Sport kicks off environmental awareness

SPORT was successfully used to kick off a sustainable partnership and a better understanding of environmental matters in communities bordering iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

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Accredited environmental education facilitator Raymond Langa, who received his qualifications through one of iSimangaliso’s capacity building programmess and who works in the park with dozens of school groups each year, came up with the idea of using sport as a vehicle to aid the message of conservation and environmental care.

He recently teamed up with the park authority and local businesses to host a great community youth sports day at Nyamazaneni sports ground Khula Village, which borders the southern part of the World Heritage Site.

Raymond is a well-known figure in Khula where he has generated a great deal of environmental interest and support among young people who are helping him to rehabilitate wetlands in their home area.

He and grade 10 pupils recently did a clean-up and collected about 65 bags of plastics, disposable nappies, bottles, tins and other rubbish.

The iSimangaliso and Dukuduku Sports Tournament, Raymond’s latest project,was the finale in a round of games played during November,.

“I am always frustrated by the environmental degradation activities taking place in areas of conservation significance. My area has many wetlands with an abundance of wildlife, seasonal birds and waterfowl. I have identified one area which is very significant to the entire village, but households living next to it dump all types of filthy items into it,” Raymond explained

To raise environmental awareness in the area he approached the local school and conducted a workshop on the sustainable use of natural resources. Pupils studying Tourism in Grade 10 had little background of responsible tourism in their syllabus. He also invited locals to participate and promote environmental health to curb diseases as most of the litter was hazardous to both human beings and wildlife.”

Following the clean-up activities, Raymond was thrilled to notice beautiful birds that had left the area were starting to coming back to the rehabilitated wetlands.

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It was these successes that motivated him to request a partnership with iSimangaliso in the sports event and he opened the tournament with a talk on his environmental education activities, the importance of wetlands and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. An introduction to iSimangaliso was also given by the park’s environmental planner, Siboniso Mbense. He engaged with the youth by asking questions and awarding iSimangaliso t-shirts or caps for correct answers.

Of course the main draw card of the day was the sports tournament, comprising several teams from Dukuduku’s three communities neighbouring the Park, Zwenelisha, Dukuduku and Khula.

iSimangaliso’s Slindile Msweli, the marketing co-ordinator in charge of the logistics and a former bursary student supported by iSimangaliso, said that the event had given the park a wonderful platform for interacting with the neighbouring communities, strengthening relationships and creating awareness.

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