At the Two Oceans Aquarium, we don’t only celebrate animals, we also celebrate people who have revolutionised the world. On Mandela Day 2018, in the spirit of Madiba, we tried to do our part to give back to the community.

In honour of the time Nelson Mandela gave of himself to others, our staff volunteered throughout the week to pack lunch boxes for underprivileged school children in Cape Town. These lunch packs were then distributed to the schools in our Oceans In Motion outreach vehicle. Teacher Thabo Sabeko and staff members spent the week of 17 to 20 July taking our mobile classroom to four schools in Du Noon and Khayelitsha.

Throughout the week, Aquarium staff gave part of their 67 minutes of service to packing the lunch bags for the school children our outreach vehicle would be visiting.

Learners were split into small groups, each being placed at a table with a mini-rockpool sporting a variety of marine animals. They were treated to a lesson by Two Oceans Aquarium outreach teacher Thabo Sabeko, learning about the different animals that live along the rocky shores of Cape Town.

Before the lesson can get "hands-on", Teacher Thabo tells the children a bit about the marvellous animals they will soon be interacting with, and the environment they come from.

These lessons, which tie into the national natural science curriculum, are aimed at fostering and stimulating interest in marine life. The learners participated by interacting with animals such as starfish, anemones and sea urchins and learning all about how they live in the ocean. They also thoroughly engaged in the lessons by enthusiastically asking and answering meaningful questions.

Time to make friends with an anemone!

After their lesson, the learners were treated to their lunch packs with a reusable lunch bag they could keep. These packs were donated by KMQ Promotions.

Nothing makes us smile more than putting smiles on the faces of children. Enjoy lunch kids.

All set to face the world with newfound knowledge about the ocean, and snacks to get them through their school day, the learners returned to class grinning from ear to ear.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” – so said Nelson Mandela, and it’s a mantra we at the Aquarium live by, daily. We feel very privileged to have been able to contribute in some small way and look forward to being able to help shape young lives going into the future.

"Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future." - thank you, Madiba.

If you would like to know more about the Aquarium's outreach programmes and the Environmental Education Centre, please follow this link.