Above: Wasini village You’ll have seen in my recent blogs the wonderful Year of the Dolphin events held in Shimoni and Majoreni over the weekend, where the stars of the shows were undoubtedly the children from some of our local schools who used songs, poems and drama to convey important messages about dolphins and marine conservation to their villages. Above: Wasini’s school children in anticipation of their visiting teachers But this was only possible thanks to the groundwork undertaken by the Kenya Wildlife Service team in Shimoni, under the direction of our warden, Yussuf. In the preceeding weeks their team, including Rachel, GVI’s very own former Marine Science Officer and Expedition Manager, and Jillo with the KWS research department, travelled to local schools to educate the children about their dolphins and marine ecology.
Above: The children get to thinking about how their marine life is interlinked First stop was Wasini, to teach about food webs, not only in the classroom, but outside where they attempted to make their very own food web. For this island village that is almost entirely dependent on fishing and the flow of tourists attracted by the many dolphins and beautiful coral reefs, it is invaluable for them to understand how all the marine life, from mangrove trees to humpback whales, are interlinked and dependent on responsible management of natural resources the whole way along the chain. Above: The children start stringing together their own food web
4 Comments posted on "Teaching Food Webs in Wasini"
Theresa Siskind St Petersburg FL on April 24th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
You are so right, these children are the stars here. Are any field trips in the works, for them? Also, due to your earlier post about the dolphin strandings, it got me thinking. Is there an marine rehab center for rescued sick dolphins, where they can recover? If so, please let me know.
Theresa Siskind St Petersburg FL on April 24th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Additional comment…if you let us know what upcoming projects are in store for these kids, perhaps I could help a little. Tree plantings, coastal clean up, field trips, etc. Hands on education is so important and FUN!
GVI Kenya on April 27th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Hi Theresa, thank you so much for your continued interest in what we are doing here in Kenya. With the recent launch of the Dolphin Clubs we certainly hope to get the children out on field trips and visited by guests speakers as often as possible. UNEP’s Convention on Migratory Species have generously donated about US $160 to each of the schools clubs, and we are currently looking in to setting up a Dolphin Conservation Turst Fund to ensure that all our hard work last year and this year can be sustained long in to the future. It is only in development at the moment but we hope to start fund raising soon, and I will be asking for help through our WildlifeDirect blog, so please watch ths space! And I totally agree with you, hands on education is so important, it helps connect these school children directly to their immediate environment, and excitied children coming home after a great day out can have a really valuable influence on their parents and wider community!
Theresa Siskind St Petersburg FL on April 27th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
That’s a great idea about training KWS rangers for this purpose. Hopefully, someday their will be a place for injured or sick dolphins, turtles, etc. can be treated and released. Post a comment
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