on the other to serve as both toothpick and toothbrush. As a result, we come up with an agreement that there is no reason at all of not brushing our teeth because we want to have good oral hygiene to stay healthy!

With pleasure, each of our students goes home with a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush.

More coming soon.

Hi, it’s Valerie. We continue our lessons by focusing on what most organisms need to survive. In general, most organisms need oxygen, water, food, and a protected environment. While preparing for this lesson at the office, we created images illustrating that you, me, birds, gorillas, flowers are all organisms. After gluing these images into their AoC notebooks, students listen to our story about how all living things are connected. It really goes like a story, you know. We explain that people are not the only organisms that need oxygen, water, food, and a protected environment to survive, but all living things need basic essentials to thrive on Earth. And when one part of the equation is disrupted, it may have a fatalistic impact on other part.

We encourage our students to practice English by reading new vocabulary words of the day. Innocent presents ‘a protected environment’ card in both English and Kinyarwanda for a volunteer to read and put on our grass mat serving as a word wall, which the kids all enjoy doing!

Students learn the four things that most organisms need to survive.

Next we teach the children that the critically endangered mountain gorilla and people are approximately 98% genetically similar and disease transmission between the two is probable. To help get the point across of why we need to stay healthy, another image is glued into the notebooks showing mountain gorillas in their natural habitat and another photo of a bunch of former AoC students at park headquarters after last year’s 3K Gorilla Fun Run. Lots of kids, so few gorillas! We need to take action!

A student studying the images he just glued into his notebook.

Our last image for discussion further illustrates the story, at least in part, how all living things are connected. We begin with photos of people, followed by domesticated animals, then wild animals, natural habitat such as forests, trees which produce the air we breathe, pictures of our briquettes as an alternative to cutting down trees for our cooking fuel needs, medicinal properties yet to be discovered, the simple fact of natural beauty, as well as tourism which creates jobs and brings in foreign revenue to help construct schools, and the process of learning and obtaining knowledge. How’s that for a quick tour of some of our connections with other living things?

The children are really following and concentrating. This tells me they are interested in what they are learning. They are discovering that people are not the only organisms that need food, oxygen, water, and a protected environment to survive, but also other living things, i.e. organisms.

More coming soon.

Hi. Valerie here. You last heard from me when I reported on the PASA Education Workshop in Uganda which I attended. Today I’m reporting on my wonderful time I had at College Baptiste St Sylvestre (C.B.S.), a secondary school located in the Nyange Sector of Musanze District. On behalf of its environmental club members, the school invited Art of Conservation to speak with the students. With great pleasure, Julie, Mary Burns, an AoC board member, and I accepted the invitation. The school’s students believe in Art of Conservation’s environmental care and protection and wanted to learn more about what we do!

Julie, with me translating, shares her experience in environmental care and protection at the school hall.

These secondary students were so enthusiastic as Julie spoke in English and I translated and Mary took photographs. Julie encouraged the students to be role models in conservation so that their younger brothers and sisters can refer to them. They were like.. yes.. yes…!

Mary Burns, an AoC board member, with Ntirenganya of College Baptiste St Sylvestre’s environmental club are ready to plant a tree!

The students, especially the environmental club members, appreciated Julie’s ideas and advice in becoming great conservationists and agreed with her when she suggested to them to do a lot of research about which tree species to plant during their tree planting activities. She always encourages planting indigenous species instead of eucalyptus, depending upon ones objectives of course. For example eucalyptus is everywhere and it takes lots of nutrients from the soil robbing native species. It was funny though because when we were asked to go outside to plant trees next to the school we planted what they offered and it was eucalyptus! For them, planting these eucalyptus seedlings was a gesture of showing that they care for the environment and they know that planting trees play an important role in soil erosion prevention, attracting rain, and air purification.

College Baptiste St Sylvestre Environmental Club members present drama, dancing, and singing with conservation messages.

The club members had prepared poems, songs, dances, and drama that were full of strong messages about conservation and environmental protection and which made every one laugh with delight. Through their acting they showed the importance of trees, consequences of poaching, and being rewarded for taking care of our natural resources. All of their games pleased and inspired the audience. I felt like I could be part of the club and stay with them. Their drama reminded me of my childhood! It were so nice to watch!

The event was a great opportunity to see what environmental clubs are doing. Mary, Julie and I learned from them and they did from us. They’ve requested partnership from AoC which we hope will be beneficial and strong! It was a great and enjoyable day!

Hi all, Valerie again with my latest reporting on my recent trip to Uganda to attend PASA’s Educators Workshop. PASA’s workshop for sanctuary educators was also assisted by the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund. This workshop brought together many PASA primate sanctuary representatives within Africa plus invited organizations which work in environmental education areas. Every participant returned home with great ideas about what he or she experienced.

Juliet Price from the Jane Goodall Institute – South Africa and Amy Hanna returning from a site visit at a family participating in CSWCT’s “Change My Community” program. Very muddy!

During this visit we saw an energy efficient stove built by Aidah, a secondary school student living there. Building materials included cow dung, kitchen ash, and termite mound dirt. We enjoyed this visit because it inspired us all on what he or she can do to mitigate overharvesting of wood as timber in order to increase the animal habitat. On our return from the visit, our bus got stuck and people had to go out so that it could escape the muddy area. Juliet and Amy were like “Wow! This is fun!”

School teachers and their principal show us the vegetable garden growing at Kyamalera Wildlife Education Center.

I enjoyed meeting the students and teachers who have participated in the CSWCT “Change My Community” program. They go to the center to learn about environmental protection, wildlife and ecosystem, and other related matter. They also learn about what to do to solve problems facing animals living in the forests. Regarding the protection of the environment, children demonstrated how they made an energy saving stove, tree grafting, composting, and liquid fertilizer production. All of these activities help them to choose their vocation when they are out of the school or when an adult so that can help in their lives. I was so impressed by how these kids were so engaged in environmental protection!

I am resting by a beautiful tree during our walk through the Itohya forest in Uganda- Hoima District.

At Itohya Forest, my new friends and I trekked to see chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Something good and funny is that we only saw ants which disturbed all of us but certainly part of our adventure. Oh, and we did see a knuckle print of a chimp and a Columbus Monkey which was far away from us and making it difficult to take photos! Wow! It was so good to explore this natural habitat and see the components of it.

I pose for a last photo with Grace from KonTiki Hotel and Mr. Sliver from Ngamba Island.

The PASA Educators Workshop was important to each of the participants. We all got an equal chance to share what we do and learn from each other. We also returned home with exciting ideas to tell. I thank very much the PASA and Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund for offering Art of Conservation this great opportunity as to be part of the workshop.

Hi readers! Valerie here reporting again on my recent trip to Uganda for the PASA 2011 Education Workshop.

Our second day of the workshop took place at KonTiki Hotel – Hoima District. To reach there we had to travel for 5 hours. This trip was also good and very important for each participant I think, for we were learning as we travelled. On our trip, we had icebreakers such as songs with conservation messages and warm-up exercises.

I am giving my presentation at PASA Educators Workshop.

Upon arrival at the KonTiki Hotel, we settled in again and continued our activities. We entered the workshop room and then it was my time to present my brief introduction to Art of Conservation’s programs. I could hardly wait my turn to present because I was so excited to share what we do at Art of Conservation. People liked my presentation and they appreciated the work we are doing to protect primates and their habitat. After my presentation I continued to share with other participants what we do and the next step was about sharing, learning, exchanging ideas and celebrating. I liked this because they are in common with Art of Conservation’s Code of Conduct!

We keep having a great time and I asked my new friends and colleagues to have a group photo.

PASA and Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund organized visits to field activities. We had a great time seeing various fantastic community projects in action.

The children of Munteme Primary School perform for PASA Educators Workshop participants.

These children were so happy to welcome us at their school. As they are part of Ngamba Island Community for Primate Conservation Programs, they sang songs about the importance of protecting wildlife and danced to songs about the work with CSWCT. We were able to experience how much the program has influenced attitudes and knowledge about the value of the forest and the animals. They also showed us some handicrafts they make in order to generate income so that they get busy instead of going to the forest to harm to the environment. The children also participated in “Plant a tree and give it a name campaign”. I loved very much what these kids do because they will change the community and they will be future conservationists.

Upon my arrival at Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel in Entebbe I was ready to meet other participants attending PASA’s 2011 Education Workshop. I relied on Innocent, a hotel staff member, to tell me where other PASA members were. I was really excited to meet and learn from them! I eventually met Mr. James, moderator of the workshop, who I chatted with for a while as other participants were joining us. We soon had dinner during which we listened to instructions and the agenda from Anne Warner, Executive Director of PASA. Anne then announced the first activity… a visit to Ngamba Island!

PASA Executive Director Anne Warner and participants on a boat to Ngamba Island.

On the boat to Ngamba Island we had so much fun! While introducing myself, I had to introduce two people from the group and this was my first time to see everyone there. Do you think it was easy? Yes, it was because this was a safe learning environment and each activity had a lesson behind it. I tried to introduce two people from the group and the rest clapped for me! Anne Warner, very happy and proud, could also introduce three of them. It was so much fun and very important for the entire group because it helped each of the participants to know each other as people who were going to spend time together, learn together, exchange ideas, and even establish relationships. The journey by boat was long but I didn’t realize because of good times we were having till we landed at the island.

With much attention, we listened to Bruce who is a staff member of Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust at Ngamba Island (CSWCT).

Bruce from Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust at Ngamba Island shared great information. This sanctuary started with only 19 chimps in 1998. As time went on the number of chimps increased which made a number of 44 chimpanzees at Ngamba. Great Apes and monkeys such as Mountain Gorillas and bonobos face a number of problems like human encroachment, bush meat trade, loss of habitat, selling them as pets, and some of them are orphaned. Bruce talked about how chimps are almost as intelligent as people. Chimps are able to use tools such as taking a stick to get termites out of the mound and how they can get a ground nut which is at the bottom of a narrowed tube- they pour water into the tube and when full the ground nut floats on the surface of the water and the chimp gets it! These chimps don’t find a lot of food at the sanctuary. The space is 95 acres. For this, they are fed four times a day by their caretakers. Their diet includes carrot, cucumber, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, sugarcane, and sweet potato. As we all know, chimpanzees and gorillas are our relatives and we share much in common so they need care and protection. They are both over 90 percent genetically similar to you and me! After Bruce’s talk we visited the chimpanzees in their enclosures.

These chimps are in enclosure of electrical fence as we view them in a distance.

As I said, these chimps don’t find enough food in the sanctuary. They were looking through the fence getting ready to receive food from their caregiver. While viewing them it was their lunch time. I listened to much noise and watched the excitement and happiness as they were being fed. This is again like us humans; animals need attention because they play an important role in the ecosystem. So it was so wonderful to see these chimps!

Here I am posing for a photo in front of the holding facility of chimpanzees at the sanctuary.

There are lots of threats to the Great Apes. When a poacher wants a baby chimp or gorilla, he/she will kill the entire family and the baby will stay lonely and extremely traumatized. All of these consequences affect the baby more than we could ever imagine. It becomes orphaned and who knows it even takes germs from the poacher? If rescued this baby won’t join the other chimps at the sanctuary immediately. It is put in a quarantine facility for a checkup and also to see if introduction to other chimps is plausible. So… chimps in such situations are put into what we call holding facilities where doctors can easily study their life condition.

PASA members listen to Dr. Joshua talking about how he treats chimpanzees.

Among our Art of Conservation’s lessons back in Rwanda, we have lessons on how Gorilla Doctors treat mountain gorillas and how we must all be kind to animals. Our children learn about being kind to animals and if you treat an animal well it will treat us well. When you treat an animal in a cruel manner it may do the same. Our students get a chance to watch the Gorilla Doctors demonstrate with a dart gun and flying syringe showing them how they treat a sick or snared mountain gorilla. This was the same case for us at Ngamba Island. Dr. Joshua showed us the equipment he uses to treat chimpanzees as well as his lab table and medicines. This time, I was able to learn more about animal doctors!

More on this coming up soon. Stay tuned!

Hi readers! Valerie here again.
We already know that our students who live next to Volcanoes National Park have heard about the mountain gorillas and other animals in the same ecosystem. But there is no doubt in my mind that they need to know about other species living elsewhere in the world. This is why we selected from our office library sections from nature films including those narrated by Sir David Attenborough such as BBC’s The Life of Mammals, The Blue Planet, and Life in the Undergrowth, to name a few, to share with our students. By doing this, we are preparing the children for our upcoming lessons focusing on animals and their environment. After setting up the generator (remember, the classrooms are without electricity), the projector, and the laptop we make sure all of the windows were covered with grass mats and banners before we start the nature films!

Inside Rushubi School classroom watching David Attenborough in action.

Mr. Attenborough is one of the most widely known natural history film makers. I am amazed by the amount of time he has spent observing animals in their natural habitat and writing about them.

Our students pay much attention watching scenes of The Great Migration.

Wildebeest, zebras, and predators including lions excite the children during a segment showing The Great Migration. Students exclaim in Kinyarwanda: ‘Yen …..Yen …Reba .. Ambaaaa’. In English it’s as though shouting, ‘Wow, wow, look, wow!’ These children have never travelled outside their country to see other wildlife in their natural habitat. So, do not be surprised to hear their amazement through laughter and shouts.

Lemurs of Madagascar in this section of nature films!

Still more ooohs and aaaahs coming from our students watching amazing animals in their natural habitats. During out recent geography lesson, Julie told the kids about lemurs while pointing out Madagascar on the map. While children watched lemurs, specifically the Verreaux’s sifaka, climbing, leaping, and running the whole class was noisy! We reminded the kids that lemurs are found only in Madagascar just as mountain gorillas are only found in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the Virunga Massif.

Showing a film on Dian Fossey and the mountain gorillas. Children see here one of the cabins of the famed Dian Fossey Karisoke Research Center located in between Karisimbi and Bisoke Volcanoes.

We also thought it is very important to show the kids a movie of Dian Fossey who devoted her time, love and effort to the mountain gorillas until she even lost her life defending them. The children were able to see where her site used to be and through comments and discussion they know about Dian Fossey and how great she has contributed to the mountain gorillas’ survival. We again remind our students of the limited habitat of the mountain gorillas: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Virunga Massif. (Click here for my previous geography blog.) (And here for Innocent’s blog on his visit to the original Karisoke Research Centre.)

This film shows a mountain gorilla family in their natural habitat.

Of course we could not end our day of films without showing a movie of mountain gorillas. While watching the gorillas the students shouted again and again with happiness. They love them and they sometimes ask us when they should go see them in Volcanoes National Park. The answer is that they do not have all conditions in order to visit them. To visit mountain gorillas in their natural habitat you must be over 15 years of age. Then the students say: Ohooooo!

At the closing of our lesson we asked the students which movie they liked a lot and why? Most of them said, “Gorillas! I saw the juvenile mountain gorillas playing and I was happy!” one student answered.

Thanks to inspirational work of Attenborough and others, our students know now that not only mountain gorillas exist as animals that need protection but also there are other types of animals elsewhere on the world of different size, color and behavior that need care too. Our students did not want us to finish up the movie show. Hopefully, we will give them another chance to watch other nature films for them to keep exploring the world and amazing creatures that live on Planet Earth!

Greetings. Valerie here.
Art of Conservation’s students are now more comfortable looking at maps and locating the country of Rwanda as well as the precise locations of the endangered mountain gorilla habitat!

I begin our geography lesson with Planet Earth. Children discover the compasses on maps and globes representing north, south, east, and west. They locate and say over and over the names of the seven continents. I ask the kids what surrounds the continents… AMAZI they respond, which is water in Kinyarwanda. Earth is a water planet with its surface consisting of approximately 70% water. Together we locate the equator on the various maps now on the classroom walls and worksheets. Students learn that Rwanda is located 2 degrees south of the equator in the southern hemisphere.

With a colored pencil, Olive locates Rwanda and colors it in. Following Rwanda, Olive locates the East African Community country members which includes Rwanda: Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda.

A FEW WORLD FACTS
Although the source of the Nile River is and maybe always will be argued upon, we know it takes its source in or near Rwanda. Flowing from Central Africa it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Children color in the Mediterranean Sea on their worksheets with their colored pencils.

What’s the highest mountain in Africa? Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. What’s the biggest desert in the world? The Sahara. More coloring in on their worksheets.

I pass out visuals of the Nile River, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the Sahara Desert.

When asked to locate a specific country, Angelique searches and finds!

My big challenge is to teach the kids about the difference between the Democratic Republic of Congo and its capital Kinshasa with the ‘other’ Congo and its capital Brazzaville. That’s going to take some time to master!

This student is busy locating Mali, one of the many countries where the Sahara Desert is located.

I started BIG with a look at the world, then to the continent of Africa, and to end our lesson we study a map showing the endangered mountain gorilla habitat- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Virunga Massif. I want the children to realize that they live in a unique and important place in the world along side a rare animal species. With a better concept of this, they will gain a better understanding of why flocks of tourists travel here to climb the volcanoes day after day and what effects, both positive and negative, it has upon them.

Our students loved this lesson and now they can locate their place where they live on the globe.

Hello, Valerie here. Another working weekend for Team AoC as we deliver a new class to the Ibirunga Tennis & Running kids. Topic of the day, conservation of the mountain gorilla habitat and more specifically an introduction to the alternative cooking fuel briquettes. After Innocent has engaged the kids into thoughtful and wonderful discussion, we head to Cecile’s Save The Forests Briquette Initiative workshop which is about a 15 minute drive from Musanze Town. Upon our arrival at Cecile’s, I notice the tennis kids become very excited and very curious about the process of making briquettes.

Pisi and I learn how to sift the sawdust that Cecile has collected from local carpenter shops and which is a major component of the briquette mixture – along with water and recycled paper.

Making briquettes is not done by just one person. It involves team work. To ensure that each child gets a chance to experience the different tasks, children work in a rotation. When someone is handling the PVC tube another is at the press handle and yet another must be ready to receive the pressed briquettes as they are ready to be pulled out of the tube. And while all of this is going on, someone is making the organic compost mixture ready!

Ndagijimana, Cecile’s son who participated in AoC’s education program last year, helps tennis player Evariste manage the PVC tube which contains the briquette mixture: water, recycled paper, and sawdust.

Ndagijimana has watched his mother, Cecile, make briquettes and now he has become an excellent briquetter. He’s fast, too. The tennis kids benefit from Ndagijimana’s expertise and instruction. For me, I am touched by seeing this process of children helping other children. And especially working together on things that are so important and beneficial to people and the environment.

Habibu, ranked number one on the Ibirunga Tennis Team, is happy to be making briquettes.

As all of us know when we try something new we may not always produce a perfect result at first. The children see for themselves that some of the briquettes they’ve made are too big or are too small or uneven or just not right. Innocent suggests corrections and encourages them to try some more. After all, we learn from our mistakes.

In this photo, Innocent critiques the new briquetters’ work. Are the briquettes the correct size? Are they made evenly?

The Musanze Town tennis kids are very happy to meet Ndagijimana. Now, they claim, they will strive to be as great of a briquetter as he is. They invite Ndagijimana to the tennis courts so that they can also teach him a new skill…. tennis!

It starts raining so some of the children run inside Cecile’s greenhouse and help her arrange her drying briquettes.