Why bother? (Part 2)

Why bother valuing and appreciating creation? In my last blog Blessing shared how she grew up in close contact with nature. Those experiences, along with an inbred desire to understand those experiences, led her to study Nature Conservation here in Cape Town. I’ve taken Blessing and other CPUT students on hikes, but Blessing and Hilda, who also studies Nature Conservation, through their stopping to describe a bug or a bush have given me a deeper appreciation of my surroundings. This, in turn, has led me to a deeper appreciation of the Creator of it all. Let’s hear more from Blessing as to why she continues to bother… 

After completing my diploma in 2012 I acquired a lot of knowledge. I wanted to pursue my degree in Nature Conservation, which is what I am currently working on. Due to the part-time structure of the programme, I realized that I had too much time on my hands and I wanted to get involved where I could meaningfully give back to the South African education system. This was important to me because I wanted to share the knowledge I had acquired through teaching or mentoring other students. I then started volunteering two days a week at a Non-profit organization called South African Education and Environment Programme (SAEP). They work in a disadvantaged township in the Cape Flats. Working at SAEP moved me out of my comfort zone in such a way that I started noticing the reality of South African disparities in socio-economic conditions. As I worked with children coming from backgrounds of adverse poverty, highly polluted environments, very little to no green spaces to play, and lack of opportunities to pursue big dreams, I became passionate about my work as a volunteer. I developed a bond with the children because they saw me as more than just an Environmental Educator, but as a mentor and role model too. Exposing them to clean and pristine environments by doing outdoor classes, hikes and camps opened their eyes to what they had never seen or experienced before. I was so touched when I learned that I was creating a safe place that protected them from the streets full of gangster violence and providing space for them to bond with other friends. I came to understand why hearing their own heartbeat or feeling their pulses for the very first time surprised these children. Their homes and surrounding environments are too noisy and too busy for them to ever pay attention or even listen to themselves think. On my very first hike with some older children on Table Mountain, I was touched when a grade 9 boy testified that he did not know that fynbos was a living thing. In his mind fynbos was a word to describe materials like rocks or soil or “some none living things.”

In case he isn’t the only one who doesn’t know that, fynbos is a biome part of the Cape Floral Kingdom. It contains many (over 7700) plant species and about 70% of these are endemic to the area - that is, they are found nowhere else in the world. For your own information, many tourists visit South Africa to experience the diversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom, yet these children had no idea that it is right on their doorstep. 

When I took a group to the top of Table Mountain for a sunset walk they were amazed by the colours in the sky. One of the boys exclaimed that this was the first time he had seen the sun going down behind the clouds. In the past he had never paid attention to the sunset, but even when he began to notice it would disappear behind the factories on the far side of his shack. He was curious to see the process of how the sun set, but gave up because he couldn’t see it. He was so grateful to see it now.

I was realizing more and more that if God bothered enough to put His sunsets, flora and fauna here, then that is reason enough for me to bother studying it, and enough of a reason to instill in these children a desire to bother!