Arbor Day

Friday the 5th of September was Arbor Day and so around the world various events were being hosted to celebrate our trees. One such event took place at Johannesburg Zoo where thousands of schoolchildren gathered to hear speeches, explore the zoo and learn more about the world they live in.

Even though the event specifically focussed on trees Rhino SA was invited to have a stand and educate the schoolchildren about rhino poaching in South Africa. My sister and I went along to help Irene Huysamen and Emma-Rae Philipson in spreading the word about rhinos. In the four hours we were there we spoke to around a hundred children between the ages of 3 and 15. It was a very interesting experience for me as I’d never spoken to four year olds about rhinos before and as a result they helped me to be creative in my explanations.

I was honestly surprised at the questions and blank faces that I was greeted with by the older kids though it reminded me how important it was that we were giving up our time to spread the word. I was grateful that most of the children understood the importance of the issue and promised us that they would do what they could to stop rhino poaching.

After standing and speaking all morning Emma-Rae Philipson and I went to the rhino enclosure where we recorded our message that will be sent on the behalf of Rhino SA to the World Youth Rhino Summit next weekend. Hopefully our message will inspire many more people to join the fight against rhino poaching.