‘In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.’’
Baba Dioum, Senegalese poet
The words of this quote really ring true to me and it’s because of this message that I find myself volunteering in Sierra Leone. Many local and international organisations are working in various countries all over the world trying to conserve our remaining natural resources, areas of outstanding beauty, habitats that are biologically diverse and land that is home to threatened species. The work that they’re doing is brilliant; however I believe that this alone will never be enough. Unless the communities living alongside or even within these areas understand the importance of conservation the work will never be sustainable. Working in both schools and communities to educate the local people as to the importance of what they’ve always taken for granted on their doorstep is vital. I hope that over the next six months I can get education work for Gola Rainforest National Park established, and do enough capacity building of local staff so that the work is sustainable once I leave.
Food web game
My first project with Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP) has been to establish Nature Clubs in schools in the seven Chiefdoms around the National Park. These Nature Clubs will be run by a teacher from the school and will also have a student executive. I hope that by offering training and monitoring to the teachers involved we can make a difference to students all around the park. GRNP covers an area of approximately 71,000 ha so the communities are spread over a very large area (see map) and it would be impossible for us to regularly visit each of the schools individually. In the week before I arrived in Sierra Leone Eddie, the Education Officer working for GRNP, made contact with 34 teachers who were interested in setting up Nature Clubs.
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