Feb 13, 2009
Creating a sanctuary at Christel House
“Creating a sanctuary at Christel House”
- was written by Raphael Wolf & appeared in the Southern Mail on the 11th of February 2009
The Ottery-based Christel House Academy’s staff and learners took a giant step towards making their newly-built but incomplete primary school; the first ever urban school fynbos reserve in the Western Cape when they and supporters planted 98 indigenous trees on the school’s premises.
“Yesterday (Friday January 30) we planted 44 trees and today we planted 54 trees,” said Principal Ronald Fortune. “This was a formal tree planting ceremony, starting in the school’s garden. Christel House is about using the environment optimally and that’s what we want to teach the children – to optimally use the space without destroying the environment. We are planning to have the whole school grounds declared fynbos sanctuary.
“We will also have an approximately eight metre long walkway and running track installed around the inside of the school’s premises as well as wooden benches for resting and enjoying the scenery. We will teach our children that they can live off the soil – we’ll teach them to plant vegetables because some of them live in flats and area where they don’t have the opportunity to plant vegetables.”
Excited at the idea of the school becoming an indigenous fynbos sanctuary, Mr Fortune said: “We feel the idea is unique and the project worth crowing about to the world. And we feel it’s something that people will be interested in to partner with us.”
Kevin Cochrane, who is passionate about creating indigenous plant sanctuaries and manager of similar projects on behalf of the City of Cape Town in recent years, is leading the fynbos and indigenous tree planting at the school. He said this was the first time a school has commissioned his help on a project of this scale. “Plans have been set to make this fynbos reserve a truly magnificent resource of plant, insect and bird life which the children, teachers and the surrounding communities will greatly benefit from,” he added.
The children have been involved from day one in the tree planting project and Mr Cochrane predicted that the school’s sanctuary would become a big part of the education curriculum. Mr Fotrune encouraged potential partners to join in bringing the school’s sanctuary to fruition.
