This project uses art to get the message about the value of rhino to entire schools at a time in "risk" areas around parks.
The programme involves two visits to the school about two weeks apart.
During the first visit the team spends 30 minutes with the students explaining the poaching problem and its impact on the
environment, jobs, regional income and the loss of their children's heritage if rhino were to disappear. The children are
then asked to colour in a blank A3 paper and add their message to the art. These are judged two weeks later with as
much fanfare as possible and the winner receives a secondhand bike donated by Rotary USA and Canada.
This art is then collected and will be delivered to the SA Minister of the Environment as a message from the children
of the world. This programme has been taken to Vietnam which is considered the main user of rhino horn as well as
a corridor into other Asian markets. The theory is to get into the hearts and minds of the children to influence thinking
in the future and hopefully their parents who may be involved in the trade now.
Imake a Difference supports this project by funding art supplies for the schools that are visited. This is often the only art supplies these remote schools have. A soccer ball is also left with each school.