by Weston Barwise
The Two Oceans Aquarium hosted an on-site Wetlands Workshop in Khayelitsha in February 2009. The two schools involved were Grade 6 learners from Impendulo and Chuma Primary Schools, (180 and 120 learners respectively). The workshop was run over a five-day period to accommodate learners into smaller groups. The event was also enthusiastically supported by Impendula’s principal and a few teachers from Chuka Primary. The workshop, presented by Khonzani Lembeni and Weston Barwise, was sponsored by the City of Cape Town as part of the on-site Youth Environmental School (YES) programme. This programme provides a year-round programme of environmental education and awareness activities for learners and educators.
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| Notice Khonzani is collecting the water samples! We felt the kids shouldn’t get their shoes wet. |
Water samples were poured into white trays and into test tubes for closer examination. |
White boards were essential to tie the hands-on and verbal lesson together - Khonzani cemented the concept of food chains in wetlands. |
The wetlands lesson got off to a wonderful start. The bus first stopped at a ‘viewing site’ on the way overlooking a wetland in Khayelitsha. Here the learners saw numerous birds. The use of the wetland by cattle was evident by the presence of dung.
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. [1] Wetlands include swamps, estuaries, marshes, and bogs, amongst others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater, or brackish. Wetlands are considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems. Plant life found in wetlands includes mangrove, water lilies, cattails, sedges, tamarack, black spruce, cypress, gum, and many others. Animal life includes many different amphibians, reptiles, birds, and furbearers. [2] Wetlands provide a valuable flood control function and a natural habitat for plant and animal life. Wetlands are also very effective at filtering and cleaning water.
Weston demonstrated the concept and function of the wetlands. The consistency of clay, indangwe, was compared to sand. The learners felt the two mediums so that they could understand why wetlands existed in certain areas. Once this had been grasped, the plant adaptations were illustrated in a hands-on manner.
The youngsters were challenged by both presenters to adopt a small area of the wetland and to turn it into a place they could enjoy (with the assistance of their parents, school and the community at large). For this reason, Khonzani was requested to nominate the schools near to him so that when the youngsters saw him then they know they would have a champion at hand to motivate for cleaning up the wetland.
After the ‘hands-on’ lesson had been completed, the learners were bussed to the Aquarium where Khonzani concluded the course with a brief lesson on frogs which are one of the major inhabitants of the wetlands that the youngsters would hear at night. Khonzani took them to the frog exhibit and gave them a tour of the rest of the Aquarium. Each learner was given a lunch pack for the trip home.
Weston says, "I believe that both learners and teachers developed a very different perspective on Nature they have right on their door step, the wetlands. We hope that they will be inspired to take the appreciation further and adopt a wetlands near to them.I believe the City can be proud of its new approach to YES. I believe this new approach will make a greater and lasting impression on the youth concerning the environment and that they will want to put a spirit of conservation into practice".
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