Raggy Charters, Mosaic & Re-Trade Re-Cycle Project

We are very happy to see this project idea becoming a reality. Opening date planned for Jan/Feb 2025. Thanks go to all at Raggy Charters, Mosaic Piecing Lives Together and The Re-Trade Project for all efforts to get this project started and very soon up and running.

A special thank you goes to our Volunteer from The Netherlands, Annemieke Nidjam. Annemieke so enjoyed joining in with all our educational projects while she was with us. One in particular touched her heart and thus evolved into the now new Great Re-Cycle Project. Read below about how it all started.

Inbetween her usual life, Annemieke has made time and been hard at work raising the much needed funds to get this project up and running. Enough has been raised for us to go ahead. We now reach out to the local community to please assist with the start up and way forward. Please take a look at our proposal and let us know if you can assist in any way. Will be greatly appreciated.

Purity Khosa, Raggy Charters Marine Guide, checking the site for placement of the Swop Shop Container and look at the lovely vegetable garden at Mosaic. Great work!

HOW IT STARTED:

Raggy Charters chat with Children assisted by Mosaic - Piecing Lives Together 7 June 2023 we are very excited to be working with Mosaic and the retrade project - watch this space for exciting things to come

Halfway through last year Raggy Charters, ReTrade and Mosaic NPO joined forces in the battle against plastic and in favour the ocean life in Algoa Bay, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth).

Raggy Charters, a whale and dolphin watching organization and initiator of many environmental and educational projects, and ReTrade, a recycle and educational initiative, found each other in an educational/conservational project. Teaching children about the importance of the rich and beautiful ocean life in Algoa Bay and the devastating influence of plastic on that same ocean life & ecosystem. Showing the children both sides, teaching them about marine life and about recycling. The aim is to raise awareness of the huge problem that plastic is, what is the effect on nature, and especially how each and every one of them can make a positive contribution to conservation and their future!

We started the project at Mosaic (NPO), a heartfelt initiative in orphan-care, that use a systemic approach, not only to help these children in their circumstances, but also giving them all kinds of (creative) lessons to find their real talents, grow in their self-esteem and stand up. Mosaic has already started, in a small way with recycling, but want to do way more with this. Thus, Mosaic has joined the ReTrade and Raggy Charters educational and recycling project!

Purity, head guide at Raggy Charters and Annemieke, volunteer from the Netherlands, visited Mosaic and shared an interactive presentation about the incredible wildlife in Algoa Bay, the backyard of these children. Thereafter we organized a clean-up around the school for the three highest grades. Every one of the children got (recycled) plastic bags and gloves (thanks to SST Africa!) as their safety is important. How necessary this clean-up was! There was so much rubbish and plastic everywhere, we could hardly handle it. The children ‘saw it’ for the first time, now fully aware of why it is not good to litter. The enthusiastic children worked tirelessly, picking up everything and cleaning their own environment with pride. And next to cleaning up, one of the most important lessons was learnt: the awareness that all this rubbish shouldn’t be out there at all. The rubbish that was thrown into nature all around them was a ‘norm’ and part of their surroundings…

Two weeks later we organized a third event, at the harbour of Port Elizabeth. We split the same group in two; one group going on the boat to see the beautiful ocean life with their own eyes; the other group enjoying a presentation in which they were shown and taught about the problem and the solution of our plastic world.

The children not only becoming aware of how much plastic we use in daily life, but also were showed how much the animals in the ocean suffer because of all this plastic. That every human action has a reaction/consequence. Last but not least: we taught and showed the children how to be aware and to try and use less plastic in their daily life. What to do with the plastic they do use or the plastic they find in their surroundings: RECYCLE!

It was great to see pennies drop with the children, the start of awareness! With going on the boat right after / before the presentation, there was a connection straight away. The problems that plastic present in our surroundings with the creatures that we all want to protect from that plastic became real! Fortunately, both groups were treated by the ocean cruise, getting to experience not only their first outing on the sea, but to also see and enjoy a large pod of dolphins. The children had the time of their life, being on the boat out in the ocean, and seeing these beautiful creatures in the eye sure made a lot of impact and now what we had taught them, made sense. They now understood the importance of taking action. How big an impact was made was shown when some children were waiting and watching their friends return from their cruise: pointing out to the ocean several times, seeing plastic float, and wanting to retrieve it! Something they didn’t see/notice before as it was ‘normal’ for the rubbish to be there.

There is still so much work to do on this, many schools and children to visit and educate in Port Elizabeth. Next to these lessons, we are raising funds to start a ‘swap shop’ at Mosaic premises. A ‘swap shop’, an inspiring way to encourage children to collect recyclable materials from their surroundings - keeping their area clean this way and giving an example to other locals – and getting back something in return with their earned tokens. The tokens are swapped in the shop for something useful. There are currently other ‘swap shops’ established, and we learnt a lot from them. Once we have enough funding and the necessary assistance from people, we will move on to the next stage!

These few lessons we gave to the children, the combination of getting the children to pick up the rubbish, giving ideas of what they can do with the recyclable rubbish, showing them the damaging effects of the plastic in the ocean and getting them to see the beauty of the marine life first hand – the creatures we want to protect – is invaluable and encourages us to keep going with this project and the battle against plastic in our oceans.

Thank you to The Million Plus Recycling Program for the caps given to all the children.. A reminder to take home and keep the lesson alive.

CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN 6 YEARS AND 11 YEARS LISTENED INTENTLY AND ENJOYED THE MORNING.

18th July we followed up with the children and the fun continued with a clean up around the school - what a great job done!

25 July 2023 we hosted the children with an Educational talk on the marine life and the effects of the plastic waste on the environment and how each of can assist in conserving the oceans. Thank you to the NELSON MANDELA BAY YACHT CLUB for the use of your boardroom - the perfect setting.