I AM WATER Ocean Conservation is extremely fortunate to have the support of Roland Puckering and his incredible team at the Mbazwana SUPATRADE SPAR for our Outreach and Education Projects that we run with underprivileged children.

I AM WATER is a Non Profit Organisation that believes in ocean education through human experience. We work with children living in coastal communities and we give them an educational and transformative ocean experience by taking them into the ocean for the first time and by inspiring them to become ocean ambassadors.

Sodwana is an extremely important area for us to focus on because most of the local Sodwana residents haven’t had the opportunity to learn to swim, which leaves them unable to appreciate the wonders and the beauties on their blue doorstep. I AM WATER believes that we need to teach people, especially the children, to have the confidence to explore this underwater world as it is only once they understand and appreciate how precious this resource is that they will want to protect it. Also, we believe that these opportunities could lead to some of these children becoming Dive Masters, Boat Skippers and other related Ocean Employment positions.

For the third consecutive year, SPAR has generously donated nutritious food packs for the children to enjoy on the beach after their snorkeling experience. This kind donation is extremely helpful to us, as the money that we save on purchasing food for the children, is able to go back into the Ocean Experience Projects.  This is allows us to give more children this life changing experience.

In December 2016, I AM WATER’s Outreach and Education Manager, Beth Neale, broke two South African free-diving records to fund raise for our Outreach Projects with children. I AM WATER hope they will receive enough support and funding in the future so that we can one day help the children attending our Outreach Programs to grow up and break national records of their own. We are proudly South African and our coastline is a huge part of our heritage. As a result, we believe that children from disadvantaged coastal communities, like Sodwana, should be given the opportunity to excel both on land, and in the water.

We are extremely grateful to SPAR for their continued support and we look forward to our partnership growing from strength to strength so that we can further protect our oceans and change the lives of our future generation!

Having a bale of a time.

There’s always one who has to get her fingers caught in the cookie jar. The drought has been relentless and we have had to take desperate measures to keep the animals in good condition.

40 tons of lucerne and grass fills up our bush pantry and every day the vehicle takes out loads of food to various points on our 3,000 hectare game farm.

Except some folk have become lazy and they hover around the shed eating their bellies full, then lazily amble a mere 20 meters away to chew the cud. And back again. And so the cycle goes.

Today one clever heifer ate her way from the front of the shed to the back. Until she was caught in a corner and her exit was blocked by a heavy bale.

Far from being domesticated and with an unfortunate disposition, made the task of freeing the heifer difficult. The bales were far too heavy to be humanly removed so the front end loader (TLB) was called in. It took ages to shift the bales, while the buffalo was beginning to breathe heavily and showed signs of stress.

Two hours later the way had been cleared for her, by now she was exhausted. We let her rest and finally, after a couple of hours, she shook herself off, snorted out the dust and ambled off as though nothing had happened.

Just another day in Africa

POLISHED FEET FIRMLY ON THE GROUND.

It’s OK to “let go”, “drop the mask”, “say no”, “have me time”…….

in fact in Art Therapy anything goes.

This was my first brush with Art Therapy; I had done something similar a hundred years ago through the Buddhist Center in Johannesburg when a therapist from Samye Ling in Scotland tried to get our untidy minds into a more peaceful state. But that’s all just a blur now.

So it was with some excitement to learn that Deanne Kim Jordaan from Sacred Space in Kaapsehoop was in Pongola to run a course. We were sent our shopping list for materials. The most unlikely items are required, most of which are not found in an art shop. So, here’s the thing: Slip out of your comfort zone, don’t pretend to be what you are not, do what you want, let the inner child come out to play and have some fun.

Armed with a huge sheet of paper, shoe polish (yes, that’s right), kiddies oil pastels, some meths (to blend with, not drink), sponges; and an apron and gloves if you don’t want to get too down and dirty.

Deanne Jordaan extracted information from us, just to get the feel of the group. We were a nice tight group made up predominately of exhausted mums, craving a little escape and some ‘me’ time. Never having had kids I have probably missed the step of knowing what it’s like to have the life sucked out of you by little people!

Our first step was to take a piece of paper with “IT’S OK TO…………….” with each of us being given various messages to contemplate for the next couple of weeks. Mine was “It’s OK to let go”………….and that I shall. We proceeded to do a couple mind maps with the central words being “BIRTH” and “SELF”. All these elements, I supposed, would influence how we expressed ourselves with a combination of shoe polish and sponges!! We could then choose an image to project onto our paper.

Then…………..we painted upside down!! We were given no techniques to follow, although a little guidance slipped in every now and again………I sneaked a look at my neighbour and was envious of her ability to transform shoe polish into a medium closely resembling water colours. But alas, served me right, I proceeded to make a nice mess trying to copy her.

Once our art was complete Deanne analysed our work, with our permission. Judging by the nodding affirmations she hit the nail on the head for some of us, and for others gave us food for thought. Speaking of which, we were then rewarded with a lovely lunch and a glass of cold white wine, plus the pleasure of making new friends.

We look forward to Deanne coming back to Pongola in July. If you wish to participate contact Deanne on deanne@xwi.co.za or follow her on Sacred Space facebook page.

Other blogs by Lois Kuhle:

SMOKE RINGS IN CUBA. A TWO WEEK JOURNEY FILLED WITH SALSA, SUNSHINE AND SILLY PEOPLE: http://smokeringsincuba.blogspot.com/2013/10/smoke-rings-in-cuba-journey-filled-with.html

'LIFE'S COOL'. MY NEAREST AND DEAREST BECAME THOSE THAT GRUNTED, BARKED OR BIT.

http://milimanilifescool.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-n-2002-i-was-lucky-enough-to-be-given.html

COOL THOUGHTS – LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE: http://loiscoolthoughts.tumblr.com/

FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/loiskuhlescribbler

WEBSITE: https://sites.google.com/site/loiskuhle/