Letting you know about a new project in Niassa! By Paula Ferro

Some of the children's art works that will be used in conjunction with the Project

A well used blackboard

School Project in Niassa Reserve, 2009

The Niassa Reserve is one of the greatest protected Miombo ecosystems in the world and the largest protected area in Mozambique, covering an area of 42,279 km². It is populated by approximately 25,000 inhabitants, primarily farmers and fisherman, mainly  Ajauas and Macuas. But this area is characterized as being very poor and isolated.

Colleen and Keith Begg, an extraordinary couple that have lived in the reserve for more than 7 years, put together a small project “Teachers for Conservation” at the end of 2009. The idea came not only from the researchers that work in the reserve but from the teachers of Mbamba, a small village in the South of the reserve. For the first time in the history of the Reserve the communities are interest in conservation, in ecology and nature. For the first time, all sort of interesting questions came to our ears, and the Beggs decided to run with this thirst to learn to create a project were the local population, kids, teachers and parents could be involved.

With some money that the Beggs managed to raise from their own projects we were able to start something that we think will make a difference to the kids of  Niassa Reserve. 

The first step is to raise USD$30 000 to produce a storybook, an activity book and a ABC wall chart done in capulanas , the local fabrics used for clothing in Africa.  We have managed to raise at least the first part of the funds for the Niassa Conservation story book, a total of $15 000. We invited an English artist that had work before on these type of projects in Asia and Africa. She came out in the last week of  October 2009, and stayed with us for about 3 weeks to get a feel of Niassa. We first worked  with the kids in Mbamba school and later met with teachers and the directors of the other schools of the Reserve in Mecula, which has the biggest community in The Niassa.

The Reserve has about 30 public schools. The number of kids is very variable, from 20 to 200 kids per school. The disciplines that the kids study, are Portuguese, Mathematics, History, Geography, etc. However no environmental or conservation subjects are taught, and most of the kids and teachers have never left their home village. This means that they have never seen wildlife apart from the animals that live around the villages. Our objective is to train the teachers with extra curriculum material to teach the kids about the environment around them, wildlife, trees, medicinal plants, the river, the mountains. We want to profit from their amazing natural surroundings, to show the teachers that the Reserve is a big living school. In this way the kids will learn and understand the reality of their environment and they will value and preserve the rich and beautiful place they live in. 

We have $15 000 but it is going to need another $15 000 to get it done properly!

I think your help will be invaluable, help to make a contribution that will hopefully have some lasting effect.... This is only the first step, to develop "Teachers for Conservation"- where each school has teachers trained in conservation, adequate basic material and where kids and adults born in Niassa Reserve have the satisfaction of  protecting their environment, their Home. Paula


If you are interested in helping with this project email me at audwinmcgee@gmail.com
There is more info coming that I will post directly. Audwin

Paula Ferro and friend.