June 1 saw Willem Snyman from fresh.ngo and myself, Katherine Fillmore, journeying to the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD).
We were well received by the Deputy Director of Waste and Pollution Management, Emmanuel Takalani, who was open to discussion and ideas about the way forward with the river project’s pollution awareness campaign. He promised to put us in contact with relevant government officials who can assist us in driving the project forward.
We suggested an Ubuntu Flow campaign targeting the youth at schools and crèches. We proposed the character of an Ubuntu Lion to give the character of an Ubuntu Lion to give the campaign a strong identity that children can relate to and become aware of the important role they can play in conserving the environment, managing waste and becoming ambassadors to heal our rivers.
Ubuntu means a quality that includes the essential human virtues of compassion and humanity, behaving in a way that benefits the community. Flow in positive psychology is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement and enjoyment.
This is an exciting beginning to work with various government departments in healing the Hennops.