The aim of the Antarctic Legacy of South Africa Project is to preserve and promote the legacy of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic expeditioners. With this we are entering a new phase, where promoting science is very important to us.
Promoting science in the Antarctic region is undertaken by social communication and interaction by visiting schools and libraries in order to create awareness among the children of South Africa.
This month we had the opportunity to be part of the Holiday Programme at the Kuils River Library, which is coordinated by Me Marindie Madisson.
On the 14th of July, Ria Olivier (ALSA Archivist and Co-Investigator) and I (ALSA Technical Assistant), were warmly welcomed by 48 tremendously excited children between the ages of 5 and 10.
The focus of my talk was Global Warming and the research thereof on Marion Island, a sub-Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean and at South Africa’s station on the Antarctic Continent, SANAE IV.
We received wonderful feedback from the children, regarding what they had learnt during the visit, such as: ‘I never knew that a place like SANAE exists’, ‘I learned about elephant seals’, and ‘Marion looks like a very cold place’.
We at ALSA hope to visit many more libraries and schools in the future, promoting South Africa’s Antarctic Legacy.
Anché Louw, Antarctic Legacy of South Africa, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, 25 July 2016