Spring Edition Vol 24 2002

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HOLIDAY PROGRAMMES - IBM gives backup

For 15 years,Delta Environmental Centre has been offering Holiday Programmes for children from 6 -13 years.The programmes are facilitated by professional staff who are accustomed to dealing with the approximately 20 000 young people per year who take part in our educational programmes. Delta Environmental Centre offers hands-on,creative,fun-.lled activities using the lovely park and our extensive indoor facilities.In the "Fun Naturally"programme not all the activities are directly linked to the environment but there is an overall, long-term focus on environmental themes and issues.

"The term "sustainable development" is on everyone's lips at the moment - with the World Summit on Sustainable Development being hosted by Johannesburg in August/September 2002. IBM's support of Delta Environmental Centre's Holiday Programmes is a contribution to sustainable development as it will enable the Centre to continue to offer these innovative and stimulating programmes to many children in the future."-Di Beeton, Executive Officer, Delta Environmental Centre.

Memorial Service - a most fitting tribute

A sincere and moving tribute was paid to Norman Bloom by Delta Environmental Centre personnel in the form of a memorial service held at the centre on 27 June 2002.All who attended the service stood again in awe of how Norman brought his vision of Delta to reality.We grew again in the realisation of how many lives have been touched by this vision as people have passed through the centre.We are indeed grateful that Norman Bloom was able to complete his book Environmental Education in Action .What a privilege it is to be able to now pick up the book and share with Norman his memories on the birth and growth of Delta Environmental Centre.

We received a 'thank you' note from Louise Bloom after the Memorial Service in which she says:"To Norman you were his "Special Family"and he was very proud of all that you had achieved at the Centre. Thank you for the wonderful help you gave to make the Memorial Service a lasting tribute to Norman and may his vision inspire you to continue with your good work."

May we be truly inspired to keep the flame alight and carry the vision into the future.

World Summit Tours

Delta Environmental Centre has been selected by the City of Johannesburg as a tour destination for the World Summit on Sustainable Development delegates as an example of Environmental Best Practise. Other destinations on the "green tour" route are the EcoCity Project in Ivory Park, Midrand, the Green House People's Environmental Centre in Joubert Park, the Moroka Dam and Kliptown Project in Soweto, the Dobsonville Waste Management Buy-Back Centre and the Jogrow Composting Project at Olifantsvlei (Johannesburg Water). All tours will depart from the Newtown Precinct with delegates travelling,free of charge,on Metro Buses. The Water Treatment Project at the Johannesburg Zoo and in the Zoo Lake area is also being promoted as a "green"tour. Delegates will have the opportunity to visit Delta on Tuesdays 27 August and 3 September and Thursdays 29 August and 5 September from 10h30 to 13h00.

An introductory presentation on the history of Delta and the major habitat types in southern Africa (that are depicted in the Museum dioramas)will be made. Thereafter the visitors will be taken on a guided tour of the Museum, the Discovery Centre, the WaterWise Garden and the Sensory Trail. If time permits,a short walk in Delta Park will be offered. Light refreshments will be on sale as well as T-Shirts, Delta's commemorative 25th publication "Environmental Education in Action" and other resources, especially those produced by Rand Water.

Delta gets a new Laboratory

WWET WWET WWET have been increasingly involved in helping learners with projects.Water seems to be a very popular theme and throughout the year there is a constant stream of learners coming to Delta to get information for their water projects but,more importantly needing to test water samples. Rand Water decided to equip the Water Wise Room at Delta Environmental Centre with laboratory equipment so that learners can come and test their water samples for their projects.The equipment is easy to use and gives accurate results which help the learners put together very impressive projects.In the laboratory learners can test for:
1.Turbidity -the murkiness of the water,
2.Conductivity -the concentration of dissolved substances in the water,
3.pH -the acidity or alkalinity of the water,
4.Nitrates and Phosphates -plant food that can lead to problems in the aquatic ecosystem and,
5.Microbiology -the presence or absence of disease causing organisms in the water.

Recently WWET WWET WWET held a training session with Rand Water and Delta Environmental Centre Staff on using the lab equipment. This proved to be lots of fun learning with everyone looking very professional in their lab coats and gloves. For anyone interested in testing water samples for a school project please contact Avril Owens to make a book- ing on (011)888-4831.The cost is R30.00 for four samples or less and R5.00 for each sample over four.


CELEBRATING WATER WEEK WITH MUSIC

This year WWET WWET WWET advertised a ‘Water and Nature’s Music Programme ’ to celebrate Water Week in March 2002 at Delta Environmental Centre. Eleven workshops were held with 965 learners participating. This was a fun-filled workshop designed to encourage schools to highlight Water Week in an interesting and different way.

This workshop was full of wonderful experiences and even the shy children responded with enthusiasm to all the exciting hands-on activities they had to participate in. The learners discovered the many interesting sounds of nature while on a walk in the park and in ‘The Day in the Veld ’ exhibit in the Museum. They had an opportunity to beat out rhythms with the many interesting instruments from shakers to rainsticks, bottles filled with water to seeds and stones. To end off each team beat out a water wise message in the final concert.

Well done to all those involved in the enthusiastic organising and running of these successful and entertaining Water and Nature’s Music Programmes.


From the From the Peanut Gallery!

'A vision without a task is but a dream, a task without a vision is drudgery, a vision with a task is the hope of the world.’ (Inscription in a church in Sussex 1730)

Create with Clay - the air drying variety

Spring is in the air and the planting bug strikes!Make a traditional clay pot and plant a herb in it!

Air drying clay is relatively inexpensive and may be purchased at art shops and some educational toy shops. It does not need to be .red in a kiln so creating a useful product is easy

1.Create a base by pinching a shallow ‘pot ’ and making 3 holes in it for drainage.
2.Roll the clay into sausages about as thick as your finger.
3.Replace the coils one on top of another.

NOTE:Placing the coils on the outer edge of the previous coil will make the pot grow outwards whilst placing them on the inner edge will make the shape narrower.

• Join the coils to each other by smoothing them together. Do this by pulling the top coil towards the bottom coil and then smoothing the whole surface evenly when the shape is complete.
• Follow the instructions on the clay packet to harden the pot.
• Decorate with enamel paints and plant your herb.

Enjoy many wonderful herby meals!

PROFILE - Delta Environmental Staff

Delta is entering a new phase as far as personnel are concerned. Shirley Edwards and Presha Ramsarup have left Delta and this has presented us with an opportunity to restructure and re-align our Education and Training department. Our Vice-Chairman,Vincent Carruthers,will assist us in this process -for which we are very grateful.

Our current team of Adeline Sejane, Rina van der Watt and Andrew Mathabathe will be joined by Shanu Misser and Dave Duncan on 1 September 2002.Both Shanu and Dave bring a wealth of experience and expertise from the classroom and in the field. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful association with Shanu and Dave and welcome them, whole heartedly, to the Delta Environmental Education and Training Team.

The DANCED Training Manual - Meaningful environmental training

The DANCED Training Manual was launched at Delta on 13 June 2002. This document was compiled by Presha and Andrew. The document is aimed at Teacher Training and the development of School Management Plans. Haroon Mohammed and Ranjini Pillay made very complimentary comments concerning the document. The Manual focuses on the aims of Delta Environmental Centre to provide innovative education and training programmes and consultation, to enable people to improve the quality of their environment by promoting the management and sustainable use of all resources. Environmental issues are usually complex and multi-faceted. They generally have biophysical, political, social and economic dimensions, which need to be considered to ensure that the environmental issue is addressed.

Many environmental problems are reaching crisis proportions. The manual is a guide to developing insights and competence for making better environmental management and lifestyle choices. A number of case studies are presented in the manual to show how this methodology has been successfully implemented in a number of schools.

Centre Activities

  • Don Macey conducted a series of sessions on "Marketing and Communication" for the Delta staff which was much appreciated and highly beneficial.
  • Financial support for Delta Environmental Centre has been received from Rand Water, SASOL, SHELL, Alpha Ltd., MAZDA Wildlife Fund, Tony & Lisette Lewis Foundation, JLM Industries, Standard Bank Foundation, CONSOL, Pick 'n Pay, M S Parker Trust, Nestle, And Murray and Roberts.
  • The Earth Science Room is to be upgraded thanks to financial support from the Billiton Development Trust.
  • Rand Water is to sponsor a "Water Use over Time" exhibit in the museum.
  • A number of Delta Staff are in the process of becoming accredited SATOUR Guides.
  • A well-researched insert on 50/50 showing Melville Koppies gave Delta some very positive coverage on the programmes conducted at the site.
  • A full colour guide to Melville Koppies is in the process of being printed and will be available soon.
  • Richard Hall has resigned as a Director of Delta and has accepted an appointment to Delta's advisory panel.
  • The Recycling Centre has been re-located and is now properly sign-posted. Thanks to the National Recycling Forum and the recyclers for their support.
  • The WaterWise Garden has new signage. Thanks to Gail Andrews of Rand Water.
  • Teacher's workshops have been held in the Winterveld area, the North West Province and in Nylstroom, Limpopo.

DID YOU KNOW?
WWET WWET WWET HAS FOUR NEW PUPPET SHOWS FOR NURSERY SCHOOL AND FOUNDATION PHASE LEARNERS

Rand Water in partnership with Delta Environmental Centre have produced four new puppet shows which the Water Wise Education Team (WWET WWET WWET)perform for nursery school children (age 4 – 6 years) and foundation phase learners (grade R – 3) .The first puppet show that WWET WWET WWET created was called the "Treasure Hunt"and this was featured previously in Aqua Vita.Now the team have become even more enthusiastic and have put
their creative talents to work to edutain all the young people out there about water.

In "Daddy Cool and the Rainbird", Daddy Cool, a leopard thinks he is the greatest thing that ever walked the planet. He even thinks he can do without the rainbird who brings rain to the parched earth. After an argument the Rainbird leaves. The earth becomes dry and dead. All the other animals like Huberta Hippo cannot understand why the Rainbird has disappeared until one day they discover that its all Daddy Cools fault. Well you can imagine how cross
the animals are and they are determined to make Daddy Cool apologise and get the
Rainbird back. You will have to see the story to find out how it ends.

"Dewey Droplet ’s Journey" is all about a poor little raindrop that lands in boring places
like roofs, gutters and the road. He is desperate to go on fun adventures like sliding
down rainbows, swimming with fish in a river and racing down a waterfall. This story is
a fun and interesting way of learning about the natural water cycle. The learners will
enjoy experiencing Dewey’s adventures.

"A bucket? You must be Joking!" is all about a posh lady called Cheryl Crow who visits
her cousin, Ntsiki, in the country. This is a rude awakening for her as she realises they
have to fetch water from the river, boil it before they can use it and then bath in only a
bucket of water. She is horrified at all of this and realises how easy life is in the city
where you just open a tap and clean, healthy water flows out. Cheryl ’s experience in the country helps her realise how precious water is and that she must look after it because every drop counts.

"The Sun has got His Hat on" is a fun story about a gardener, Kawulesa, who is watering his flowers and everything else in the middle of a very hot day.The flowers keep drooping and he has to keep watering them because the sun is ‘drinking’ all the water before the plants get a chance to have some. Kawulesa learns from a Water Wise friend how to water the garden effectively and how to reuse water.

All these stories are colourful, funny and interactive. Puppet Shows are a wonderful
teaching tool as children are enjoying themselves but at the same time are learning about
important things.

If you have a child or children in nursery school get the teacher to contact Avril Owens
on (011)888 – 4831 or 082 389 0309 to book a puppet show at their school. The cost is
R5.00 per child with a minimum of 30 learners.

If you have a child or children in the foundation phase, i.e.grade R – 3, then the learners
can see the puppet show at either of our three Water Wise Education Centres, namely; Vereeniging Purification Station; Rietvlei Nature Centre at Head Office; or at Delta Environmental Centre. Ask your child ’s teacher to contact Avril Owens on (011)888 – 4831 or 082 389 0309 to make a booking.

Our puppets are looking forward to meeting your children and teaching them to be "Water Wise".