Foto: jandrielombard/iStock.com
NATURE
A classroom in
the great outdoors
LOIS HOYAL hat eine spezielle Wildnisschule für benachteiligte Kinder
in Südafrika besucht und sich mit dem bekannten Naturschützer Clive Walker
unterhalten, der das Projekt initiiert hat.MEDIUMW
e aim for the children to read a paragraph
by bedtime,” educator Johannes Monyeki
proudly says. I gasp. He’s talking about
11-year-olds. I can’t help but reflect on the
many pages my own children regularly
consume before “lights out”. We’re not talking about suburban
kids on a luxury holiday to South Africa, though. These are poor
kids for whom home is often the townships, where reading is a
privilege and books are rare.
Fortunately, over the next three days, 30 children will swap
the daily grind of the townships for a trip to paradise: Lapalala
Wilderness School (LWS) at the Lapalala Wilderness reserve
in the Waterberg region of the Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Awaiting them are plenty of books and healthy food as well as
various lions, rhinos and other creatures — in other words, the
adventure of a lifetime.
The reserve is known for its flowing rivers and the breeding of
rhino and other rare species, such as roan antelope. Safari stan-
dards, such as lions, leopards and giraffes, also roam the land. The
lucky group of children will experience the broad, green vista
of the reserve’s 45,000 hectares before boarding the bus back to
reality, which is likely to be a tin shack surrounded by loads of
rubbish, where poverty and hardship come knocking daily. The
next 30 children will then be brought in for three days of heaven.
And so life continues at LWS, on a three-day rota throughout
the year.breeding [bri:dIN]
, Zucht, Aufzucht
gasp [gA:sp]
, nach Luft schnappen
grind [graInd]
, Routine
hardship [(hA:dSIp]
, Not, Elendroam [rEUm]
, durchstreifen
roan antelope
[(rEUn )ÄntIlEUp]
, Pferdeantilope
rota [(rEUtE]
, Turnus
swap [swQp]
, eintauschentin shack [(tIn SÄk]
, Blechhütte
township [(taUnSIp]
, von Farbigen
bewohnte Siedlung
vista [(vIstE]
, Ausblick