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TUESDAY 11 August 2020 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
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People’s Post
ENVIRONMENT
Centre’s will to survive RACINE EDWARDES RACINE.EDWARDES@MEDIA24.COM @RAEEDWARDES
Tyler Odd, Stephen Moll, Martin Odd and Jan “Lappies” Labuschagne run the Soetwater Environmental Education Centre. PHOTOS: RACINE EDWARDES
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or almost 20 years, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Soetwater Environmental Education Centre has provided scholars and environmentalists with a place to learn about the ocean and animals in an immersive environment. With lessons, sessions and outings booked for seven days a week before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the centre thrived. But now, like many other animal-centred organisations and parks, Soetwater is in need of financial assistance. The centre, which offers school tours, educational outings and adult camps, is managed by Jan “Lappies” Labuschagne. At the centre, located adjacent to the lighthouse at Kommetjie, visitors gain knowledge about the ocean on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula. Besides the ocean, learners are taught about birds at the bird rescue, also located on the premises, and reptiles which are rescued and rehabilitated in a separate enclosure. “We started working from here 20 years ago, but the centre was opened 18 years ago. And we’ve brought maybe hundreds of thousands of children here over the years,” says Labuschagne. “Sometimes we get kids who have lost touch with nature. They have never seen a bird, and we ask them if they’ve ever seen a chicken or know where eggs come from. Many of them say eggs come from the shop. We show them eggs come from chickens.” The Lions Club of Tokai’s public relations and marketing head Jules Flanagan says their club is one that has also facilitated many children’s outings to the centre. “We’ve taken community children down to the centre for the past four or five years. (Each time) we get a coach for the kids; we do an official beach clean-up. Lappies gives us his time – as we’re walking on the beach, he talks to the kids about the environment, the beautiful birds, the ocean and he does a lesson about the environment,” she explains. “And for every two or three paying schools, he sponsors a community school to go there,” she adds. Recognising the value of the knowledge that the centre’s staff imparts to the children,
and the opportunity it provides for the children to spend time away from their sometimes dangerous surroundings, the Lions Club jumped into action when they heard the centre was facing hard times. “Their busiest time is February and March but, unfortunately, everything was cancelled due to Covid-19,” Flanagan explains. So with the funding drying up because of the lockdown, she says: “We looked at what would be needed to keep the centre running for the next few months – and it’s about R200 000 a month just to make sure the centre can stay running, animals can be fed and they can continue to pay the remaining staff at least something.” Labuschagne adds: “(The money is) basically just to keep the place going and paying our monthly expenses; to keep our birds fed – very
much focusing on the animals and looking after them properly.” The closure of the facility as per lockdown restrictions has also had an impact on several households in the nearby Ocean View community. “Every year, we focus on trying to raise money from donors to sponsor children from Ocean View. Sometimes they’ve never even seen the ocean and they live right next to it. We’ve managed to get sponsors for three-day camps every year. And every group of children who come here are fed. We’ve had a group of unemployed women from Ocean View who have worked here for years, cooking the meals. (The lack of business) impacts them too and I’m sad for them,” Labuschagne says. He has many plans for the centre once the
pandemic passes. “(I want) to get funding for children to spend good, quality time here over the holidays to keep them off the streets. We would also like money for leadership camps.” But these plans will only come to fruition if the centre manages to survive the long-lasting effects of the pandemic. Something that Labuschagne is determined to do because he believes that the children who visit the centre hold the key to preserving the environment. “If I can just plant a seed in one child’s mind to make him or her think differently about animals and the way we live, (then I’ve achieved my goals),” he says. The centre is calling for any donations, big or small, for the animals and education. V Visit the Back-a-buddy page at https:// bit.ly/2C8KkaW or the Soetwater Environmental Education Centre website at www.soetwater.org.