My name is Hamisi, Education and Marketing  officer at the Colobus Trust. It has been very wonderful interacting with the kids for the past twelve years. Most of our environmental education workshops are on Tuesdays.

Last Tuesday we had students from Madago Primary School. The kids seemed to be shy at first, but as the day progressed things started to heat up. Most of them were new to the site and found some facts to be strange. A colobus monkey has only 4 fingers! But one could tell from the look in their faces that they were really enjoying this session. 23 students accompanied by two teachers, had their uniforms turning the Colobus Trust premises into a colorfully area. Although all students come from around and they know most of the monkey issues, they learned a quite a lot from the two volunteers helping during the day (Heidi and Margi). Heidi, whose favorite word in conservation is ‘endemic’, managed to pump pressure on sleepy looking students. The entire day was fun altogether and all participants enjoy. Education was mostly based on Environmental issues, protection of trees, and being kind to all animals. Divided into four groups, named after the monkey species around (Colobus, Sykes, Vervets and Baboons), the competition was stiff. The baboons emerged the winners, maybe because they are always aggressive to the other small monkeys.

But the competition never ended here, because at the beach, girls wanted to challenge the boys on football. And with great support from their team captain, Heidi, they won 1-0. Boys you really let me down as I never believe in next time.

By the time we came back for the question and answer session, every body was thirst and drinking lots. This did not stop Hamisi, one of the smart students for the day from scooping home most of the prizes, many of which had been donated by our volunteers. At around 5.00 pm, Margi who had been very busy all afternoon also had to stop her work and come to say goodbye. Time had come for the students to leave.

We agreed to continue working together with them and very soon we shall send our team to plant trees in their school.

All this was possible from the donation we get through our blog. Whoever loves to support conservation education this is your opportunity. Please support us. Don’t miss next Tuesday as it will be more fun.

Thanks for supporting this vital programme.

Hamisi Pakiah.

Education Officer