HOWICK LIONS CLUB - SOUTH AFRICA

HOWICK LIONS CLUB

DISTRICT 410C

CLUB MEETINGS : 2ND WEDNESDAY @ 18:30 @ LIONS DEN, UMGENI VALLEY

CLUB POSTAL ADDRESS : P/BAG X004 HOWICK 3290

PRESIDENT : NORMAN CHAPMAN (EMAIL)

SECRETARY : TONY FARROW (EMAIL)

TREASURER : Aarnout Brombacher (EMAIL)

CLUB PHOTOGRAPHS

Receiving gavel and gong

DG Rob and Family

Lion Ray Crouch Lion Felicity MacFarlane member Lions Club of Howick New Zealand our twinnig club & Imm Past Pres Estcourt (our sponsor club)

Lionesses from Azalea

Lion Pres PDG Ron Batchelor handing Lion Alison Kelly a cheque for R1500 donation to WESSA (Wild Life and Environmental Society)

Incoming Lion's Lady President Marion Chapman Outgoing Pres PDG Ron Batchelor and Incoming Pres Norman Chapman

Outgoing Lady Pres Sandy Koch pinning Ladies Pin to Marion

Acceptance speech

The Lions and Education: A Unique Partnership

In 1976 the Lions Cub of Howick began a hugely ambitious social responsibility and education project. Following the construction of a local dam, Midmar, a large number of pre-fabricated construction workers houses became under-utilised. After considerable negotiations by enthusiastic Howick Lions these were donated to the Lions Club. Negotiations and fund-raising followed and through a joint venture with the local Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) a suitable nature reserve was agreed upon as the site for the environmental education facility. Two years of intensive work followed and eventually, in 1978, a modern educational facility was constructed with lecture halls, offices and a club house for the Lions.

The Umgeni Valley Project, as the project became known, grew from strength to strength and by 1990 over 15 000 pupils and teachers were visiting the Project for educational excursions each year. In the 1990’s the Project was selected by the Southern African Development Community, under the Chairmanship of the then President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, as a regional environmental education programme (the SADC-REEP). A printing and publishing facility was added to the already developing resource base as well as an additional conference and accommodation facility, the Gold Fields Centre. The Project now supports training courses for senior officials from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and most other southern African nations. Courses are also coordinated by the Project in countries such as China, India and Sweden!

In 2007 the project was recognized as a Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) by the United Nations University. An RCE is a network of existing formal, non-formal and

informal education organisations, mobilised to deliver Education for Sustainable Development to local and regional communities. RCEs aspire to achieve the goals

of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014), by translating its global objectives into the context of the local communities in which they operate.

What began as a public spirited dream in the 1970’s, when environmental issues and risks were hardly given a thought, has grown into a sophisticated programme that can fully support the urgency for environmental education, now that the world has recognized that our very survival on the Earth is dependent on the wise use of our resources. Those early Lions members were way ahead of their time!

Jim Taylor (jt@wessa.co.za)

Last updated on October 07, 2008 by Webmaster