South Africa - Latest Activities and Milestones

1000 Gardens for Africa – one for Kruger to Canyons BR?

Slowfood e.V., an international organization committed to the conservation of traditional food recipes, crafts, varieties and breeds sponsors a project named „1000 Gardens for Africa”. Goal of the project is the construction of vegetable or school gardens for educational purpose. The Slowfood local branch „Convivium Main-/Tauberfranken – Hohenlohe“, who is partner of the Rhön Biosphere reserve, suggested to invest the benefit of the „Terra Madre Day“ for such a project in K2C. This was well received by the K2C representatives who have chosen the compound of the Southern Cross School as a suitable site. The final approval by Slowfood Germany is still pending, but let’s press thumbs, that soon learners can experience how to grow traditional veggies and herbs for a healthy nutrition. 

New Venture

Chapeau! A young, committed lady from Rhön has decided to leave Germany in 2011 for good and to quit her job as a trained retail sales woman in leading position, in order to emigrate to South Africa and start e new life in the partnering BR K2C. She intends to continue her commitment for the agro-social project of Hlokomela and is keen to promote and commercially develop the organic herb garden for the sake of the project. We wish her good luck and lots of success!

Students and Teachers Learn Together

Yippee – we made it! The grant proposal for a visiting programme between the Martin-Pollich Grammar School in Rhön BR and the partnering Southern Cross School in K2C BR has been approved for July 2011 in the framework of the GIZ/ENSA programme on development aid policy.. True to the motto „Doing together – Learning together“ representatives of both schools will soon be able to meet face to face and learn with and from one another. The Rhön will welcome a group of 8 teachers and 8 learners from South Africa. The three weeks training for both schools is issued: „Think globally – Act locally: in the context of the partnership pf the UNESCO biosphere reserves Rhön and K2C. The first grant proposal for 2010 had been denied due to budget restraints – but now we’re there in the second attempt. Applicant body and local organizer is the Verein Natur- und Lebensraum Rhön e.V.

More info on ENSA: http://www.ensa-programm.com/

Hands-on Experience

One household and nutrition science student from Fulda University has benefitted from hands-on experience in an internship in K2C, from March – September 2011. By the medium of the Bavarian Administration unit of the Rhön Biosphere Reserve, the Inter-Research e.V. and in co-operation with the Whitswatersrand-University in South Africa she has assisted the Hlokomela project, as suggested by K2C, in activities such as: nutrition counselling of HIV/AIDS affected farm workers.

 

• Mehr Info:  Thomas Berger, Inter-Research e.V., Fulda: berger@inter-research.de

 

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Generous Engagement

By the medium of the German UNESCO-Commission and the Bavarian Administration Unit of the Rhön Biosphere Reserve, the German pharmacy enterprise Merck has become involved as a project sponsor in Kruger to Canyons BR. Many of the traditional medicinal plants have run short in the wild, or, due to nature conservation regulations, cannot no longer be accessed. They need to be cultivated instead. The idea is that tourism industry (through offsetting carbon miles) could be used as a financial mechanism. Proposed by K2C, Merck has thus supported a feasibility study on the development of a carbon off-set system for the benefit of the Bushbuckridge Traditional Health Practitioners’ medicinal plant cultivation in 2010. It was investigated how the generated income can be invested in a programme for sowing and cultivating those traditional medicinal plants.

More information: info@bushveldconnections.co.za

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Exotic Educational Experience

Learner Hanna Sopp from Martin-Pollich-Grammar School in Mellrichstadt is the first exchange student of both partnering schools to change school desks with "Southern Cross Schools" in Hoedspruit for 3 months from July to September 2010. We can tell by her enthusiasm that this was an exciting and mind widening experience for life. Thanks to SCS and her guest family for making Hanna feel so welcome!

Artikel der Rhön-Saale-Post vom 04.01.2011

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• Dedicated Sabbatical
  

  • From March to May 2010 the young trained retail sales woman Anna-Lena May from Rhön worked as volunteer in the Hlokomela Herb and Community Project in Hoedspruit for three months, in the framework of her sabbatical leave. Her main focus was on assisting with the management of the organic herb garden of the agro-social initiative, run by several farms in K2C.
    
    Moreover, in the light of the World Soccer Cup, Anna-Lena, being a keen soccer player herself, organised a private charitable donation campaign in Germany. She was thus able to sponsor the soccer equipment for a women’s soccer team in the Hlokomela project and a men’s soccer team in the less favoured black rural communities of K2C.
    
    It is remarkable also to not that Anna-Lena not only invested her time but also went to K2C on her own expense, where she was generouslyy supported from Mr and Ms Uhys from Ottersden Lodge, providing housing and lodging.
    
    Artikel der Main-Post vom 15.03.2010
    Artikel der Main-Post vom 20.05.2010
    
    Artikel Mediendienst BR Rhön, veröff. in der Main-Post _25_08_2010
    
    Infos on Hlokomela: http://htt.org.za/

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  Getting started

  • September 2009: A South African Pupils' Work Group has been established at Martin-Pollich-Grammar School, Mellrichstadt.

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  Hold Thumbs

  • September 2009: An exchange visit for pupils and teachers of Southern Cross School (K2C BR) is envisaged to meet their twinning counterpart in Martin-Pollich-Grammar School in Rhön in September 2010. A grant proposal has been put together by both BRs and schools and sent to ENSA, which is an INWENT related organisation in Germany, fostering north –south school relationships and cooperation (formal grant applicant: Verein Natur- und Lebensraum Rhön e.V.)

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  BR cuisine Foto
  

  • Juli 2009: Ottersden Lodge in Hoedspruit (BR K2C) and Restaurant Fasanerie in Hermannsfeld (BR Rhön) cooperate in the field of staff training: Ottersden cook Maggie Komana spends a four weeks internship in Rhön BR related gastronomy in Rhön.

  
  mehr ...
  

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  Learning region
  

  • April 2009: Mirjam de Koning (K2C BR – MRDP Project ) and Dr. Doris Pokorny (BR Rhön) jointly present the biosphere partnership in Bonn in the framework of the "UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development". The workshop named “UNESCO Biosphere Reserves as Learning Sites for Integrating Local and Global Sustainability Issues” was focussing on international BR partnerships.

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  Cool
  

  • April 2009: The Brass Big Band of Martin-Pollich-Grammar School (MPG), directed by music teacher Marcel Steinrichter, develops the music project "Big Band of MPG meets SCS drumming group". Originally, Southern Cross School students had put a video clip on YouTube, showing the djembe drumming group in action. The MPG Brass Big Band chose the song "Spain", a piece of music which matched well with the djembe rhythm, and thus produced a YouTube video clip as well, which shows their performance while being accompanied by the (virtual) Djembe drumming group on screen!

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  Congratulations
  

  • September 2008: Ulrike and Jens Lilienbecker from Fasanerie restaurant in Hermannsfeld (Rhön BR) and Marie-Tinka Uhys and her team from Ottersden –Lodge (K2C BR), South Africa, take part as "biosphere team" in the "African Bush Banquet" cooking contest in Hoedspruit, South Africa - and were successful!

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  Schools for the Biosphere
  

  • May 2008 The "Biosphere School Twinning" between Martin-Pollich-Grammar School in Mellrichstadt (MPG) and Southern Cross School (SCS) in Hoedspruit, South Africa, has been founded – as "MPG delegate", a (cuddly toy) Rhön sheep travels all way to South Africa to SCS.

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  Powerful
  

  • March 2009: The "International Climate Initiative" of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, offers an opportunity for a grant proposal for the envisaged installation of a small turbine on the Blyder River. The Bavarian Administration Unit of Rhön BR and energy consultant Norbert Schmäling facilitate the setting up of the grant proposal, which was handed in by ECXO K2C.

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  Best Practice
  

  • December 2008: In the framework of the seminar "Sustainable Development – from Idea to Action", held by the peace foundation "Stiftung für Entwicklung und Frieden" (SEF), Remember Makhubela (K2C BR and Dr Doris Pokorny (Rhön BR) were invited to jointly present the Rhön/ K2C biosphere partnership in Bonn.

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  Committed
  

  • 2008/2009: BIONADE commissions an expertise on organic agriculture, exploring possibilities for setting up trade relations with agricultural enterprises in K2C BR.

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  Cooperative
  

  • May 2008: BR coordinators from K2C BR and Rhön BR sign a"Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)" as cooperation declaration in Bonn, under the auspices of UNESCO-MAB, in the framework COP-9 (see below)
    Memorandum of unterstanding
    

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  Highranking
  

  • May 2008: Debby Thomson (K2C BR) and Dr. Doris Pokorny (Rhön BR) jointly present the Rhön/K2C-biosphere partnership in Bonn in the framework of a side event, run by UNESCO-MAB, at the International Conference on Biodiversity CBD COP9, in Bonn. Peter Kowalsky (BIONADE) and Norbert Schmäling (Bavarian Rhön Energy Agency) presented some of the envisaged cooperation projects.
    
    

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  Exciting
  

  • February 2008: A delegation from Rhön BR, consisting of representatives from organic agriculture, environmental education, technical university, gastronomy, tourism and organic beverage production, visits the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region (K2C) in South Africa
    
    visit report
    

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  Welcome
  

  • June 2007: A delegation from Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region (K2C) in South Africa consisting of representatives from university, nature conservation administration, gastronomy, tourism and community administration, visits the Rhön Biosphere Reserve.
    
    visit report
    

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  Unexpected
  

  • 2006: GTZ (Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit) asks whether the Bavarian Administration unit for the Rhön Biosphere Reserve would be interested in cooperating with the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region in South Africa.

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