DAKTARI Newsletter March – April 2013

By Katrien Vermeulen & Aby Spanton

Animal News:New mongoose (s)

Hello everyone,I’m the notorious Bandit! As you can see here, I’m

taking a nap, but that doesn’t make me less cool. I also like to purr

and love to dig up worms. I’m the coolest

mongoose around here

Hey, I’m Nikita also known as Dartanjan. And I like to play with the volunteers and sometimes with Bandit. However he thinks to much of himself

sometimes. Luckily the volunteers still treat me as a Princess.

Animal News:Rodents

Hi, I’m Kiki. I didn’t meet Zuzu as I came along two weeks later. Michele looked after

me for the first few weeks and now I have lots of squirrel friends!

Zuzu was only a few weeks old when we found him in one of our bathrooms. We think he was abandoned by his mother as he was probably sick. He was injured as well and we think another squirrel had bitten him. He was very sick and frightened. We fed him and kept him warm but sadly after three days he died. Nature can be cruel sometimes but life must go on. Rest in Peace little Zuzu x x

Herbie Goes to the Vet!!

As most of you know I came to live with at Daktari about six months ago. In March

Peter Rogers our local vet came to visit me as I wasn’t very happy and got upset with lots of people. It was decided that it was best for me to be castrated. The children who were staying at Daktari at the time joined Peter in the operation. Some of them didn’t realize there were special doctors for animals called Vets. I think

they found the operation very interesting but a bit messy!!

For a few days after the operation, I was a little bit sore and wasn’t allowed to go

swimming. Now I am much happier and not aggressive at all. I am back walking with the dogs twice a day, swimming in

the dam and wallowing in the mud, which is my favorite thing to do! I love it when people visit me and I make them laugh!

Animal News:Some bigger Rodents

Hi I’m Yster!My real name is Ystervarken, which means porcupine

in Afrikaans! The people that had me before couldn’t keep me because I used to eat their

furniture. I came to Daktari a couple of months ago and to start with had my own cage and box. But I

found it too noisy so decided to make my own burrow. My friends at Daktai feed me every night but sometimes Spikey (another porcupine) tries to

chase me away. I have now learned to come earlier in the evening and get the food FIRST!!!

Animal News:A present for Bouba

Woof, woof, as most of you know me, I’m Bouba Michele’s favorite

companion! But also Gillian Kenneally loves me so much that

she sent me a sweater for our cold brrrr winter. Thank you Gilly,

it really suits me.

Volunteer News:Bordering on love…

Our lovely Claire met her knight in shining armour at the Mozambique border. She took the wrong bus and ended up there. But luckily for her this story has a beautiful ending… Claire is moving to SA in June and

she will be part of the DAKTARI team once again. She is our new long term volunteer. So Desmond, you better

take care of our Claire!

Students feedback

Dear Daktari. It is nice to be with you. To play with you games, to sing the song and to dance with you. We thank you for teaching

us to be polite and to take care of the environment so we will remember about everything that you had been teach us. So

thank God to be with you. And we do love you and like you and you make us happy. Thank you for taking us to Makalali and dog walk. To taking care of us. To give us the love so please keep it

up, you do a nice job. So God bless you. Thank you to be polite to us, you have a gorgeous place. And thank you to treat us the way

you want to be treated. So thank you so very much, we always love you. Have a nice day. Lucy Modiba

Portia Mathebula: I love you for so many things,The people that fill the life we share,Your patience and your gentle heart,The goodness of the thing you do.Thank you for welcoming us and share love with us.

DAKTARI Fundraising Contest

And the winner is Bibi Van Griensven!! She won the

Daktari Fundraising Contest with an amazing 2230 EUR. Thank you Bibi for doing such a great effort. We

hope you will enjoy your prizes The 2nd place goes to Danielle

Austin, this was a really neck & neck race. Thank you both for helping

DAKTARI!!

This wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing support of Tshukudu Game Lodge, Sausage Tree Safari Camp and the amazing wildlife vet Peter Rogers!! Thank you for your

collaboration

A Special Thanks to our Donors!

• Hill’s donated a great amount of dog & cat food. Our animals at Daktari really appreciate it!

• REXEL provided us with a laminator. Now we can make our weekly certificates for our children.

• SiT made a cash donation.

Go Andreas!!!!

Our amazingly handsome Andreas is doing a veryyy long walk for Daktari.

He started from his home (Gent, Belgium) and is at the moment in

Bordeaux. He is half way to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Please help

him to achieve this dream. More info on this link. Or follow him on Facebook Camino4daktari!!

Children @ Daktari

Children @ Daktari

Life @ Daktari

Eco-Club NewsBy Risette De Haas

After making a short movie about Daktari (see last newsletter) I had to make one about the eco-clubs as well. With this short (3 min) movie I hope to give you an impression of the eco-clubs and it’s students. It is about what the students think and learn but in their own words. There was no script; this is what they decided to tell me as I was holding the

camera. I hope you enjoy watching this little glimpse of happiness from the students. http://youtu.be/Fn0yB9o2mFU

I couldn’t make the eco-club lessons into a success without the assistance of our great volunteers. Every week one of Daktari’s volunteers joins me to the meetings.

They introduce themselves, so the students learn more about different people, different countries and different cultures. It is good for them to hear where the

volunteer comes from, what time zone they are in and what language they speak. I like it when volunteers tell a bit about their country and their personal lives, what they studied or going to study etc. This will open up their world. The student will ask questions afterwards. It is a great experience for all. During the lessons the volunteers assist me by walking around, guiding the students with their work. I

wouldn’t be able to do all of that by myself. So I want to say THANK YOU all!

Eco-Club NewsBy Risette De Haas

I want to give you a little update on Grace and Kutullo as well. Remember them? Grace is the

student we managed to place at Southern Cross School. She is doing really well. She was struggling with her transport, every day from the village to town and back, it were long long days. Now we found a family in Hoedspruit where she can stay

during the week, so she has more time for homework and of course to have some free time as well. She started to play in the school hockey

team as well and she is enjoying sports for the first time in her life. She was struggling with Afrikaans, since she never was taught properly; luckily Spike

van Schalkwijk offered to give her afterschool lessons, to get her up to speed. Thank you so much

for your effort and help.Kutullo is doing really well at the SA Wildlife

College. He gives me regular updates on what he has learned and what he is doing. He is currently in the bush for a week of intensive training. He really

enjoys it so much and learning every day something new

I want to give a special thank you to Samantha Kieswetter, as she not only assisted me during the eco-clubs she prepared and wrote so many lessons, the students love them, well done!

I would like to introduce one of our eco-club members every newsletter, so you get to know a few of our great eco-club students. This week I would like to introduce Jabulani Lewele. He is a member since he started at Maahlamele High School. He is 13 years old and in Grade 9. He

started out as a shy boy. Now he always comes up to the new volunteers and introduces himself. He asks questions and wants to do his work perfectly.

He absolutely LOVES to take pictures. He always asks my camera at the end of the lessons and

starts to take better and better pictures. Once in a while he is lucky and gets his hands on one of the

volunteers great camera’s (with permission of course). Wauh the proud face is worth a million!

Eco-Club NewsBy Risette De Haas

These students bring a smile

on my face every week again

and again. Thank you as

supporters of Daktari to help

make this possible. These kids

grow so much by just being at

the school every week.

Get a MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet Card and help raise funds without

costing you a cent!!!It's FREE and every swipe counts!

Daktari is now part of the MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet fundraising programme which helps raise funds for schools, charities and environmental concerns across South Africa. It is the easiest way to support us, without even costing you a cent...

Apply for a free MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet card and nominate DAKTARI as your beneficiary.

Present your card every time you purchase items from any of the participating partners (including Woolworths, Engen QuickShops, Kalahari.com, Waltons, Toys R Us, Reggie’s, Jack’s Paint and Altech Netstar outlets) throughout South Africa.

The retail partner then donates up to 5% of your purchase to your chosen beneficiary. Every swipe counts!

Click here to apply on-line for a card, or call 0860 100 445, or visit any Woolworths store.

We really need your help!!

Shiloweni still needs more sponsors of R200 per month, to fill his big appetite!

Caline and her baby Elfie, need a sponsor R300 each a month.

Please check our website for all the animals. Thank YOU!

Scotty our African hawk eagle needs a sponsor for R200 per month.

Nikita & Bandit need a sponsor of R200 each a month.

Yster needs a sponsor for R200 per month.

In South AfricaBank: First National Bank, Hoedspruit, South AfricaSwift number: FIRN ZA JJ Branch Number: 270652Account Number: Cheque Account (Non-Profit) 62044965129Name: Daktari Wildlife Orphanage, South Africa

Children ProjectEnvironmental Education for

over 300 underprivileged

children

Outreach Programme

Teach over 200 Eco Club kids in

rural villages

In Germany Bank: Sparkasse Münsterland-OstBankleitzahl: 40050150 Konto-Nummer: 1350 88 888. Name: Spendensammelverein Münster e.V.Reference: DAKTARI-Südafrika – Busch-Schule & Wildwaisen - Station

UK(Tax

Deductible in UK)

US(Tax

Deductible in US)

In The Netherlands Stichting Daktari Bush School NederlandKvK 53826736ANBI StichtingING 5254438 te Rosmalen

Click on required Global Giving icon to donate

How to donate…

Thank you to all our friends, donors, sponsors and volunteers, we couldn’t do this without you!!

Ian & Michele 13 years ago, still very much in love