FreeMe FreeYou Outreach
Outreach and Education
Outreach and education forms an integral part of the work that FREEME Wildlife does. Without installing a sense of understanding and compassion for wildlife and wild habitats in people of all ages, there is a limit to the growth of ‘ecological intelligence’ in all sectors of society.
Our own species is growing more disconnected from the natural world around us; in cities where the absence of wildlife leads to an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality, and in impoverished communities where daily survival is an overriding concern. FREEME Wildlife operates within the ‘One Health’ approach. Environmental, Human and Animal health are all inextricably linked.
FREEME Wildlife’s FREEME FREEYOU outreach programs aim to try and connect people of all ages with the vestiges of wild habitat, ecosystems and wildlife that remain on their doorsteps, to install a sense of unity and understanding that all of the earth is striving for survival together, and that by helping to keep wild places and animals alive, we are keeping ourselves alive.
12 Month Biodiverstiy Program
We are currently running this program at the Siyabonga Helping Hands for Africa Care Centres in Edendale and Mbali, Pietermaritzburg, and rural schools supported by the Kloof Conservancy in Kloof.
The program is designed to empower environmental educators at the care centres to teach monthly modules to the learners in their environmental clubs. Each month a different topic is covered, with theoretical and practical components. The idea is to teach children to understand the link between environmental health, animal health and human health.
So far the environmental educators and their students have restored a local stream and wetland, established a ‘peace park’ by clearing litter and planting indigenous trees, and started a litter free area around their school. They have also been exposed to a variety of different topics by going out on field trips or having specialist speakers come to the care centres to address the educators and students on a wide range of subjects from pet health related issues such as rabies to the value of snakes and owls as pest control agents.
FREEME Wildlife Talks
FREEME Wildlife presents a wide variety talks for conservancies, clubs, and environmental groups.
These talks are based on the work FREEME Wildlife does and vary from being a general outline of the running of the centre, to more specific stories of rescue and rehabilitation, to addressing current threats certain species face.
The aim is to engage, educate, and uplift members of the public, and to illustrate the important interface FREEME Wildlife represents in mitigating the results of human-wildlife conflict.
or email us at:
admin@freemewildlife.org