It was the western Cape’s third term School holidays and as part of our commitment to reaching children with our conservation message we ran yet another fun-filled, school holiday programme at the SOS Shark Centre from the 28th September to the 2 October. We reached a total of 55 children and 11 adults.
Monday we had a group of 30 teenagers from The John Power Missionary Christian Camp accompanied by Denise Atkins, the Programme’s director, Dennis Atkins and Charmaine Davids , the facilitators of the camp.
With limited space in our lecture room and a booking of 47 student teachers from the University of the Western Cape on Wednesday, we were unable to have the School holiday programme on that particular day. However the remaining 3days, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, the Shark Centre’s modest sized foyer was abuzz by 10a.m. with parents and grandparents signing in little ones, pre-schooler’s and scholars donned in caps and proudly holding onto their beach bucket s and fishing nets.
The day’s activities including a shark lesson varying from 15 – 25 minutes depending on the age of the particular group, the viewing of the documentary “ Maxine’s Journey” and a rock pool lesson taught by Michael Carnegie , which was by far, the biggest attraction for the children.
Yet other tiny tots had their tummies on their mind. A 4 year old boy, standing with his mother while I was signing them in, sighed heavily and asked me, “ So, do I get my snack now, I’m really hungry ”