August 2006 was declared Bioscience month. This is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and is implemented by the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) and aims to highlight the importance of the biological sciences, especially those focussing on the marine environment, and the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP). ACEP is a flagship programme within the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity and is based in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape.

As part of this initiative ACEP, in collaboration with the Phalaborwa Foundation, the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) and Mary Raganya, an educator at Vuxeni High School in Namakgale, ran an exciting, action packed programme. The programme highlighted the oceans and their importance to us, even in land and ran from the 1st to the 4th of August in Namagkale, Limpopo Province. The programme was aimed at learners, educators as well as women in the community.

Four educator workshops were facilitated and educational materials that use the marine environment as a basis were introduced to educators in the foundation, intermediate, senior and FET phases.  These materials are produced by the ACEP and are linked to the South African Revised National Curriculum Statements and allow educators to bring the marine environment into their classrooms and discuss issues around these resources. Sixty-Five educators attended the workshops from the area.

Land based pollution is a real problem in the marine environment and a workshop for women was offered to illustrate the impact that this pollution has on the ocean and also to impart skills to those who are unemployed. In Port Elizabeth, unemployed women in the Motherwell Community started a project to clean up their community of rubbish and prevent this pollution from reaching the oceans; and to use this “rubbish” to make items that they now sell in order to generate an income. Eunice Jacobs, from the Motherwell Buy Back Centre, was flown to Phalaborwa to share her knowledge and skills with the women in the Namakgale Community. In the workshop Eunice demonstrated various uses of “rubbish” and how these can be turned into items that can be of use and sold to generate an income. The women have elicited the assistance of the Phalaborwa Foundation to explore the option of setting up a similar project in the community. 

As part of the educator and community workshops, 1 educator and 1 community member were selected to be part of the forth coming research expedition and they were Mr Elliot Mnisi from Vuxeni High School and Mrs Linah Rahlano.

A learner competition was also hosted as part of biosciences month. This competition was open to any Grade 11 learners doing maths, science and/or biology. The learners had to write an essay titled “The value of the deep ocean to me and my community”. The two winners of the essay competition would also get an opportunity to spend time on board the research ship, the FRS Algoa. ACEP received 54 essays of very high quality, but unfortunately only 2 could join the expedition. Ms Rellah Mtsenga from Vuxeni High School and Mr Lucky Malesa from Maphokwane High School were selected as the winners of this competition.

These 4 intrepid adventurers depart on the 23 August for Port Elizabeth, where they will board the research ship on the 24th and spend 9 days at sea working alongside scientists and learning more about the marine environment and ways we study the oceans.

The University of Limpopo, Science Centre hosted presentations by ACEP as part of the month’s activities. The first presentation was for learners and educators and gave a broad outline of the Programme and introduced the learners to the marine environment.  The second presentation was aimed at students and staff at the University and highlighted the science programmes and current findings. The presentations were attended by 140 learners, educators and lecturers.

Hopefully learners and educators in the Limpopo Province are now more aware of the impact that the ocean has on their lives and how they are able to impact the oceans, even though they are far away from them. We are sure that the schools and learners look forward to hearing about the expedition and life on board a research ship from those who have the opportunity to go and experience this.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank DST and SAASTA for making the funds available for this outreach and all our partners who assisted with the organisation and execution of the week’s activities.