Nourish Eco Village is based in the rural community
of Sigagule. It is structured to be a learning
experience for everyone involved, from staff to
volunteers. Therefore everything we do is about
training. We have an amazing youth program, a
preschool program, enterprise training courses and
an educational agriculture property
At Nourish Eco Village our goal is to create sustainable change - and have long-term impact in the spheres of sustainability, conservation and community resilience. We believe that by working to grow resilient wildlife communities that are healthy, educated, and have access to employment opportunities, we can break the poverty cycle and thus impact the poaching coming out of rural areas.
The community of Sigagule and the surrounding rural villages in the Acornhoek area of Mpumalanga struggle daily with even the most basic elements of life. Access to running water, and electricity is a difficulty most face daily. There is a high unemployment rate, many children have access to schooling, but education levels are extremely low at schools, and the biggest economic contributor to the area - tourism - is out of reach for many. It is in this context that Nourish works.
Nourish Eco Village is located in the heart of the South African Lowveld,
surrounded by both beautiful wildlife areas and an amazing variety of local
cultures.
There are multiple languages spoken in the area, but English is the main form of
communication between peoples.
The area is very safe to travel to and our team being local can make your African
experience one to remember!
Our projects are all interlinked and holistic, in order to help a community grow in all aspects.
Our programming focuses are Education, Enterprise and Tourism.
Our Green Kidz Environmental Education programme, is an after school club that runs each day and welcomes around 70 kids each day from the local village and aims to grow wildly passionate young people. The program is designed around a holistic approach towards environmental stewardship that encompasses looking after yourself, your environment and your heritage. The program uses many strategies for teaching from physical activites, computer based learning and creative development to cater to many forms of learning development.
Each day has a different learning focus; Monday is handson environmental work, Tuesday is computer based learning, Wednesday is Scouts, Thursday is creative learning and Friday is personal development through yoga and animal kindness workshops.Each subject is focusing on conservation and sustainability. Each month the kids are also immersed in either a field trip, a guest organisation visit or involved in bush camps.
You will be immersed into the project as one of the team members to engage in the planning and running of the programs, from 8am to 4pm, spending the full morning to prepare everything before the kids arrive (around 2:30pm).
This opportunity is like no other, as you are based at the Eco Village itself and will experience Africa like you never have before.
Volunteers will stay at Shik Shack Backpackers situated on the same property as the Nourish Eco Village.
You will spend your day working with the team, learning from them and having an amazing experience! The work is very hand-on, so expect to be busy but remember to have fun!
We work daily with children in primary schools teaching environmental education and taking these learners on conservation-based field trips, to give them an understanding of nature and their role in protecting it. Poaching/illegal killing of wildlife has become a daily threat to conservation, with rhino poaching (as well as lion, elephant, pangolin, and vulture) threatening on a daily basis. Animals are being killed for their horns, hide, bones or skins. Nourish works to connect conservation issues and community issues, believing that we can fight poaching through fighting poverty.
We believe that conservation and communities cannot exist in isolation of each other - hence our goals through all our projects to interlink, grow, conserve and uplift. The holism of Nourish is important as it works with the community as a whole to see the problems in a bigger picture.
We accept curious people to join us for an immersive learning
experience. If you are interested in learning about a new culture, doing
research or aiming to learn a new skill, then we would love to have you
join us. We would like to invite you to consider where and how you fit
into these initiatives. Think about what your passion is, what you want
to learn about, or what new experiences you want to get involved in.
A Nourish Immersive Experience (volunteering) is based on your
chosen field, and immersing yourself into the day to day operations and
running of the programme associated with your chosen field. You will
spend your day working with the team, learning from them and having
an amazing experience! The work is very hand-on, so expect to be busy
but remember to have fun!
Our social impact rests of three foundation pillars, resilience,
sustainability and conservation. All our outcomes are aligned with
and measured against Agenda 2030 and the UN SDGs. Your
internship alongside our projects will have a direct impact on these
Sustainable Development Goals.
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