The camp was a success! Students are sadly gone, but overall it went incredibly smoothly. I had high hopes of writing while the camp was going on, but those expectations quickly dissipated as the first few days of camp went by with absolutely no free time. Who would have thunk? Running a camp is very time consuming! Jordan, a PhD student from Cape Town came up to Skukuza the day before we went to pick up students and boy was it wonderful to have someone to bounce ideas off of. I don't think I could have done this without her (in fact I'm sure of it).
Anyway, another reason I've been putting this off is that it is just so difficult to write about something that means so much to you. I worry that I won't explain everything perfectly... how could I? It seems too big to fit onto paper (even onto the internet), but I've committed to trying to write about it here. So that's what I'm going to do. I'll just run you through a day by day account of what this whole thing was about and do my best to give you insight into what it meant to me and to the kids. Here we go!
Day 1 - July 6
This first morning of course was a hectic mess of final logistics, realizing we forgot things, and packing up equipment. We were heading up to Acornhoek, South Africa, an approximately 2 hour drive from Skukuza (if you go out of the park, that is). After finally packing everything up and doing a final shopping trip in Hazyview, we were on our way. Me in my tiny car and Jordan driving the giant game drive vehicle with a trailer attached (thank goodness I didn't have the permit needed to drive that guy...). First off, driving in South Africa is an adventure all in itself. Sure, I'd driven around Kruger and into Hazyview (the first town outside the gate), but a 2 hour drive on South African highways? That was the first of many new experiences I would get in these next 10 days.
We finally got to the school, picked up the kids, and shuttled the 10 students and 2 teachers joining us to Wits Rural, an education facility associated with the University of the Witwatersrand (yeah, Wits is way easier to say). Yay! We were on our way! We sorted out accommodation, moved in and sat down for lunch. As I watched the students all get food, sit down and start talking and laughing I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was happening. Everything was coming together. All I needed to do now was take it day by day. I led a productive discussion on leadership which set the mood of the week well and did a lecture introducing concepts of ecology and biodiversity. Then, after putting on BBC: Africa Savannas, I passed out completely exhausted... realizing it was going to be a long, but rewarding 10 days.
Day 2 - July 7
I wake up refreshed! As soon as I woke up I took a moment to write in my journal:
"We are starting day #2 of this crazy journey. A lot of planning, stressing, fundraising, and now it's actually happening. It feels really good and it's going really well so far. It is indescribable how good it feels to have made something. Pretty much from scratch. And the students seem like they are liking it so far. I want to give them an amazing experience."
That day we had a lot of fun planned. We started with a nature walk, making observations. I can't believe how into scat all of the students were. Then I had them sit and do a bit of nature journaling (my personal favorite activity). I was a bit worried that high school students wouldn't buy into the cheesiness of writing about your feelings in nature, but they all got so into it! And they were so much better at sitting still than the 5th graders I usually do these activities with.
After the nature journaling I thought it would be good to continue the introspective and discussion-based work we were doing. So we scrapped the lecture we were going to have and sat in a circle to talk about following dreams and overcoming obstacles. The students got really into sharing stories and I think it was really powerful for them.
For the entire afternoon we had scheduled a boat tour down the Blyde River Canyon, an absolutely beautiful place. The weather cleared and it turned sunny right as we were about to start our boat trip. It was wonderful to see the students giddy with excitement over everything they saw. There's a drought right now in this area of South Africa and I don't think a lot of these kids had seen this much water in a long time. Our guide was also a really cool guy and I was able to learn a lot from him so I'm sure the students did as well. Thanks Blyde River Adventures!!!
Day 3 - July 8
It feels like we've already packed in so much! I'm starting to feel the exhaustion kick in already by day 3, which scares me a little, but it's also so fun! We start the day off with a talk on current environmental issues, which gets the students talking more than in previous lectures. Our goal was to unpack all the environmental issues that they know about, but don't really understand. For example, they tend to mention "global warming" all the time whenever anything related to the environment is brought up, but we found out that almost none of the students really understood that term or what caused it. After the lecture we had a case study and role play debate about water use controversies in South Africa, specifically around the Sand River which flows through rural communities and then into Kruger National Park. Although the students didn't come up with the most logical arguments, I think that just the practice of standing up and presenting a viewpoint, especially one you might not agree with, is an extremely important skill.
In the afternoon we talked about the intersection of science and art, specifically how creativity is important to science, especially when you need to come up with creative solutions to problems. After a bit of a talk on why nurturing your creative side is important, we had art time! I ran two stations - one on nature drawing and watercoloring and one on Andy Goldsworthy land art practices. Although the students were hesitant at first, they eventually got really into the art time, which was really nice to see.
Days 1-3 were a complete success! At the end of day 3 I'm feeling super positive, but also ready for sleep. Super ready for sleep.
Stay tuned for more entries...
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